Planet Normal: They used me as an example, says woman arrested for Southport social media posts

"My entire career and reputation had been destroyed for absolutely no reason."

On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Bernadette Spofforth, the business leader turned free speech activist about her arrest for a social media post after the killing of 3 girls in Southport over the summer.

Describing herself as an 'ordinary' person Ms Spofforth said she was horrified to find herself the focus of media attention, after she tweeted someone else's post, which was deleted after a few hours, and went viral.

"Channel four had run a big piece on me, giving my photographs where I lived 'showing my photograph and saying where I lived, saying that I'd made this up, that I'd started these riots. [It was] absolutely outrageous. For the next three days, all I did was fight for my reputation".

"I tend to do quite a lot of research which is very unfortunate because it was not a correct post. I did put the caveat, 'if this is true', because I knew I hadn't done the work. But, of course, you have all of those people who just want to jump on anything, and they did. And a group of people who particularly don't like the things I say

banded together."

Reflecting on the reasoning behind the police action, Bernadette accepts the public outrage to the Southport incident was a difficult situation to manage.

"I'm quite a balanced person, I can see they had to have a very speedy response to trying to keep things under control; because the entire country was a tinderbox. I completely understand that. I think I fell very neatly into being made an example of."

Allison herself faced a visit from the police this week over comments on social media. You can read about her shocking experience here , and the senior figures leading the backlash against the investigation

Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or your preferred podcast app