Woman accused of 'trolling' McCanns found dead in hotel

[Perodicticus potto]

She said horrible, despicable, nasty things.

Perhaps she did. And?

 

[spangled]

This story is so sad. It's awful that even more tragedy has come out of whatever happened to little Maddie. I have seen far, far worse things posted on various social medias while sleuthing cases here (Heather Elvis in particular springs to mind). Yes the lady was posting online cruelly and somewhat obsessively, but I'm sad for her and her family that it caused the end of her life.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

Suicide is always a tragedy but it is an individual decision. I really don't think it is fair to blame anyone else for it.

 

[wfgodot]

Better to troll than to leave children unattended? Both unfortunate in the long run though, I reckon.

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself , and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
(John 8:7 KJV)

 

[Supernovae]

Post mortem inconclusive (toxicology results won't be back yet):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-post-mortem-fails-establish-cause-death.html

The article repeats the claim that she was confronted "about trolling the McCanns on Twitter" without mentioning that neither of the McCanns have a Twitter account, and that there doesn't seem to have been any suggestion that she ever had direct contact with them.

 

[Wolf Dreamer]

My understanding of the articles is that she was tweeting, NOT texting. She didn't have a high opinion of the McCann's, but she wasn't threatening them either, imo. (from reading her tweets). I am sickened by this... I do not understand what Martin Brunt/Sky were thinking when they ambushed her with cameras. Just heartbreaking.

All imo

I was disgusted when I saw their report originally - she clearly had no real idea what was going on when he doorstepped her, and more than likely had underlying mental issues that would cause her to behave so obsessively. It was extremely uncomfortable watching. To claim it was ok because they didn't reveal her real name, when her face, street and home were all clearly visible, is disingenuous in the extreme.

And for those talking about karma. You know what, what Sky did was as bad if not worse than anything this woman did. She needed help. They may also have compromised police investigations. A family has lost their mother - did they deserve that karma? I thought Burley was a nasty piece of work but Brunt is now rapidly becoming rhyming slang.

 

[iamnotagolem]

It irritates me to no end that they say she was "trolling the McCanns". By definition what she was doing was merely voicing her opinion on Twitter, there was no trolling. Again media hype to get attention.

 

[Lyall0814]

My understanding of the articles is that she was tweeting, NOT texting. She didn't have a high opinion of the McCann's, but she wasn't threatening them either, imo. (from reading her tweets). I am sickened by this... I do not understand what Martin Brunt/Sky were thinking when they ambushed her with cameras. Just heartbreaking.

All imo

Sky News were the tool used but discussion of the case has become a problem for British media as a whole, one they just don't know how to deal with. Brenda wasn't a ringleader but for some reason she was the only one picked on. Hopefully the Coroner will want to know why.

 

[Dymphna]

:blushing:

Sky News were the tool used but discussion of the case has become a problem for British media as a whole, one they just don't know how to deal with. Brenda wasn't a ringleader but for some reason she was the only one picked on. Hopefully the Coroner will want to know why.

:wagon:
:greetings:

Great first post! What is your opinion on WHY the British media have struggled for 7 years to "deal with" the McCann's and their never ending side show? Fear of lawsuits? Orders from someone not to dig too deep into the story? Interested in opinions on this because it's never sat well with me. :thinking:

Also like your point about motive(s) behind WHY Brenda. Leads to more :thinking:

:moo:

And, again... Welcome!!

 

[Little Jedi]

:blushing:

:wagon:
:greetings:

Great first post! What is your opinion on WHY the British media have struggled for 7 years to "deal with" the McCann's and their never ending side show? Fear of lawsuits? Orders from someone not to dig too deep into the story? Interested in opinions on this because it's never sat well with me. :thinking:

And, again... Welcome!!

:silenced: *Carter Ruck !*

 

[Lyall0814]

:blushing:

:wagon:
:greetings:

Great first post! What is your opinion on WHY the British media have struggled for 7 years to "deal with" the McCann's and their never ending side show? Fear of lawsuits? Orders from someone not to dig too deep into the story? Interested in opinions on this because it's never sat well with me. :thinking:

Also like your point about motive(s) behind WHY Brenda. Leads to more :thinking:

:moo:

And, again... Welcome!!

Thanks for the awesome welcome

But I meant discussion of the case by the public is a problem for the British media. I think we all know why anyone in press or broadcasting thinks twice and then thinks again about tackling it themselves, should anyone actually be so inclined (but there's never been much evidence of that).

Instead it appears they all see online 'trolling'/anonymity as the bigger issue and some media/charity sector people and politicians want to legislate to sort it out. There's nobody with a voice saying: hang on the case is actually about what happened to a young girl, not about what happened afterwards to her parents.

The case has become entangled with wider new technology/political issues and campaigning, and unfortunately Brenda was made the public face of this trolling 'problem' by Sky News. They were certainly very irresponsible. As were their helpers (who know very well who the worst offenders are, and that Brenda wasn't one of them).

She must have felt very alone. If Sky News had turned up on my doorstep I know I would have.

 

[Lyall0814]

There is a problem with online discussion of the case in the UK (and I've been one of those discussing it) but Sky News and their helpers (the ones who compiled the 'dossier' Martin Brunt got hold of) have made things much worse by their actions. It's now completely out of control after Brenda's death.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

:silenced: *Carter Ruck !*

I can never help thinking of Private Eye's nickname for them ....

 

[Supernovae]

:blushing:

:wagon:
:greetings:

Great first post! What is your opinion on WHY the British media have struggled for 7 years to "deal with" the McCann's and their never ending side show? Fear of lawsuits? Orders from someone not to dig too deep into the story? Interested in opinions on this because it's never sat well with me. :thinking:

Also like your point about motive(s) behind WHY Brenda. Leads to more :thinking:

:moo:

And, again... Welcome!!

Much of the British media love black and white stories that shift papers/get viewers. They can profess a variety of positions and even go 180 degrees on themselves but they will never admit error. At the beginning of the McCann saga it was the perfect human interest story. In addition many in the press identified with the McCanns and felt that they were "people like them." The media itself became very much part of the story within hours of Madeleine's disappearance (some would say they were used by the McCanns). This all changed after the McCanns were made Arguidos, with sections of the media testing the water for a radically different version of events. With a fast moving and gripping story they were competing with each other to break the most exciting news and has a result began printing stories far more lurid than the facts would support, perhaps calculating that the McCanns would soon be charged and couldn't possibly sue. When the charges failed to stick, the McCanns came back with a vengeance suing various news organisations for sums in the millions of pounds, and they also rode the aftermath of the News International hacking scandal. The media then performed another reverse ferret, not so much acknowledging error or apologising (something they're incapable of doing), as completely memory holing the fact that the McCanns were ever implicated as official suspects within the enquiry, and now treat the suggestion of McCann culpability as something only trolls, cranks or conspiracy theorists could possibly believe.

 

[Supernovae]

Inquest verdict: suicide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-31982088

Brenda Leyland, 63, from Leicestershire, was found dead after she was confronted by Martin Brunt from Sky News over the abuse.

Mr Brunt told the inquest in Leicester he had been "devastated" by her death.

Coroner Catherine Mason concluded she had killed herself and called for sales of helium to be regulated.

...

None of the messages sent by Mrs Leyland were directed personally at the McCanns, who have "no significant presence" on social media.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/20/sky-news-mccann-brenda-leyland

The news channel’s crime correspondent, Martin Brunt, told an inquest that Brenda Leyland, 63, said she had thought of “ending it all” but that she was “feeling better now”. He said he thought the remark – made days after he had confronted her – was “a throwaway line”.

Leyland was found dead in a hotel room in Leicester on 4 October last year, two days after Brunt’s report aired on Sky.

“I was devastated and I still am,” Brunt told the inquest at Leicester town hall. “The enormity of what happened will always be with me.”

Coroner Catherine Mason heard Leyland was a proud woman whose standing in her community meant everything to her, and who suffered depression and had made a previous suicide attempt.

...

Leyand’s younger son, Ben, who was not present, said in a statement she was a loving mother, a proud and stubborn woman, and “could not bear to think she could be disliked by those in her community”. He said she suffered from extreme bouts of depression and anxiety and was on medication.

Before the Sky News approach, she had been upset by a “fractious” dispute with a neighbour over an issue concerning a wall.

He had “no doubt” from the panic in his mother’s voice when she telephoned to tell him of the Sky News incident that “this was the final straw that pushed her then to do what she did”.

He said his mother was “completely destroyed” by what had occurred. He was trying to organise legal advice for her, he said. In her last email to him, she said she felt “cheerier”.

...

The inquest heard between November 2013 and September 2014, using the Twitter ID @sweepyface, she had tweeted or retweeted 2,210 posts, of which 424 mentioned the McCanns. Her tweets did not constitute a criminal offence, the inquest heard.

Brunt approached her after a dossier of tweets about the McCanns was passed to him by a source, whom he declined to reveal. The coroner said she could not compel him to reveal it and that Brunt was not accused of any criminal offence.

...

Leyland had not accessed Twitter after Brunt’s approach and would not have seen “disturbing” tweets about herself, which are being investigated, the inquest heard.