Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
How many more have to die like Caroline before the trolls stop?
Singer pal Louise’s plea for change in new book
LOUISE Redknapp says more people will die like her close pal Caroline Flack unless steps are taken to silence online trolls.
Former Eternal star Louise was left devastated by the suicide of ex-Love Island host Caroline last year.
Louise, 46, said: “I’d love to live in a world where this kind of bullying behaviour is not tolerated.
“I know of many women who suffer due to trolling. How many more will die before there is real change?”
Hitting out in her new book You’ve Got This, Louise said: “Caroline was a great friend of mine, and she was the most warm-hearted and fun person.
“She lit up every room she went into with her warmth and energy, and her smile was dazzling.”
In the wake of the tragedy in February last year, Louise and others encouraged the spread on social media of the slogan “BeKind” to encourage people to stop trolling.
Among those backing it was Caroline’s
PLEA
former boyfriend, rugby star Danny Cipriani, who wore the slogan on his shirt after his Gloucester teammates threw their support behind it.
Louise added: “We all talked about being more kind to each other and the hashtag #BeKind snowballed.
“It felt like there was a widespread call to be kinder, both on and offline, because you never know what someone is really going through.
“For a few days it felt like something really might shift, that perhaps people were starting to take stock of the true impact our online behaviour can have.
“But the world kept turning and the trolling and bullying continues.”
Louise added: “We need more than just empty words.
“Online spaces might be a place for free expression, but they’re also often fertile ground for bullying, boorishness and cruelty.
“There are many people out there who are written about in this way and they are deeply unhappy.
“Something needs to change – and it needs to happen now.”
Caroline’s death at the age of 40 came after the Crown Prosecution Service decided to charge her over an attack on partner Lewis Burton.
An inquest later heard of her agony before her suicide at home in Stoke Newington,
North London. A Channel 4
documentary, Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death, due to air at 9pm on March 17, includes interviews with the star’s mum and twin sister Jody.
Olly Murs and Dermot O’Leary also contribute. Louise adds in her book: “I’m not very quick at making friends, I can count them on one hand.
“I find it hard to trust people and I’m bad at letting people in – but once you’ve earned my trust you can’t get rid of me and I’m in it for the long haul.
“I never really had any ‘showbiz’ friends. The person I was always closest to was Caroline. We could talk to each other about our relationships and lives and there was never any judgement.
“I also knew I could trust her and that whatever we told each other would stay between us.”
Caroline’s family have released some previously unseen photographs of the TV presenter, including one as a smiling teenager in school uniform.
Her Xtra Factor co-host Matt Richardson previously told how she would “obsessively” read trolls’ comments on Twitter during the ad breaks.
He said: “It would really ruin her night, even if we had a great show.”
Caroline’s life went into freefall after police were called in December 2019 following a row with Lewis.
She pleaded not guilty in court and Lewis also insisted she was innocent.
I never really had any ‘showbiz’ friends… the person I was always closest to was Caroline LOUISE REDKNAPP ON HER CLOSENESS TO CAROLINE
LABOUR is launching a campaign to bring back hard shoulders on motorways after at least 38 deaths were blamed on their removal.
Transport spokesman Jim McMahon wants the fourth lane of smart motorways closed by Grant Shapps.
Mr McMahon said: “All the Transport Secretary has to do is pick up the phone to Highways England to get hard shoulders reinstated.”
It would only need the red X closure sign in the nearside lane switched on for a new hard shoulder to be created until more permanent ones can be rebuilt.
Sally Jacobs, 83, blames the lack of one on the M1 in Derbyshire for the death of husband Derek, 83, two years ago.
A car hit him after his van got a puncture, then an ambulance took an hour to get to him because there was no hard shoulder to let it bypass traffic.
Mrs Jacobs said: “Smart motorways should be called killer motorways. Everyone knows people are being killed and no one is doing anything about it. It’s not manslaughter, it’s murder.” Last month a coroner referred Highways England to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider charges of corporate manslaughter over the death of Nargis Begum, 62, on the M1 in 2018.
Hard shoulders began to be removed in 2014 and now nearly 500 miles of the M1, M6 and M25 are without them.
Another 300 miles of smart M-ways , monitored by radar and cameras, are due to be rolled out by 2025.
A red X sign closes a lane to traffic when vehicles break down or have an accident but the RAC says it can take 20 minutes to switch them on and then one in five drivers ignore them.
Orange painted SOS areas to pull off the road can be up to 1.5 miles apart and nearly four in ten breakdowns happen in live lanes leaving motorists stranded. Mr Shapps promised a safety review six weeks ago but it is yet to report back.
Mr McMahon added: “In the meantime, the Government must reinstate the hard shoulder before yet another family is left grieving.”
Highways England say smart M-ways have reduced hold-ups by 22 per cent.
People are dying and no one is doing anything. SALLY JACOBS WIDOW OF SMART M-WAY VICTIM