Met Police Investigated Journalist Who Questioned Cambridge Professor
A four-month harassment inquiry into an education reporter’s emails to Jason Arday was closed without action and without the reporter being interviewed.
The Metropolitan Police opened a harassment inquiry into an education journalist who had emailed questions to Jason Arday, the Cambridge professor facing scrutiny over his academic record and biographical claims.
The force closed the case in February without taking action and without interviewing the journalist, Jack Grove.
The Met confirmed that it received an allegation of harassment on 18 November 2025 and closed the case four months later.
Grove said officers told him not to contact Arday again because the professor’s mental health had allegedly been affected.
Grove said he was never told who made the complaint or precisely what conduct was said to amount to harassment.
Grove had contacted Arday, Cambridge University and Liverpool John Moores University while examining allegations of overlap between Arday’s doctoral thesis and another student’s work.
Liverpool John Moores University reviewed the doctorate and did not find intentional academic misconduct, citing shortcomings in supervision and Arday’s learning disabilities.
The allegations, however, have continued to prompt calls from some academics for further scrutiny.
Carter-Ruck, acting for Arday, wrote to Grove’s employer suggesting that its apparent pursuit of the matter might be racially motivated.
Arday has maintained that he is not dishonest, has acknowledged errors in earlier work and said that autism and a learning style based on mimicry contributed to some of the problems identified.
Separate questions have been raised about claims on Arday’s public profiles and in accounts of his charitable fundraising and endurance running.
He has corrected a claim that he ran 600 miles in six days, saying the distance took 12 days, and said a £5.5 million charity total referred to a wider fundraising group rather than money raised by him alone.
Glasgow University and Ohio State University have said they have no record of the visiting professorships he claimed.
The police inquiry has intensified debate over the boundary between persistent journalistic questioning and harassment, particularly when the subject is a public academic facing serious allegations.
The Met’s decision means no further action will be taken against Grove over the complaint.
The force closed the case in February without taking action and without interviewing the journalist, Jack Grove.
The Met confirmed that it received an allegation of harassment on 18 November 2025 and closed the case four months later.
Grove said officers told him not to contact Arday again because the professor’s mental health had allegedly been affected.
Grove said he was never told who made the complaint or precisely what conduct was said to amount to harassment.
Grove had contacted Arday, Cambridge University and Liverpool John Moores University while examining allegations of overlap between Arday’s doctoral thesis and another student’s work.
Liverpool John Moores University reviewed the doctorate and did not find intentional academic misconduct, citing shortcomings in supervision and Arday’s learning disabilities.
The allegations, however, have continued to prompt calls from some academics for further scrutiny.
Carter-Ruck, acting for Arday, wrote to Grove’s employer suggesting that its apparent pursuit of the matter might be racially motivated.
Arday has maintained that he is not dishonest, has acknowledged errors in earlier work and said that autism and a learning style based on mimicry contributed to some of the problems identified.
Separate questions have been raised about claims on Arday’s public profiles and in accounts of his charitable fundraising and endurance running.
He has corrected a claim that he ran 600 miles in six days, saying the distance took 12 days, and said a £5.5 million charity total referred to a wider fundraising group rather than money raised by him alone.
Glasgow University and Ohio State University have said they have no record of the visiting professorships he claimed.
The police inquiry has intensified debate over the boundary between persistent journalistic questioning and harassment, particularly when the subject is a public academic facing serious allegations.
The Met’s decision means no further action will be taken against Grove over the complaint.
