British Man Arrested, Harassed For Months by Police After Posing With Shotgun While on Vacation in Florida
Jon Richelieu Booth posed with a shotgun while on holiday in Florida.
A British man says he endured weeks of intimidation and repeated arrests after posting a vacation photo with a shotgun while visiting Florida.
Jon Richelieu-Booth, a 55-year-old IT contractor, shared an image on LinkedIn on August 13 showing himself holding firearms at a homestead in Florida. What he considered a harmless holiday snapshot quickly spiraled into a 13-week ordeal.
According to Richelieu-Booth, police first appeared at his UK home to warn him that his online posts could “affect people’s feelings.” Even after he provided proof the photos were taken legally in the United States, officers arrested him on August 24. Although the charges were later dropped, police returned to his home after 10 p.m. the same night and arrested him again.
🚨 Two men. Two guns. Two very different stories in the UK.
2025: Jon Richelieu-Booth, a white IT consultant, posts a photo holding his legally owned shotgun on LinkedIn. Police arrest him at work, seize all his devices, keep him on bail for weeks. Charges eventually dropped.… pic.twitter.com/bUndAudkL0
— 🇬🇧 British Bronson (@BritishBronson) November 29, 2025
Bail documents accused him of possessing guns “to frighten” others and even included a stalking allegation tied to his having posted an image of a property online.
Over the next several weeks, officers returned to his home three more times. In October, he was arrested again for an alleged breach of bail. Prosecutors then attempted to pursue an additional public-order charge over another social media post. He was scheduled to appear in Bradford magistrates’ court on November 25, but that case was also withdrawn.
With police seizing his electronic devices, Richelieu-Booth says his IT contracting work was brought to a standstill.
“I’ve been put through 13 weeks of hell,” he told The Yorkshire Post. “When did we become a society where, instead of disagreeing with someone, people go straight to the police?”
He says he now plans to file a case against the police and seek substantial damages.
West Yorkshire Police declined to comment, saying it would be inappropriate to do so while a formal complaint may be pending.
The case has also caught the attention of Elon Musk, who cited the incident as further evidence of why the United States needs the Second Amendment.
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