UK: The Lecturer Who Spoke Out and Paid the Price

In the UK, a college lecturer says he has been “hunted out of his job” for defending the right to speak about controversial court cases.

Simon Pearson, 56, taught English to non-native speakers at Preston College until earlier this year. His career ended abruptly after he questioned on Facebook why Lucy Connolly, a grieving mother, had been jailed for a furious online rant posted in the wake of the Southport murders.

Pearson did not defend Connolly’s language. In fact, he labelled it “appalling” and “obviously wrong.” But he argued that sending her to prison was an overreach and, in his words, an example of “two-tier policing.”

Connolly’s post, which she deleted within hours, had already been viewed more than 300,000 times. It read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it, take the treacherous government politicians with them.”

Controversially, for that, the 42-year-old, with no criminal history, was sentenced to 31 months in prison. Many have questioned why some inflammatory comments, and even real-world crimes, receive little more than a police caution while others, like Connolly’s, bring lengthy custodial terms.

Shortly after Pearson shared his opinion, a representative of the National Education Union at the college lodged a formal complaint, accusing him of “Islamophobic” and “racially discriminatory” speech. Preston College managers opened an investigation, ultimately ruling that his social media posts could damage the institution’s reputation and workplace relations.

Pearson says the process was a foregone conclusion. “Yet as soon as I was branded ‘Islamophobic’ for expressing concern about violent crime, I became a marked man,” he told The Telegraph. “It was clear that I had to be found guilty by the college; it became a witch hunt, and I had to be eliminated no matter what.”

Lord Young of Acton, who founded the Free Speech Union, condemned the dismissal. “The most striking aspect of this case is that the teacher was sacked at the behest of the NEU,” he said. “Once upon a time, trade unions used to stick up for workers threatened with the sack for speaking out of turn. Now, they side with management and actively try to get workers sacked, including their dues-paying members.”

Pearson says his long record of supporting Muslim students and asylum seekers proves the accusations against him are baseless.

He has now taken his case to an employment tribunal, alleging unfair and wrongful dismissal, harassment, and discrimination. His legal argument rests on the claim that his comments reflected protected philosophical and Christian beliefs; namely, the right to free expression, equal treatment under the law, and open debate on matters of public importance.

“I cannot allow what has happened to me to go unchallenged,” Pearson said. “It is a grave injustice that should concern everybody who cares about freedom. I am determined to fight for justice and for the freedom to raise legitimate concerns in public and private as part of national debates on extremely serious issues that impact us all.”

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