Richard Madeley warns daughter’s trolls: you will face prosecution

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/16/richard-madeley-chloe-trolls-rape-threats-prosecution

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Richard Madeley has warned the Twitter trolls who threatened his daughter with rape that they will face prosecution for the online abuse.

Madeley’s daughter, Chloe, 27, found herself targeted by trolls after her mother, Judy Finnigan, made a comment about the footballer Ched Evans, a convicted rapist, on daytime television.

Finnigan apologised “unreservedly” on Tuesday after appearing to downplay the seriousness of Evans’s crime while making her debut on ITV show Loose Women.

Evans, 25, was jailed in 2012 for five years for raping a 19-year-old woman at a hotel in Rhyl, north Wales; he is due to be released later this week . A petition calling for the footballer not to be given back his job at Sheffield United now has more than 140,000 signatures.

Finnigan said the footballer should be allowed to return to his position as striker at the club because “he’s served his time” and added: “The rape – and I am not, please, by any means minimising any kind of rape – but the rape was not violent. He didn’t cause any bodily harm to the person.”

On Twitter Madeley defended his wife’s comments and also condemned the trolls who had targeted his daughter, warning those who had sent her “sick rape threats” that “prosecution awaits”.

He tweeted: “Thanks to everyone who tweeted support for Judy’s intelligent, clear analysis 2day … I have noted every sick troll threat. Do they really think it’s OK to wish/threaten rape on a woman? They’re in deep trouble, trust me.”

Chloe Madeley also spoke out against those who had sent her threatening online messages, retweeting several of them to expose the culprits, who she called “utterly pathetic”.

It was a similar tactic used by historian Mary Beard, who “outed” several trolls who made derogatory comments and threats against her on Twitter.

Chloe added: “The comments [Judy Finnigan] made on the case in question were facts, not opinions. While it may anger some that the term ‘non-violent rape’ exists, unfortunately it does. Referencing it and explaining why that was the charge does not mean you think this category of rape is acceptable.

“To believe that my mother is pro ‘non-violent rape’ is ridiculous and I am shocked that so many people have jumped to this conclusion. To the trolls wishing rape on me, stop, you are utterly pathetic.”

Writing in the Daily Mail, the 27-year-old condemned the troll as someone who sends “lewd, disturbing messages” while he “cowered anonymously behind his computer screen”. She added that while this was not the first time she had been subject to vicious online abuse, these particular threats of rape had “crossed the line”. She reiterated her father’s threats to report the offenders to the police.

Finnigan also said that while she had meant no offence by her comments on Evans, it was legally correct to describe his crime as “non-violent”.

“But let me add that, to me, rape is rape,” she added. “It is an appalling crime. I was simply reporting the legal facts of this case before commenting.”

Despite calls for the veteran presenter to be sacked from Loose Women, a spokesman for the programme said: “She will be on the panel next week, so that answers the question.”

Last month Peter Nunn, 33, was jailed for 18 weeks for using Twitter to threaten to sexually and violently threaten Labour MP Stella Creasy after she backed a campaign to put Jane Austen on the £10 note.