CYBER WOLF HUNT - ONE DOWN & ....

Dear Readers,

         It’s amazing how things turn in this life. One minute you’re the top dog and the next your nose is being rubbed in the dirt.

         A short while ago BBC Radio Jersey presenter Murray Norton was leading a pack of cyber-wolves relentlessly howling for Simon Abbott’s blood on Twitter and Facebook. The only thing that stopped them was Simon’s tragic death aged just 47 (See my posts TALKING ILL OF THE DEAD; DID CYBER – BULLIES KILL SIMON ABBOTT etc).

Metamorphosis of MURRAY NORTON

         Like all bullies Norton needed the support of his pack of 5, 10 or goodness knows how many. They were hunting this one man determined to stop him raising money for a post natal charity he set up in memory of his sister Samantha Abbott.

         You need to be really brave to mount a campaign with those odds in your favour. But that’s what wolves do. They don’t last long as loners.

         Thanks to the FRIENDS OF SIMON on the Channel Island of Jersey the odds have now evened up and the pack is in disarray. But sadly not in time to save Simon.

         Significantly the alpha male Norton has just lost his BBC radio voice and he appears to be equally silent on social media.

         On 30 October Norton announced on his 9-12 slot that this would be his last  day for the foreseeable future.

Friends with NORTON since 2011

         Almost a year to the day earlier it was announced that Norton was re-joining BBC Radio Jersey. At the time Jon Gripton the BBC’s managing editor in Jersey said: Everyone knows Murray and there’s no doubt he’s the Island’s best music broadcaster. I’ve been asking for months and I’m thrilled he’s finally said yes to a weekday show back on the BBC.

GRIPTON in the flesh

         Norton was hosting a three hour show every week day. A freelance he started with the BBC 28 years ago and presented weekly shows until 2006 when he left for a stint on the Island’s commercial Channel 103.

         Now members of Jersey’s Parliament known as the States are at last making a move to outlaw cyber-bullying thanks in no small measure to member Deputy Trevor Pitman.

So something good might still come out of Simon’s death.

Pitman raised Simon’s case and asked the Home Affairs Minister Senator Ian Le Marquand if he was aware of any complaints to the police that the BBC was involved in cyber-bullying against an Islander who had subsequently died.

         The Senator replied: The circumstances of this death are the subject of an inquest and the States police are continuing to report to the Deputy Viscount (Coroner) in this regard.

         The Jersey Evening Post that has up to now completely ignored Simon’s horrendous experience reported that Le Marquand said later that he believed cyber-bullying was a problem. As a politician he expected this sort of thing as it went with the job. But if it got too bad he usually asked the police to investigate.

         He added: For certain people whose lives are much around Facebook and Twitter, and particularly young people who spend a lot of time online, the fact that they are being unfairly slagged off, threatened even, that is a very difficult experience for them.

         There is a need to protect vulnerable people.

         Who is Norton apart from being an ex-Jersey Radio DJ? Well if his internet CV is to be believed he has an impressive pedigree.

         He’s experienced most things in the media world. And apart from his radio DJing which I have already mentioned, he’s done online TV presenting from London; southern Spain and as far away as Dallas and Kentucky.

         He appeared on stage in a record breaking run of the musical Grease and played the landlord in the movie An Imaginary Summer.

         Another of his brags is that he’s the busiest compere in Jersey and an expert in charity fund raising having been directly involved with over 2-million pounds of local fund raising.

         No wonder he didn’t want Simon’s charity watering down his collections on the Island.

         But that’s not all. Norton writes for newspapers and magazines and is a qualified chef.

         He has two restaurants in Jersey, Murray’s and Mash where you can often see him serving at tables and chatting to his customers.

         So you would think that somebody with that kind of background would have been a lot more responsible than to sink to the social media underworld of cyber-bullying.

       He can now add NOTORIOUS CYBER-BULLY to his CV.

         Fortunately it looks as though good will triumph over evil with Jersey’s cyber-bullies set to get a much more potent version of their own medicine.

         FRIENDS OF SIMON you are winning. People like this need to be exposed. Thanks again. Just keep going.

         Regards,

         Simon’s Dad Jon.