Sunday, October 13, 2013

DID CYBER-BULLIES KILL SIMON ABBOTT


Dear Readers,

This is Part 1 of an extensive investigation that will hopefully help to one day make cyber-bullying a criminal offence in every civilised country in the world.
NOBODY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DIE THIS WAY 

There’s lots more to come so keep looking at my Blog


It's a terrible shock shock to find a Contact Jersey Police urgently message on your blog. Cold sweat floods over you. You don’t want to phone because you know what’s coming. Your 47 year old son, your only remaining relative in the United Kingdom, lives in Jersey and you are half the world away in South Africa. The situation is made even worse because his sister and only sibling had died in England in particularly tragic circumstance four years earlier, aged 42. Then it was your son and not the Police who phoned, making it marginally less harrowing, if that was at all possible – Jon Abbott

Simon Abbott

         This is the story of evil, vicious and unrelenting cyber-bullies that all the indications are effectively killed Simon Abbott. He was so terribly slandered on social media for the last two years of his life that he was scared to leave his home unaccompanied.   
         The bullies sunk to such depths they even mocked the death of his sister.
         In a desperate plea for help to his advocate he wrote that he estimated that as many as 500 000 people had seen a series of Tweets posted over just one week-end calling him a con man, when there was not a shred of evidence to support this.
         Right up until the day he died they were still at it - another sarcastic post appeared with the aim of belittling him.


         When somebody dies it’s too late to say I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. Not that any of the bullies in this case showed the slightest sign of remorse.
         All this happened in the tiny, tax haven of Jersey, the English speaking island of 100 000 people in the Channel Islands just off the British and French coasts.
         Shockingly the bully leading the charge was none other than one of the island’s well known personalities and BBC Radio Jersey presenter Murray Norton. He was ably assisted by his photographer friend and member of the National Union of Journalists, Ian le Sueur.
Murray Norton
          And they are both denying they did anything wrong.

Ian Le Sueur
         They set a defamatory snowball rolling that gathered followers at a frightening pace. Many of them assumed that as Norton was part of the reputable British Broadcasting Corporation whatever he said must be true.  

Cyber-bulling is mostly associated with teenagers, but as this case proved people of any age can be just as juvenile and equally as cruel and unfeeling.
BREAKING: 30//10/2013 Norton announced on his 9-12 radio slot that today would be his last for the foreseeable future.

         One admitted in court papers that he called Simon a con merchant based on  nothing more than comments made by others on Facebook while another one conceded she had made a similar allegation at the suggestion of Mr Murray Norton.

MAIL ONLINE'S story
         And while all this was going on the BBC did nothing to stop it even though Norton’s boss, who claims to be a social media wizard, was aware of what was happening. The Jersey Police that deletes inappropriate posts from its own Facebook page also turned a blind eye in spite of the fact that Simon twice made complaints to it about being assaulted as a direct result of this bullying.
Simon was defenceless against this onslaught which began purely to stifle his efforts to successfully run the Samantha Abbott Trust he set up in memory of his sister (See my post Benjamin Squirrel – funeral organiser from Hell). In 2009 she leapt to her death from the top of a car park building in England after giving birth to her first and only child.
     
    Samantha had been suffering from post natal depression and that’s why Simon started a trust to raise awareness of this and to collect money to assist women in similar circumstances. It was registered with the Jersey Financial Services Commission as a not for profit organisation.
         People, many of whom Simon had never met, were whipped up on Twitter and Facebook into such a frenzy of hatred that violence was a constant threat.
         Here’s an example taken from court records.
Edgar Steinberg : From what I read I would  like to see this man being hit on his face. Twice. Honestly.
Simon Soar: I’d donate money to charity to see that.

An example of what Simon had to contend with
         Describing his feelings just after his sister died Simon wrote: It wasn’t a very good time for me because she had told me that she was having the baby to replace our Mum who had died not long before that. It was a huge shock when I suddenly got a call from the Police to say that my sister had taken her own life.
Another example of the "Destroy Simon" campaign
         A self employed software developer he had no previous experience of raising money for charity. As a result his initial projects turned out to be too ambitious to be practical, mainly because he kept trying to break a Guinness world record by using social media as his promotional vehicle. Then too, many people volunteered to help, but when it came to doing the work he got more excuses than assistance.
On the basis of these failures the bullies decided he must be a con man and they used social media to tell the whole world this, as if it was an established fact.
This scuppered any further money making ideas he had including perhaps his most envied one, the Jersey Fashion Show. At this he planned to auction clothes he obtained from celebrities.
What must have surprised his detractors immensely was that he was extremely successful. Donations of clothes kept coming from people like David and Victoria Beckham, Lilly Allen and many others.
And BBC Jersey’s website carried a glowing report on this.


Part of the story on BBC Jersey's website

It looked ominously as though it was no coincidence that Norton claimed to be an expert in charity fund raising where he’s been directly involved with over 2-million pounds of local fund raising.
            Had Simon trespassed on his sacred patch, was the question crying out to be answered.
         At one stage Norton challenged my son on Facebook to put the items you claim to have from the famous to good use. I’ll auction them for some people in real need, instead of fake events that help no one, even those of us trying to raise funds.
         Inevitably the bashing both figuratively and physically took its toll on Simon’s health. He wrote that in August 2011 he was signed off work and am in receipt of sickness benefit from anxiety and stress.
         He had almost come to the end of the line in his efforts to make the Samantha Abbot Trust a charitable reality while his own life continued to be bullied away.
         The medical diagnosis I gathered was that Simon died of a heart attack. But Jersey’s Viscount who conducts inquests as the coroner is currently getting expert advice as to whether or not the cyber-bulling contributed to Simon’s death.
         However all the evidence that I obtained shows that there can be no doubt that this was the case. My own doctor told me that if a person with a heart problem was subjected to excessive stress this could easily tip them over the edge.

          AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I  BELIEVE
                          HAPPENED TO SIMON 
                                            
*In future episodes I’ll tell you what the bullies said about Simon; how the BBC protected their presenter; how a bank took the opposite view to the Corporation as well as the many other aspects of this case, which is likely to be a long running series on my Blog.       

9 comments:

  1. This has already raised considerable interest locally (on the small island of Jersey)

    http://stuartsyvret.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-bbc-its-hate-campaigning-and.html

    Sadly this comes as little surprise as the local BBC franchise has a track record of promoting hate sites and paedophile protecting sites as documented here:

    http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/bbc-edging-toward-revival-of-savile.html

    BBC Jersey has over the decades become the mouthpiece of the semi-independent Jersey Government, which itself has gone feral and mad on power and hubris and judicial malpractice.

    http://stuartsyvret.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-crown-and-newspeak-justice-part-1.html?commentPage=2
    (takes you to the 2nd page of comments)

    For the leaked transcript of the Jersey government's debate on the (illegal) suspension of the honest Jersey Chief of Police following the main child abuse investigation and prior to the completion of enquiries into multi-million Planning corruption and alleged serial rape by members of the oligarchy. See:

    http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-transcript-of-in-camera-debate.html

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  2. Internet bullying is a major problem in Jersey and sadly some of the blogs listed above are notorious for it.

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  3. Secret court cases and super injunctions are used in Jersey to try to force the silencing of bloggers. Jersey's most infamous troll was convicted after making recorded death threats in which he bragged about his support from government or police insiders. The Data Protection Department covertly and unaccountably helped this troll take action in secret court against blogger Stuart Syvret who reported factually about the troll. The court made up some new irrational and unprecedented laws but failed to silence Mr Syvret, a popular long-term former Jersey senator.

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  4. So Sorry Mr Abbott Simon Deserved Better I Like Every One Else Wants To Know The Truth

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  5. So sorry for your loss. This turns my gut. I have also done a blog to help highlight the issues. There are still some people in Jersey who refuse to be silent on things that matter.

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  6. Really gutted to read this. I went to school with Simon and have recently been re-reading my diaries of 1977-1980. I think he was actually my first friend at Shipston-on-Stour high school that I hadn't already known before I started there (met him through Nicholas and James Talbot both of whom were at my junior school) - we drifted apart (being eleven or whatever) but I have good (if somewhat hazy) memories of both him and Samantha. This is a terrible thing to happen and I hope you find justice.

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  7. at the time I was following some of the Simon Abbott discussion on facebook. I left no comments as I knew nothing about the man. I was certainly not left with the impression of him being a conman, but with the impression of a person trying, but struggling, to successfully organise fund raising events. Its remarkable how quickly people jump on board bandwagons without question.

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  8. I've come across this blog because I was google searching for 'cyber bullying of tony abbott', the prime minister of Australia. The guy has some really questionable policies for our nation and personally I wouldn't vote for him, but it sickens me when I see adults slandering things about him, in which a lot of the time aren't even true, they've just senselessly reshared posts from others assuming that they're true. Regardless of whether the person being bullied is a saint or not a saint, it sets an example for our kids on Facebook that adults seem fit to cyber-bully.

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  9. Press Release from Murray Norton
    I learned last night that Murray Norton is standing in the forthcoming elections for Deputy in St Brelade, Number 1. Today's guest posting is therefore a press release which I received from Murray, and which I am sharing with my readers.

    Press Release from Murray Norton

    PRESS RELEASE
    Embargoed until 00.01 22nd August 2014

    Following many requests, having sought advice from family, friends and those with extensive political experience and after careful consideration, I am delighted to declare my intention to stand for election as Deputy in the Parish of St Brelade, District No.1.

    St.Aubin is not only where I live, but also where my wife and I run two successful restaurants. This is clearly the right district for me to represent.

    As many will know, my background has been in the media, with both BBC Radio Jersey & Channel 103fm and on stage in the world of entertainment. In business I have worked within the hospitality industry with restaurants and previously in retail. I have throughout this time committed more than the past thirty years to charitable fundraising for local charities and those in need. I am positive that the skills learnt during these times will enable me to represent the wishes of the people of this district.

    I have, as of this week retired from presenting radio programmes after thirty years to focus on listening to the issues and concerns of those I hope to represent and to prepare for the forthcoming election campaign.

    My manifesto will be published on the 17th September 2014 for the nominations meeting.

    Thank you
    Murray Norton

    ReplyDelete