A grandmother who pinned placards to her MP’s constituency office door calling for a ceasefire in Palestine says she was appalled when four policeman turned up at her door to arrest her.

April Bennett, aged 67, had been up late preparing to ask a question about Palestine at Cornwall Council’s full meeting on January 17 when was woken by her husband.

He told her there were some people downstairs to see her, but when she went down into  the kitchen of her home in Veryan, on the Roseland Peninsula still in her nightie there were four policeman there.

They told her she was being arrested on suspicion of alleged criminal damage to Truro and Falmouth MP Cherilyn Mackrory’s constituency office.

A video of the visit by police to her house can be seen above.

She said she was so shocked she actually fainted. “I was appalled and shocked, completely in shock,” she said. “I was so shocked that I fainted with my head on the table as you can see in the video. My inclination was to say as little to them as possible.

“They weren’t rude, they weren’t intimidating but the fact they were there was very intimidating. If my grandchildren had been there it could have been absolutely horrific.”

She added: “However, you could say they were just doing their job.”

The police searched the house and took away items concerning Palestine but then de-arrested Mrs Bennett on the condition that she attended the police station voluntarily for interview.

Mrs Bennett claims she pinned the placards to the MP’s constituency office after she failed to to get a response to her follow-up emails about, what she called genocide, in Palestine, after Mrs Mackrory initially replied.

In a statement Cherilyn Mackrory said: “It is not appropriate for me to make a comment on an ongoing police investigation. I fully support people’s right to hold different opinions on any subject.

“I am happy to speak with any of my constituents who contact me about the ongoing situation in Israel as with any other matter, and I have made my own position available on my website for everyone to read here: Cherilyn Mackrory's Blog (cherilynmackrorymp.blogspot.com).”

A Devon & Cornwall Police spokesperson said: “We are investigating two separate reports of criminal damage to properties in the Truro area and enquiries are ongoing.

"Due to this being a live and active investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

April is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Cornwall group. The group was formed after October 7 attacks last year when Hamas, which controls Palestine, carried out surprise dawn raids over the border into Israel and killed more than a thousand Israelis, the majority in cold blood, as well as taking hundreds of hostages. 

In response Israel invaded Palestine and has destroyed the city of Gaza and devastated the country killing over 25,000 Palestinians in the process.