Brenda Leyland was a 63 years old retiree who lived alone with her pet dogs. She seemed to be just another nice old lady enjoying her retirement, but she had a secret. She had a Twitter account and she used it to publish hurtful messages about the parents of Maddie McCann; a child who had been kidnapped in 2007.
Brenda Leyland wasn't particularly vicious, but she was certainly persistent. Nearly 5,000 tweets over the last few years and almost all of them about the McCann family; accusing them of making money from their daughter's disappearance and stating that they deserved to spend the rest of their lives in misery.
Update March 2015
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.
On Wednesday October 1st, 2014, Sky News discovered her identity and sent a reporter to interview her. He remained out of sight until she emerged from her house and then he pounced. He asked if she had anything to say about her campaign against the McCann family, but she refused to make any comments. Then he told her that she had been reported to the police and would soon be questioned about her abusive tweets. Ms Leyland remained outwardly composed, but her blink-rate increased alarmingly and it was obvious that she was getting very nervous as she stopped the interview and got into her car.
On Thursday October 2nd, Ms Leyland called the reporter back to her home where she tried to explain herself, but it was too late; the damage had been done; the video had been broadcast; she had been recognised, and now the whole world was talking about her.
On Friday October 3rd, more reporters descended upon her home and, in an attempt to avoid any further embarrassment, she fled from her house and booked into a nearby hotel.
A lot of people in her position may have tried to brazen their way through the ordeal, but Ms Leyland was unable to do so. She felt completely humiliated and (I'm guessing) simply could not bear the thought of facing her friends and neighbours. In the space of a few days she had gone from being a well-respected member of the community to a hate-mongering old woman who took her pleasure from the pain of others. It was more than she could handle and the next day she committed suicide.
The sad thing is that she may have never been charged with any crime because she never threatened any violence
against the McCanns and had never made direct contact with them. Even if she had been charged (and
found guilty) she would have probably received only a fine and a
few hours community service.
Certainly she would have found it
difficult living in a town where everybody knew about her secret life
on the Internet, but if she had spent a few more days in the hotel she might have had enough time to calm down and think clearly. Perhaps she could have made arrangements to move into another area until the
publicity died down.
But she was a proud woman. She apparently enjoyed
her role as a pillar of the community and found it impossible to face
the accusing glances of her old friends who now knew the truth about
her. Perhaps she could have avoided those accusing glances by going to live with her son in America, far away from the scene of her alleged crime, but her pride got in the way. She knew what she had done, and she knew that her friends knew what she had done. Distance wouldn't be enough to erase her shame...
And now she's dead.
And that's a shame.
I feel sad because I have a feeling that if the police had told her they were investigating her activities (without having her identity become known to the public) she would have been so frightened that she would have immediately deleted her Twitter account and never again used the Internet to attack the McCann family. She would have gone back to being just another old-age pensioner. She could have lived another 20 or 30 years in happy retirement; sitting back; taking it easy, and watching her grandchildren grow up. Instead she is dead, and none of those things will happen. It's such a shame.
I wonder who is looking after her pets.
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