Forum Topic

NO acid threat after all, but who will remember that

"Webbe appealed against the conviction and the appeal hearing commenced at Southwark Crown Court on 19 May 2022. Her appeal was dismissed on 26 May 2022, though her sentence was reduced to eighty hours of community service, and compensation to the victim reduced from £1,000 to £50. The judge found that Webbe had not "made a threat to throw acid over" the woman. The reduced sentence means that she will not be at risk of losing her seat following a recall petition from her constituents." (Wikipedia)"The judge [Taylor] found that Webbe had been “clearly under great stress” at the time she harassed Merritt, who had a close relationship with her former boyfriend, Lester Thomas.Taylor said the court found Webbe had not “made a threat to throw acid over” Merritt.Hundreds of messages downloaded by police from Merritt’s phone, which suggested an intimate relationship with Thomas, had not been disclosed to the defence during Webbe’s original trial.As a result, the appeal downgraded the offence from Category A to Category B3, and a level B fine. There were no costs awarded against Webbe.However, the political career of the former Islington councillor and one-time senior adviser to London Mayor Ken Livingstone still lies in tatters.Even though the reduction in sentence means a recall petition is not triggered, Labour said they would be pushing for one anyway.Social media today was still carrying accusations that Webbe had threatened to throw acid on Merritt, even though there was no evidence offered to support this claim.Webbe was found to have made a large amount of silent calls to the victim, a 59-year-old executive assistant, over an 18-month period after she was consumed by jealousy over Thomas’s relationship with Merritt.Paul Goldspring, the original judge, imposed a 10-week suspended sentence while sitting alone without a jury or any supporting magistrates.Webbe suffered horrific racial abuse on social media throughout the trial."https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2022/05/26/claudia-webbe-loses-appeal-but-has-sentence-massively-reduced/There was no evidence of any acid threat, despite widespread misreporting of it by the mainstream media during the first trial. So we know what people will remember.

David Ainsworth ● 1347d3 Comments

You're right and it's possibly because the first and only knowledge that many may have heard about her was in a sensatiional headline.

Philippa Bond ● 1346d

"we know what people will remember, unfairly."Mud sticks, and people believe that "there is no smoke without fire". And so it goes. And the dear web reinforces it all by remembering the bad stuff but not linking it to the later corrections in a meaningful, intelligible way.

David Ainsworth ● 1347d

Thank you for posting this, David: fascinating that the supposed acid threat achieved so much publicity and, as you say, we know what people will remember, unfairly.

Richard Carter ● 1347d