What Happened to the £60,000 Raised for a Retired Officer's Legal Case?

Staff inside the Free Speech Union raised concerns that the organisation would need to explain how it spent roughly £60,000 donated by the public for the legal case of Julian Foulkes, a retired police officer. The problem: his case was handled by a lawyer working for free (The Guardian).

"Pro bono" means a lawyer takes a case without charging a fee. So if no legal fees were paid, donors and the public could reasonably ask where the donated money went.

An internal email sent by a senior staff member in July 2025 said Foulkes could be "quietly sidelined" and that the group would need to account for the money. A former employee told The Guardian the crowdfunded money was "just a big joke to everyone" inside the organisation.

The Free Speech Union was founded in February 2020 by Conservative member of the House of Lords Toby Young. It took up Foulkes's case after the 71-year-old retired officer from Gillingham, Kent, was arrested and handcuffed at his home roughly 18 months before the Guardian's August 2026 report. His arrest followed a social media post about antisemitism. Kent Police later apologised, and the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner demanded answers from the force over the detention.

With the Free Speech Union's backing, Foulkes launched a legal action against Kent Police for wrongful arrest. The group's crowdfunding appeal quickly raised £50,000, then raised its target to £100,000. By May 2025, the BBC reported £35,000 had been raised toward a £50,000 target. The Guardian's August 2026 report, citing roughly £60,000, replaces that earlier figure. Kent Police ultimately awarded Foulkes an out-of-court settlement of £20,000.

Foulkes's legal action was handled free of charge by a London-based solicitor, according to sources and the Free Speech Union's own social media posts. That is what triggered the internal alarm.

Toby Young has pushed back against the suggestion that the case cost the organisation nothing. He said the case was not handled exclusively pro bono, that another lawyer was involved, and that Foulkes had separate legal costs. Young also said any funds raised beyond what was needed for Foulkes's legal costs were redirected to pay for legal costs in other similar cases, and not for any other purpose.

Foulkes himself declined to answer questions about whether the Free Speech Union gave him money. He told The Guardian his case was "done and dusted" and "water under the bridge."

The episode comes at a sensitive moment for the Free Speech Union, which says it has fought more than 6,000 cases on behalf of individuals who have been "cancelled or silenced" across the political spectrum. The organisation's website says it has helped over 6,000 people who got into trouble for expressing a controversial opinion or exercising lawful free speech at college, at work, or on social media.

The broader context here is about trust. The Free Speech Union relies on public donations, and its model depends on donors trusting that their money will be spent on the specific cases they were asked to support. Young's statement that surplus funds were redirected to other cases offers one answer, but it also raises a question: were donors to the Foulkes appeal told their money might be spent elsewhere? No evidence in the available reporting confirms that donors were informed of any reallocation.

The gap between the settlement Foulkes received (£20,000) and the amount raised (£60,000) is likely to draw more scrutiny, especially since the legal work was done for free. Whether the Free Speech Union publishes a clear breakdown of its spending on the case may determine whether this stays an internal matter or grows into a larger credibility problem for an organisation whose central promise to supporters is that it will fight, and fund, their legal battles.