Trolls on the attack......

This from today's Irish Independent, with new info re the case which iirc was never reported nor in the PJ files. Does it shout out at you too?

btw the comments I saw directed towards the authors on twitter might have been a bit stronger than my own, which were critical of mistakes and omissions, but I did not see a hate-fest.


http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/authors-face-web-abuse-for-stance-on-mccanns-30638826.html


Sunday 5 October 2014
Authors face web abuse for stance on McCanns
Couple call for crackdown on ­internet 'trolls' after their book clears missing Madeleine's parents, writes Ralph Riegel
Ralph Riegel Twitter

A vicious internet campaign has been unleashed against the Irish-based authors of a book which exonerates Gerry and Kate McCann of any involvement in the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine, in Portugal seven years ago.

Anthony Summers and his wife, Robbyn Swan, have been subjected to a campaign of abuse, mostly via Facebook and Twitter, because their investigative book, Looking for Madeleine, vindicates the missing girl's parents.

The Waterford-based authors, who between them have written eight award-winning biographies and investigative books, now believe something has to be done to tackle the "feeding frenzy" on the internet which targets individuals. Kate and Gerry McCann also suffered abuse in the months and years after their daughter went missing.

Madeleine vanished from her parents' apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz just nine days before her fourth birthday on May 3, 2007.

The couple were having dinner with friends just a few metres from where their three children, including ­Madeleine, were sleeping, when the youngster vanished.

The monitoring system the couple set up didn't work properly that evening, and, because they weren't physically in Apartment 5A, they have become the targets of a witch-hunt by internet 'trolls' who blame them for what happened.

Despite one of the biggest manhunts in European police history, no trace of Madeleine has ever been found.

The McCanns launched an appeal to find their missing daughter and continue to campaign for information on Madeleine's disappearance.

The UK is currently funding a Scotland Yard probe into the youngster's disappearance that could cost more than €14m.

Anthony and Robbyn, who are based in west Waterford but don't want their precise location given for personal security reasons, said they were completely taken aback by the savage nature of the internet abuse they were subjected to. The book, an analysis of the events of May 3, 2007, revealed that there was no evidence as to what happened to Madeleine and no forensic indication that the little girl had suffered harm.

Their research also showed just how many convicted paedophiles were in the Algarve at the time and how a number of UK children had been the subject of attempted attacks.

Three of those paedophiles have died in the years since - one of whom took his own life after the death of a five-year-old girl in Switzerland just three months after Madeleine's disappearance.

A dossier on the abuse against the McCanns - similar in nature to the abuse directed against the authors - has now been submitted to the Metropolitan Police by a group of concerned internet 'watchers'.

"As part of our research into the hate campaign, one of the people we interviewed was part of the group that recently passed a dossier and a letter of concern to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner," Robbyn explained.

"The internet attacks on the McCanns were so vicious and hateful they feared they could spill over into actual physical (attacks).

"As far as these internet trolls are concerned, we were informed about a week before our book came out that we should be very careful and very alert to the possibility that our book would become a target for these people.

"Sure enough, days before the book was published, it was being reviewed despite the fact people couldn't have seen the book."

Robbyn said the worrying aspect is that at least some of the online abuse and vilification appears to be organised.

"It is a combination of what cultural anthropologists call 'mobbing' where a group of people anonymously gang up on someone and it's then a feeding frenzy. They find a target and everyone moves in on that target."

The authors stressed that what the McCanns have been put through is nothing short of appalling given the ongoing rumours and innuendo.

"The truth is that there isn't any such evidence (as claimed online)," Anthony explained.

"This is an embattled couple who have vulnerable children."

When Looking for Madeleine was published, the authors were accused of being "mercenaries" and "agents for the McCanns".

"My daughter burst into tears over some of the things she read online. She was worried that her friends might read and believe the things that had been written about me," Robbyn said.

The priority for the authors now is that the Portuguese police continue to co-operate with the Scotland Yard inquiry and that no effort be spared to uncover the truth of what happened.

Anthony said the reality, as of now, is that no-one knows precisely what happened to Madeleine or if she is dead or alive, but he pointed out that a US study into the abduction of children aged under five years found that 56pc eventually turned up alive as older teens or even adults.

"No one has the right to remove from parents any hope that they might have," he said.

Freedom wrote:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-internet-trolls-devoid-4379575#ixzz3FCy39EAy

Remove all objects which won't take well to being kicked before reading this article.

I politely tweeted Ms Malone re her errors. The woman does not live in the Home Counties- afaik Leicestershire is in the East Midlands,but I stand to be corrected. More importantly, she accuses this woman of communicating directly with the couple by multiple texts. Not the case and possibly a cause for legal action by the woman concerned. Sloppy and inaccurate. Ms Malone's research should have told her many do not dislike the couple for irresponsibly enabling an abduction, but are asking questions based on published police files as to whether there was an abduction at all.

Thank you for the Irish interview, RD.

My personal feeling is that, although no doubt there was a regrettable small element of abuse, the majority of the backlash against the book is responsible and justified.

I still don't know whatever could have possessed an established pair of writers to have turned out such a badly researched book.

Freedom wrote:Thank you for the Irish interview, RD.

My personal feeling is that, although no doubt there was a regrettable small element of abuse, the majority of the backlash against the book is responsible and justified.

I still don't know whatever could have possessed an established pair of writers to have turned out such a badly researched book.  

A fat pay cheque from the Find Madeleine fund.

If they were hoping to retire comfortably on the proceeds of the book, they will have been sadly disillusioned.

We will of course know when the next honest and transparent set of accounts are published what there is left in the Fund - unlikely I'd have thought to have been sufficient to support the Summers family for more than a week!

Yes I think they were very disillusioned. They assumed they were going to make a small fortune from it. Just like everyone else who has cashed in on poor Madeleine.

Although I'm sure they got a nice advancement prior to the release from a cheque written by a desperate Gerry.

I think this confirms that S&S were behind the dossier, it's part of a marketing strategy to increase sales of their book. The newspapers run with these stories because Madeleine sells papers, but for all the protesting in the papers - public opinion is not going to swing back the other way, as evidenced by the sales figures and the overview of comments online.

Yeah agree DarkestDawn.

Has anyone seen the vile abuse and hatred directed at the twins? I have heard something like taking them for their own protection, which I don't agree with anyway, but is there anything else?

Darkestdawn, you are so right. this is a desparate attempt by S & S on damage limitation to their reputation.

Amazon sales now about 48. There will be other sales where the publisher has supplied to bookshops in response to the prepublication publicity. Does anyone know if publishers supply on sale or return. But for sure sales terrible in the context of the amazing and positive publicity. The book is not exactly in the best sellers as they would have anticipated. I'm sure they got a large cheque as a commission to write the book but this is not now about money but about their reputation.

just been checking out the journalist who write the irish Independent story. Suspect he may know them or have interviewed them before which would question his objectivity. Summers & Swan live In County Waterford in the south of Ireland. They do not reveal their exact address as they are now (allegedly) so in fear of trolls. Ralph Riegel lives in Cork and is currently the Southern Correspondent of the Independent. he has worked for regional papers covering the South of Ireland including where the authors live. He also writes books - modern history/current crime. Ireland is a small place. I suspect his path has crossed with theirs before. IMO

I gather anyone reading the Irish paper would pick up these 2 factual errors below,

The couple were having dinner with friends just a few metres from where their three children, including ­Madeleine, were sleeping, when the youngster vanished.

The monitoring system the couple set up didn't work properly that evening, and, because they weren't physically in Apartment 5A, they have become the targets of a witch-hunt by internet 'trolls' who blame them for what happened.


The distance was much greater.
What monitoring system put in place did not work?

There was no monitor to fail was there....apart from the one in the Payne apartment?

I hope to God what I am reading on twitter is not true!!

Already the mass outrage has calmed down and is mostly forgotten, and now that the Sunday's have provided their input, it's basically all over, the public have already moved on and the story has all but disappeared from the media.

However, the investigation continues, thousands of people still view the McCanns with suspicion, sales of Summers & Swan's epic tome have stagnated at a laughable 48 independent copies sold, and the arsenal of defence mechanisms at TM's disposal seems to be empty, gone are the days when a single McCann story could hold the front page for days and I very much doubt there will be any charges against anyone in the "trollgate" saga

I don't do Twitter but have seen a weird post elsewhere that Brenda Leyland might have died. Is that the same information?

candyfloss wrote:I hope to God what I am reading on twitter is not true!!

I don't do twitter, what's allegedly happening Candy?

God, please don't let this be real, I am soo shocked.

Please read McCann hashtag for yourselves........I hope this is not a joke, well in a way I hope it is.

I cannot believe it ...

All I can see is a link to a facebook page allegedly of her son, but he doesn't seem to say anything about what happened or why etc, so not entirely convinced. I certainly hope it's not true though.

My gut reaction is that this is a wind-up.

https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.leyland/posts/10100942959448869?fref=nf

The alleged son's post on Facebook is eight hours old.

Wouldn't we have had something in the news by now?

Yes, I agree Freedom, also I don't think her son would just post I love you and will miss you forever, without any further info etc

Freedom wrote:My gut reaction is that this is a wind-up.

https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.leyland/posts/10100942959448869?fref=nf

The alleged son's post on Facebook is eight hours old.

Wouldn't we have had something in the news by now?

Is that allowing for the time difference USA

Los Angeles is indeed 8 hours behind U K time but I think the time showing for posts is correct for wherever in the world you happen to be.

Other people have posted comments between one and six hours ago.

I've just read elsewhere that his [Ben Leylands] timeline mentions his mother Brenda on July 19. There's also a photo of her

Freedom wrote:My gut reaction is that this is a wind-up.

https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.leyland/posts/10100942959448869?fref=nf

The alleged son's post on Facebook is eight hours old.

Wouldn't we have had something in the news by now?

Brenda Leyland's Facebook account seems to have gone/closed, I saw the link for it a while ago somewhere, but can't remember where now.

Perhaps her son is referring to the fact that her Facebook account is shut and he won't be able to contact her via that now or have access to it, just a thought but I may be completely wrong.