A criminal abuse of 'Stasi' police powers Pictures: GETTY

THE SINGLE most appalling aspect of the Allison Pearson story is that she was not told of what exactly she was accused.

- Ann Widdecombe

For readers not familiar with the detail, here is what happened. Allison, below, is a journalist with a Conservative-leaning newspaper and last Sunday she was visited by the boys in blue investigating a "non-crime hate incident" in respect of a tweet she had posted and deleted a year ago.

However, at the end of the visit she still did not know what the tweet was. The police simply would not tell her.

Natural justice demands that you must know what is alleged against you. Otherwise, how can you answer questions and defend yourself?