None I would guess.

Similar messages were going about after Baby P and I don't recall seeing any reports of innocents getting a shoeing over that.

Yes but is having an impact on at least one innocent persons life already TC, as per the news reports.

The whole lynch mob mentality seems to be getting really out of hand, and I don't remember it being this bad?

I wouldn't be so sure about that - drooling halfwits attacking a paediatrician because they thought - thought being in the loosest sense - she was a paedophile?

I think that turned out to be an urban legend, but there are enough mobs with pitchforks to make it pretty believable.

I thought that initially but I'm quite sure I read about in the paper. Mind you it was many moons ago so I have probably convinced myself I did.

No, it really did happen.

It will happen, for sure - I think there's been at least twelve women who have been mistaken for Maxine Carr for instance.


eta: sorry for going off on a tangenet - I just find all this fascinating. There's actually a C4 programme called 'Being Maxine Carr' about the women who were mistaken for her, that's viewable online here.

I've just looked and found this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4719364.stm

It has always been the case though, look the video footage of the braying mobs when these two lads were originally tried for the Bulger murder. I am not saying that it is right, but it has always, always happened.

I am not backing up vigilantism at all, especially if those idiots involved are totally unaware of the facts, but mob mentalitly has always been here I am afraid, and it will continue to be so (whether right or wrong) whenever something like this crops up.

Does anyone know if the guy in the text message actually exists?

Ah, a mixture of both true and untrue then - still wouldn't have happened had the media not been whipping up a storm, mind.

Yes he does TC, I'll PM you a link

I put that into my post above and deleted it because I couldn't make it fit what I was attempting to say.

But yes, the blame for this lays firmly at the media's door.

Fucking WOW.

That's the incident mentioned in the bottom of the article I linked to.

Quite. That's the kind of ignorant people who'll make someone's life a misery over this.

Yes.

I saw yours too, but didn't quote them both.

So surely if these people are out there the question is how to stop it happening, isn't it?

Well the tabloids certainly don't help with the baying mobs, do they?

No, they don't. But they also can't be stopped from spreading such hysteria.

Going back a couple of pages but Partner had to have appointments with a counsellor when he worked in a prison. He absolutely hated it and couldn't get out of it so, yes it's available and it's compulsory.

I hope he gets himself a very good libel lawyer and crucifies all those responsible.