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.        

TALKING ILL OF THE DEAD - THE JERSEY WAY

Dear Readers,

         My dead son Simon Abbott has become a sort of game show football in the Channel Island of Jersey. The cowards were kicking him about on Facebook now that he’s not around to defend himself.

         And the game’s promoter was none other than Tony Bellows that lover of the truth and defender of cyber-bully Murray Norton (See my post DEFENDING MURRAY NORTON by Tony Bellows)

BREAKING: 30/10/2013 BBC Radio Presenter Murray Norton announced today on his 9-12 slot that it was his last day for the foreseeable future.

         Not content with his long winded defence of Norton on his blog Tony’s Musings, Bellows had to have another punch at Simon by starting a Facebook debate on the Politics Jersey Forum so that everybody could join in.

        

TONY BELLOWS

He began it to discuss Britain’s Mail on Sunday splash about Norton and my son’s death headed BBC man’s Twitter bullying campaign helped kill my son.

         I followed this with DID CYBER-BULLIES KILL SIMON ABBOTT? & CYBER WOLVES HUNTING SIMON ABBOTT on my blog.

         Through out all this bad publicity Norton, who had previously been so outspoken in running down my son on Twitter and Facebook, remained mum.

         The Mail’s report ended Our calls to him went unanswered.

         South Africa’s Sunday Afrikaans newspaper Rapport got the same brush off.

         And on Tony’s Facebook page Jacques Chartier rightly commented: Murray had the chance to respond. Why didn’t he?  

         A guilty conscience perhaps or more likely the BBC had told him to lie low, at least until my complaint to it had been finalised.

Anybody seen MURRAY NORTON lately?

         Alternatively may be he was relying purely on his friend Tony to bellow enough on Facebook and anywhere else to convince everyone that he had done nothing wrong.

   

      Jill Gracia summed up Tony’s efforts perfectly with these very appropriate words on the Forum that Bellows was moderating: I have read every single comment on this thread, and all I can say is, as a mother who has suffered the loss of a son, to speak ill of the dead is the most heartbreaking, obnoxious path anybody can take for the grieving parent/family. Not knowing the rights and wrongs of this case let us wait until the true facts become known, and lest we forget Murray Norton is still around to give his ‘take’ on this. Simon Abbott is not and therefore an easy target for the knockers. Let him RIP and give the family some respect rather than airing all the dirty linen in public.

A 2009 tribute that is just as relevant today

         You would think that Bellows would have been more in line with Jill’s thinking having lost his partner Annie in 2009 - the same year that Simon’s sister Samantha died.

         And that tarot card reader of note Maureen Morgan, who is so adept at telling people their fortune, also took this opportunity to knock Simon once again. She was one of eight people including her friend Norton who Simon sued for libel damages in Jersey’s Royal Court.

         After cyber-bullying prevented Simon from holding events in Jersey to raise money for the Samantha Abbott Trust that he set up to help women with post natal depression, he tried to stage one in Britain in Exeter, Devon where his mother’s family had come from.

LOVE MUST BE CRINGING

         That was when Morgan joined Norton and others and effectively killed it. In the court papers Morgan admitted that she posted the following on Facebook: Please take note my Devon fiends – THIS IS A SCAM!  It is run by a man called Simon Abbott who conned and upset a lot of people in Jersey. He tried his luck in Guernsey but we managed to nip that in the bud. Please spread the word. Thank you x

         To show what a lap dog (I was sorely tempted to get the gender right) she was she added that she did this at the suggestion of Mr Murray Norton. Her defence was that she had reasonable grounds (no proof, mind you) for suspecting it was true.

         Presumably if a well known BBC presenter said it was then it must be so.

        But it wasn’t true and this was born out by the fact that neither the Police nor any other official body ever took any action against Simon.

         On Bellow’s knock Simon Abbott page Morgan piously stated: Cyber-bullying is unacceptable but that emphatically is not what happened to Simon Abbott. What he called bullying in my case was telling him publicly on Twitter , in my own name (that made a change as much of the bullying was done by various people using false names) that he was wrong to run a mum’s group on Twitter (MUMsInTheUK) anonymously and encouraging vulnerable women he was a mother too. He wanted to take out another libel action against me for stating the group was run by a middle aged man who was not in the UK, not understanding that the truth cannot be libel.

         Is Jersey not considered to be in the UK then?  

         On the Twitter Profile for MUMsInTheUK it clearly stated it was created by Simon in memory of his sister and it asked people to support the Samantha Abbott Trust.

         Does that make it anonymous Maureen?  Let’s hope, for the sake of your paying customers, that your tarot card readings are a lot more accurate than your Twitter Profile readings. Otherwise I’m afraid, to use your logic that would be classified as conning people.

         Maureen took time out from running down my son to have a go at Trevor Pitman, a member of Jersey’s Parliament. Bellows banned him from the Forum for as Trevor put it: Daring to criticise the handful of people who Bellows was letting have a free rein to attack a man who obviously could not answer back. It probably made him feel important being able to ban an elected politician whilst letting the people carrying out the abuse just carry on.

         But Trevor was not kicked out before the following spat with Morgan, which showed her up for what she is. 

Pitman: Thanks for the message from one of the contributors here, who shall remain nameless reference Maureen Morgan’s homophobic comment that my photo is ‘camp’ (Actually very happy with that as someone who stands up for equality for gay people). But hate filled AND homophobic – what a winning combination Maureen! Still, chuckle I certainly did when I read this; ‘Never mind Maureen’s abuse about your hands on your hips photo Trev. At least you can fit your hips in to a single frame photo.’ Humour – Isn’t it great for stress. 



MORGAN throwing her weight around

Morgan: I said you had a very camp pose – that isn’t homophobic. Camp is defined as ‘exaggerated effeminate mannerisms, posturing.’ My large number of Gay & lesbian friends will find it hilarious that you think I’m homophobic. It’s amazing how much you guess and have wrong about me (That’s exactly what you did Maureen where Simon was concerned). Grow up Trevor.

Morgan: And to clarify I don’t hate anybody, not even you Trevor, despite your aggressive and bullying tactics. The only thing I hate is the lies being told about Simon Abbott (And she knows better than anybody who one of the chief culprits were), the reason I got involved. 

Pitman: Maureen face facts. You are a bully and worse, you have a selective memory about your unwarranted abuse.

PITMAN

Pitman: So Maureen, if the only thing you hate is the lies being told about Simon Abbott, tell me this, having never before spoken to you let alone insulted you what prompted you, let alone warranted the ill-informed abuse aimed at me.

Back on the subject of my son.

Morgan: I’ve been criticised here for ‘attacking a dead man.’ I want to make it clear that my comments are made purely as a result of the issues being dragged into the spotlight by Jon Abbott via the Mail on Sunday. Had that not happened I would not have written another word about Simon Abbott on any public forum. Tony I would be grateful if you would let this comment stand to clarify my purpose please. 

         Bellows had been busy deleting some comments and warning people not to post anything which may be defamatory of Mr Abbott’s father. He added: The moderators have discussed this and think it would be wise to remove any entries which may have potential legal implications. This will be done shortly.

Ring any bells TONY?

         But it is anybody’s guess as to how many people saw certain abusive comments before they were deleted.  As Pitman said: Some may have been wiped by Bellows after my ban to make things look more balanced.

         Bellows did make this one concession to my son. Jacques Chartier has noted that I am friends with some of Simon’s detractors. That’s true, but I always research on a strict historical fact basis. That’s why some of the accusations levelled against Mr Abbott, that he abused women on anti-natal groups, I can see no evidence for.

The BELLOWS still fanning the flames

         As you showed on your blog Tony, you might research on a strict historical fact basis, but then you draw the wrong conclusions from the facts and get some of them wrong as well.

         I’m just wondering what people like Norton, Morgan and the numerous other cyber-bullies who flew in like vultures for the social media killing of my son will do now for amusement.

         Pick on somebody else I suppose, unless the authorities in Jersey do something about this at long last. Vultures can’t live on one kill forever.

                                                                  

         Regards,                                                          

         Jon

Note: I’m not finished yet. There are still some more cyber-bullies who need to be named and shamed. That may be the only way to clip their wings and keep them grounded, at least temporarily, if that’s possible.