Sunday Mirror

It’s no crime if I criticise Meghan

Half-sister hits back over police ‘bullying’ probe Refund rap for power firms

- BY PATRICK HILL BY STEPHEN HAYWARD

MEGHAN Markle’s rkle’s half-sister Samantha antha has blasted a US S police investigat­ion into her for allegedly bullying the Duchess online.

She stormed: “It’s t’s not a crime to criticise my sister ter for the way she has treated our father.”

The probe began after she wrote a series of controvers­ial messages about Meghan and Prince Harry.

Samantha now claims the investigat­ion, revealed by the Sunday Mirror, was bizarrely sparked by herself. She says she complained five months ago about death threats from trolls.

STUNNED

But detectives then decided to look into complaints against HER by social media users from at least four countries, including the UK, Canada and Sweden.

The focus on her has left Samantha, 54, stunned.

She said of her online defence of her and Meghan’s father Thomas, 75: “It doesn’t make me a bully because I advocate for my dad. That’s freedom of speech.

“And it doesn’t give people the right to harass and bully me. I don’t stalk anybody, I don’t harass anybody.”

Samantha, who has multiple sclerosis, says she has been bullied online since

Meghan’s relationsh­ip with Prince Harry was first revealed in 2016.

She said: “These s o - c a l l ed cyber superfans of Meghan’s don’t know her – and if they met her she wouldn’t give them the time of day.” patrick.hill@ mirror.co.uk

GAS and electricit­y firms are not refunding customers who have built up big balances, some of more than £1,000.

Two thirds of direct debit payers are in credit but only eight per cent have asked for cash back. Of 13 firms contacted by watchdog Which?, only the Big Six suppliers and Utility Warehouse pay automatic refunds.

Which? Money editor Jenny Ross urged firms to “automatica­lly refund customers once credit exceeds an agreed threshold”.

Separate research shows suppliers are sitting on £1.5billion, owed to 12 million households paying by direct debit.

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 ??  ?? ‘I’M VICTIM’ Samantha, left, says her online criticism of Meghan is free speech
‘I’M VICTIM’ Samantha, left, says her online criticism of Meghan is free speech

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