‘She accused me of castrating my child’: Mother of Britain’s youngest ever transgender patient hits back at devout Catholic facing questions from police for calling her daughter ‘he’ in a tweet

• Caroline Farrow revealed yesterday that she was being investigated by police
• The probe stems from tweets she posted online ‘misgendering’ Jackie Green
• Miss Green’s mother says the complaint was about other ‘malicious’ claims
• She is withdrawing the complaint. Police say the investigation continues

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A mother who went to police over tweets posted by a Catholic journalist about her transgender daughter says she has now withdrawn the complaint.

Susie Green, whose daughter Jackie transitioned as a teenager, reported Caroline Farrow to Surrey Police over tweets posted online after they appeared on TV together last year.

Mrs Farrow, 44, expressed her outrage yesterday that she was the subject of a criminal investigation for ‘misgendering’ Jackie as a ‘he’ online.

The case has sparked a row over whether police should be involved in examining messages on Twitter rather than pumping more resources into tackling violence and theft.

But Mrs Green hit back today, saying her complaints to police were also about Mrs Farrow’s calling her a ‘child abuser’ who had ‘castrated’ her ‘son’ on Twitter.

She says she now plans to withdraw the complaint to police because she fears the row is giving Mrs Farrow ‘a platform’. 

Susie Green (left) went to police over tweets posted by Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow (right) about her transgender daughter, Jackie

Mrs Green said Mrs Farrow’s tweets were not an accidental slip, but were ‘malicious’ and aimed at her. The tweets were broadcast on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show this morning

Mrs Green told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire: ‘Every day, people misgender my daughter online, that wasn’t uncommon. What was uncommon was that this was a journalist who had a public platform, who used that to send very malicious and nasty messages.

‘It’s not just the misgendering, it’s actually the context that she puts it into and that she calls me a child abuser… it’s also the stuff around mutilation and castration. It was the really damaging things she said about me.’

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Mrs Green was asked whether she thought that, though upsetting, the tweets were a matter for police.

She said that was up to the police and prosecutors, but as the founder of a charity which advises others to report hate crime, she felt she should report it.

She said she is now withdrawing her complaint, adding: ‘If I had continued my complaint then Caroline Farrow would have continued to have a platform to spread misinformation about what actually happened. Being involved in an investigation would have meant that I couldn’t talk.’

Jackie Green (right) had a sex change after turning 16. She is the daughter of Susie Green (left) who appeared on Good Morning Britain alongside Caroline Farrow last year

The pair appeared on Good Morning Britain in September 2018 to discuss Girl Guiding policies 

What is the Malicious Communications Act?

The Malicious Communications Act prohibits the posting of material which is grossly offensive or threatening, false or believed to be false, if it is sent with the intent to cause distress or anxiety. 

Sentences for those found guilty under this act can be up to two years. 

In 2012, guidance was given to prosecutors which stated cases should not where what is posted is ‘not obviously beyond what could conceivably be tolerable or acceptable in a diverse society which upholds and respects freedom of expression’.

The guidelines stated: ‘In line with the free-speech, no prosecution should be brought unless it can be shown on its own facts and merits to be both necessary and proportionate.’

The original tweets posted by Mrs Farrow on October 4 were read out on air today.

One stated: ‘What she [Susie Green] did is illegal. She mutilated him by having him castrated and rendered sterile while still a child.’

Another tweet accused Mrs Green and her charity of ‘child abuse’.

Mrs Farrow tweeted this morning: ‘All I have been told by Surrey Police that I “misgendered Susie Green’s daughter”.

‘The investigation is still ongoing. I am very concerned about Mrs Green disclosing what the police will not tell me about my tweets on this programme & making allegations I cannot counter.’

She added: ‘This is a public witch-hunt. Whether or not I am in breach of the Malicious Communications Act or have broken the law needs to be investigated by the police & a court of law. Not the @vicderbyshire show.’

Surrey Police said the investigation currently continues.

It is understood police have yet to receive an official withdrawal statement from Mrs Green. If she decides to officially withdraw her original complaint, detectives will decide whether to end the investigation.

The police force has come under fire for mounting the investigation at a time when budgets are stretched and knife crime is on the rise. 

Surrey’s former Chief Constable Lynne Owens said in 2015 that as a result of £25million in cuts and the loss of 250 officers, minor crimes would be ignored in favour of investigation of offences against vulnerable people. 

Jackie Green (pictured above) had previously appeared on This Morning to discuss her place at the Miss England finals

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