A SERIES OF online posts with identical wording make multiple false claims about Enoch Burke’s latest release from prison where he was recommitted last year for refusing to obey court orders.

The posts falsely claim that a UK court ordered his release and that he was imprisoned for refusing to use “gender ideology pronouns”, while they also misrepresent the date of his release.

“BREAKING: The High Court in the UK has ordered the release of teacher Enoch Burkefrom prison,” the posts read.

The near-identical posts have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on the platform X and tens of thousands of reactions on Facebook since being posted on 19 August, about 50 days after Burke’s actual release.

“He has spent nearly 700 days behind bars since September 2022 for refusing to use gender ideology pronouns in the classroom, citing his deeply held Christian beliefs.”

One of these posts was also shared by the verified Facebook page of Simon Evans, the deputy leader of Lancaster County Council, and a member of the UK’s Reform Party.

It is puzzling that a UK politician would share the false claim that Burke’s release was ordered by the UK High Court.

Burke was actually imprisoned in Ireland, and his latest release from prison (his fifth) was ordered by an Irish High Court judge.

Further, the news was not “breaking” on 19 August — it had already been reported on 1 July.

But most notably, Burke was not arrested or imprisoned for his beliefs, or for refusing to use someone’s preferred pronouns.

This is a persistent claim online and has been spread by notable figures, including Elon Musk, despite being repeatedly debunked.

Each time Burke was arrested, it was for trespassing at a school, in breach of a court order.

Burke was jailed for contempt of court multiple times for breaching an injunction ordering him to stay away from Wilson’s Hospital School in Westmeath.

The orders came following his dismissal by the school for gross misconduct after he interrupted a religious service and confronted the school’s principal in 2022.

Burke says he confronted the principal over a message sent to teachers asking them to call a student who was transitioning by their preferred pronouns.

The principal who sent the request has since left Wilson’s for another school, and in court proceedings, the child who had been the subject of that email was described as a “former student”.

The last time Burke was imprisoned, he was told by the judge he could purge his contempt, allowing him to walk free, by saying he would no longer illegally trespass at the school.

Burke would not have had to call a child by their preferred gender pronouns, or even admit he was wrong about how he has behaved for his contempt to be purged.

The former teacher has been released from custody multiple times without purging his contempt, often during school holidays in the hopes that he would abide by the court’s orders against trespassing at the school. Each time, he resumed protesting and trespassing once the school term began again.

Since the posts were made, Burke returned to Wilson’s School on 27 August, the first day of the new year, where he reportedly stayed until classes ended at 3.30pm.

He had been formally dismissed from the school in May, following almost two years of legal challenges.

Burke was granted permission by the High Court in July to challenge his dismissal.

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