How easy it is to destroy a person’s life. It just takes three easy steps.

1. Make a false allegation of rape and paedophilia against the target of your campaign. Don’t worry if the police find no substance to the allegation.
2. Post your victim’s photo and name together with the false allegation on social media.
3. Get others to share your post and ‘like’ it.

All you have to do now is wait while the witch hunt begins. Sit back and enjoy the threats of violence against your victim as your post goes viral. This is trial by lynch mob and in this case nearly killed the victim. With posts such as “let’s paint a target on this paedophile rapist’s back… filthy, dirty scumbag ****” out there in the public domain it’s no surprise that he became depressed, suicidal and afraid to leave his home and eventually relocated to a secret address.

However, justice caught up with the perpetrators of this vile crime, and when their case was heard in Reading Magistrates Court they were all found guilty, sentenced to community service and ordered to pay a paltry sum of £500 compensation. One received a suspended sentence of nine weeks.

The defence for the women made this curious statement: “The three of them need some intervention from probation regarding their thinking skills”.

This is the first time I’ve heard such deliberate wickedness described as a deficit of ‘thinking skills’. Perhaps a murderer has a problem with their ‘social skills’ and the bank robber needs some help with their ‘financial planning’.

I will leave the reader to judge for themselves whether the sentences and compensation were proportional to the crime committed. Apparently the person who started the hate campaign began by making her false allegations to the police, and this begs the question as to why she wasn’t prosecuted for perverting the course of justice.

I hope the victim applies to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. It would be enlightening to know the result.

Read about the trial on the ‘Newbury Today’ website.