Police Scotland say they will take no further action over tweet posted by trans activists which revealed JK Rowling’s home
- Tweet by trans activists revealing JK Rowling’s home was posted last year
- Police Scotland said inquiries were carried out and no criminality established
- Harry Potter author said last year that the photo made her a victim of ‘doxxing’
A tweet posted by trans activists targeting JK Rowling and revealing her home will not be treated as criminal, Police Scotland have said.
The Harry Potter author, 56, contacted officers after campaigners posted a photograph on Twitter of her Edinburgh house in November that revealed the property’s address.
The now deleted social media post included trans activists standing by the house and carrying placards with slogans such as ‘trans liberation now’.
Ms Rowling, who has been criticised in the past for her views on transgender people, said the photo made her a victim of ‘doxxing’ – the act of publishing private personal information about an individual or organisation, usually online, to enable others to take action.
Today Police Scotland confirmed inquiries were carried out and no criminality was established.
JK Rowling, 56, contacted officers after campaigners posted a photograph on Twitter of her Edinburgh house in November
Last year the Harry Potter author condemned three trans activists for trying to ‘intimidate’ her after they protested outside her house before posting a picture of her address on social media.
In November last year she tweeted: ‘I have to assume [they] thought doxxing me would intimidate me out of speaking up for women’s sex-based rights.
‘They should have reflected on the fact that I’ve now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out.
‘Perhaps, and I’m just throwing this out there, the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us.’
Downing Street criticised the targeting of JK Rowling by activists and the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I don’t think any individual should be targeted in that way.
‘We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect and that people are able to share their views as long as it is done in that fashion.’
The campaigners deleted the photo the day after it was posted.
They said the decision was made after they received ‘serious and threatening transphobic messages’.
All three activists later took down their Twitter accounts in light of the row.
In June 2020, Ms Rowling faced accusations of transphobia after she mocked an online article which used the words ‘people who menstruate’ instead of ‘women’.
Then, in September 2020, she faced renewed calls of transphobia after it was revealed the the villain in her latest book, Troubled Blood – written under Rowling’s pseudonym Robert Galbraith – was a male serial killer who dresses as a woman to slay his victims.
Last year the author took to social media to say that her address had been posted on Twitter
The author later clarified that she respected ‘every trans person’s rights to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them,’ and went on to say she would march ‘if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans’.
She then defended herself in a passionate essay on her website under the headline: ‘J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues.’
Harry Potter actors Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne, who stars in her Fantastic Beasts films, all criticised the author for her remarks.
Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series admitted that he felt he needed to stand up for transgender people.
He said that while he was ‘not an authority’ on the debate, he felt he had a responsibility to speak out in support of the trans community as ‘silence is louder’.
In an interview with Esquire, he said: ‘I am hugely grateful [for] everything that she’s done. I think that she’s extremely talented, and I mean, clearly, her works are genius.
In June 2020, Ms Rowling faced accusations of transphobia after she mocked an online article which used the words ‘people who menstruate’
She was then embroiled in another controversy after it was revealed that the villain in her latest book Troubled Blood (right) is a male serial killer who dresses as a woman to kill his victims
‘But yeah, I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that…
‘Sometimes silence is even louder. I felt like I had to because I think it was important to. I mean, I don’t want to talk about all that… Generally, I’m not an authority on the subject.
‘Just out of kindness, and just respecting people. I think it’s a valuable group that I think needs standing up for.’
However, a collection of over 50 actors, writers, playwrights, journalists later joined together to pen a letter in response to ‘hate speech’ directed against Ms Rowling.
Signatories of the letter include Booker winner Ian McEwan, actor Griff Rhys Jones, actress Frances Barber and playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.
Last December JK Rowling was among those criticising Police Scotland after they announced they would record rapes by offenders with a penis as being committed by a woman if the attacker ‘identifies as a female’.
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