McCann troll commits suicide

Actually "sadness for" is what I mean rather than sympathy.

Flickety I think a mental disorder was probably involved in both cases - this one and in the case of the presumed killer of Alice. So, yes, a little sympathy should perhaps be allowable.

"The quality of mercy....."

I might add my sympathy is with the families, her son, the McCanns, Alice Gross's family and the family of the Latvian suspected of her killing. They are the ones that are really suffering.

In old-fashioned terms this lady chose to write poison pen messages to a family who suffered every parents nightmare.

People who write poison pen letters must expect at sometime to be identified and to be prepared to face the flak when that happens. Remember she sent out 4000 offensive messages, some very offensive about the McCanns. Would we have been so compassionate if #sweepyface had been identified as a 25 year old unemployed loner?

The man who has been accused of killing Alice Gross committed suicide, should we be sorry for him? Do you not think that he had mental health issues? Hasn't he been denigrated by the press in his absence, even though, as far as I know, he is only suspected not accused and could prove to be innocent?

If you commit crimes of hate, whether poison pen or murder, you must be prepared to deal with the fallout. Committing suicide could be seen as wimping out, not prepared to face other peoples justified reactions but going for the sympathy vote by killing yourself. That could apply to Alice Gross's killer as well.

I'm going to be careful what I say here, but there are many people who have very strong feelings about the McCanns, both positive and negative. Of course it is wrong to use the anonymity of the Internet to 'troll' others (I'm not even sure whether troll is a verb in this context), but from what I have read, there are far worse tweets and comments out there about the McCanns and I can't help feeling that she was perhaps an easy target for the media - she didn't hide her identity very well and could be dismissed as a 'mad old woman'. She may or may not have had mental health problems but either way, can it be right for the media to hound people? Slightly hypocritical when this is what they accused her of doing?

You're right re the article title ... and I have fallen into the trap too.

It said on our local news (East Midlands Today) that her son was in America studying law and that he had posted a nice message on her FB page.

Quite right Ana.

Virtually every newspaper yesterday had 'McCann Troll found dead' or similar on its front page. I found that in itself rather shocking. No matter what she'd done this woman was a human being.

It's dreadful! I agree with the rest the comments made.
I think poison pen letters have always been around though.

The internet just makes it so very much easier nowadays.

The world of conspiracy theorists is truly weird. I think people like this woman must have mental health problems, surely? (not trying to make excuses, just trying to understand it).

[And oops, I have just noticed a stray apostrophe in my OP - McCann's instead of McCanns. I must be suffering from the effects of seeing so much incorrect usage, that it has become normalised in my poor old brain].

"4000 vicious tweets"! 4000!!!!

Unbelievable! She must have been in a sorry state to do that. Shame her account wasn't closed down by the Twitter owners.I guess there has always been mentally unbalanced people in society and these days the technology is just there literally at their fingertips.

Cruel of the Sky people. They should have attacked the owners of Twitter.

DT article today says she was estranged from her son so maybe she was bitter about that but I would have thought that might have made her more sympathetic to others who had lost a child forever.

She, and others like her, have caused untold misery to a family suffering the most dreadful pain and grief and guilt. If you've ever read some of the comments they posted you'd be shocked at the sheer vitriol.
Her suiduce is to be regretted, however, as I'd rather she had faced prosecution.

I agree a very sorry situation. How unhappy this lady must have been to have started on this course and to see no other option than to take her own life. I also think its very disturb for the McCanns on many levels.