Arrest ‘vile’ trolls who attacked boy, says star
DAILY Express columnist Richard Madeley has called for internet trolls to be prosecuted for targeting epilepsy campaigner Zach Eagling.
The TV host said the gang who bombarded Zach, nine, with flashing messages to induce an epileptic seizure should be tried for GBH.
The online thugs aimed hundreds of messages at the youngster’s web profile after he staged a fundraising walk for the Epilepsy Society.
Zach’s mother Claire Keer, 40, stopped him seeing the harmful messages, but at least three other people suffered mild convulsions during last summer’s sick blitz.
He is spearheading the “Zach’s Law” campaign to introduce a specific criminal charge of sending messages likely to induce an epileptic seizure. Police are probing the attack on Zach, from Liversedge, West Yorks, but they have hit a brick wall trying to trace the perpetrators.
Richard, who launched the Daily Express Unmask the Online Trolls crusade, said the case proves that Twitter, Facebook and other tech giants should keep a record of their users’ names.
He said: “Police are investigating this disgusting incident as ‘a possible assault’. There’s no ‘possible’ about it.
“These vile trolls are using technology to cause actual bodily harm – perhaps even grievous bodily harm – to vulnerable people. Until we tighten online registering so trolls can be swiftly tracked down, we are going to see more of this sick behaviour.”
He wants social media platforms to record the verified identities of users – even if they do not appear on screen. The Epilepsy Society is calling on ministers to create an offence of sending messages capable of inducing an epileptic seizure in the forthcoming Online Harms Bill. An NHS dietitian is backing Zach’s Law after being sent a flashing light via an Instagram message from someone claiming to want careers advice. Sophie Harries, 22, from Taunton, Somerset, who has mild epilepsy, said: “But Instagram said it doesn’t breach their community guidelines.”