Couple arrested after complaining about daughter's school on WhatsApp speak out

A couple who were arrested in front of their young daughter after complaining about their on a group have spoken about their ordeal in detail for the first time.

when they were detained on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications. Six police officers descended on their home in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and led both Levines away - as their "terrified" three-year-old Francesa sobbed.

Rosalind, 46, said police did not respond to her pleas for reassurance that her nine-year-old daughter – then at school – was safe. Speaking last night, she said: "There was a moment where I honestly thought I wanted to die, because I couldn’t cope with losing her... Until that moment, I was convinced Sascha was dead."

After a five-week investigation, dropped the charges against the Levines. They had related to alleged "inflammatory and defamatory" comments said to have been made in a WhatsApp group when concerns about the lack of an open recruitment process for a new headteacher at Cowley Hill Primary School in Borehamwood.

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Although there was no offensive language and no threats in the group, officers in two police cars and van were sent to arrest the couple. Maxie, 50, compared scenes to "the sort of treatment you might expect for a drugs bust or a terrorism cell... It was hard to shake off the sense that I was living in a police state... These were private conversations, at no point abusive or even offensive, on email and WhatsApp."

said the arrests were justified but conceded they could have been handled more subtly. It added there was "insufficient evidence" to take the probe further.

And Maxie, a radio producer, is unsurprised. He told he posted in the WhatApp group of around 15 parents concerns about the recruitment process to replace the headteacher at Cowley Hill after they announced their retirement. The school then sent a letter, requesting parents did not talk negatively about the school on social media and threatened action if they did.

Rosalind, who met Maxie in 2006, continued: "In my opinion that was a bit over the top, because it’s not really for school to tell parents what to say in private." She expressed this sentiment on WhatsApp, in what proved to be a particularly prescient message. The mum wrote: "Can you imagine what the 'action' is? Hello, 999, one of the school mums said something mean about me in a school mum WhatsApp group. Please can you arrest them?'"

This message eventually led to the dispute with the school, and the police arrived at the family home around five months after that passage was sent. Rosalind, who is a TV producer, added: "I felt like I was in a terrible nightmare. I did not know how it had come to this."

Hertfordshire Police Chief Constable Andy Prophet justified the arrests, saying while they could have been handled more subtly, the inspector who approved them did so because he did not believe the couple would consent to a voluntary interview.

A spokesperson for Cowley Hill Primary School said: "We sought advice from the police following a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts from two parents, as this was becoming upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

"We’re always happy for parents to raise concerns, but we do ask that they do this in a suitable way, and in line with school’s published complaints procedure."