‘This is an unfortunate case where heaven in Turkey has turned into a social media hellhole’
A pensioner who was mercilessly trolled on social media for six months said the experience left him and his wife feeling ‘like a nervous wreck’. Edward Hampton, 74, was subjected to abusive posts online after a row over a Facebook holiday group.
Lisa Wilkinson, 46, branded him a “dirty scumbag” who “slept with drunk members while wifey sleeps like an old aged predator”. She referred to Mr Hampton and his wife as “the Tramptons”, and said people who stuck up for them were “just as vile and brainwashed by the Tramptons”.
Mr Hampton, from Dundee, ran a Facebook group for Marmaris tourists in Turkey, called “MARM R US”. He said the rift began when another admin was removed from the group for deleting promotional posts from other travel agents.
The former member then set up the identically-named Facebook group, and Wilkinson became an admin for that group. Afterwards, abusive posts made by Wilkinson under the online name “Buster Wilko” began to appear on the new page, shared with up to 2,500 members.
He said: “It came as a shock. [The admin] was removed for deleting people who were running the same business as him; we asked him to stop, he wouldn’t, so we removed him. That’s when it started. There were arguments, she took his side and it continued from there.
“I was disgusted. We blocked everyone involved. The vile disgusting comments were continuing and every time she put them on her friends were joining in, other people were joining in who didn’t even know me. Between her and her friends they kept it going. They wouldn’t leave it alone. Every day there was posts going on, not on my pages but on her pages and groups.
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“My wife is a nervous wreck and I have been as well. It has affected everyone. Everyone involved with us has been affected one way or another. Hopefully now this will go away.”
Wilkinson, from Kirkby, Merseyside, appeared at Sefton Magistrates Court on Tuesday, March 25, where she pleaded not guilty to harassment, reports The Echo. She admitted making the posts, but said she had done so “in self defence” as she believed Mr Hampton had made comments about her anonymously online, including body-shaming her on a “love rat” website.
She also sent the 74-year-old private messages of pictures of both his and his wife’s passports, warning him “Never mind when I’m abroad, worry about when you go, dirty old aged predator”. She wrote: “Your passport screenshots are already given to the relevant authorities. Enjoy your next holiday old aged predator.”
Mr Hampton said the messages had resulted in him and his wife having to cancel their passports and order new ones to the cost of £86 each. They also cancelled an £860 holiday to Turkey they had booked out of fear of what had been said about them.
Prosecutor Craig Welsby said there was no evidence that Mr Hampton had been the source of any anonymous comments about her. He said: “The defendant accepts she sent the comments accusing the complainant of being someone who is a predator, that has sex with drunk women, and has put this on a forum that 2,500 people have access to.
“I have asked in what way it is self defence. All I had have is the view that it’s tit for tat. It doesn’t justify this behaviour… Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Harvey Appleby, defending, said: “This is an unfortunate case where heaven in Turkey has turned into a social media hellhole. Ms Wilkinson doesn’t shy away from her comments but what has to be considered is the context. (Mr Hampton) ran the social media page like it was a personal domain for him to control and when people took umbrage and started a new group it has led to this. It was tit for tat.
“This is a case where all parties involved I’m sure, with the benefit of hindsight, would have conducted themselves in a manner that was different if given the chance.”
Wilkinson was found guilty of harassment without violence. She was bailed and will appear for sentence at Liverpool Magistrates Court on May 9.
Speaking after the case, Mr Hampton said: “Some of the things they were saying were ridiculous. I’m a 74-year-old man. I don’t have anything to do with any of them. I don’t want anything to do with them. We were good friends and then it all fell apart. Now I don’t have anything to do with them and hopefully I won’t have to again.”