Facebook condemnation for Northants Police 'nuisance woman' post

The Facebook post prompted more than 400 comments and was later taken down

A police force has been condemned over a Facebook post about a "nuisance" woman given a criminal behaviour order.

Northamptonshire Police issued details about the order stopping Denise Wheeler going into a number of Daventry shops.

However, the post received over 400 comments, many of which suggested 47-year-old Ms Wheeler "needed help" rather than criminalisation.

The post, which police defended as an "appropriate response in the circumstances", has been taken down.

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As soon as it appeared online, the post, with the headline, "Nuisance woman served with criminal behaviour order" received a glut of replies.

Some people commented that the police should "be ashamed", and one that the situation had been "made 10 times worse".

One said: "How typical of Northants Police for posting this, so compassionate as usual, no mention of the cry for help time and time again... you've gone and made her situation 10 times worse".

Another said: "Shame on whoever posted this."

'Difficult to manage'

The order stated that "nuisance woman" Ms Wheeler should not enter certain shops for two years, or act in a manner that was likely to "cause nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress" to any other person not of the same household in Daventry.

It states she must not throw items at people, property or vehicles, and she is banned from contacting, directly, or indirectly, specific named individuals.

Northamptonshire Police said although the post had sparked a wider debate on mental health, the criminal behaviour order was issued by a court and it was important the public had knowledge of it.

"A decision was made to take it down... because the vast amount of comments on Facebook - many of them negative and entirely without merit - were proving too difficult to manage.

"This was an appropriate response in the circumstances," it said.