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
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
THE man convicted 23 years ago of the hammer murder of a mum and her six-year-old daughter has vowed to refuse early release until his name has been cleared.
Michael Stone was 37 when he was jailed for bludgeoning Dr Lin Russell and her daughters Megan and nineyear-old Josie – who survived.
Stone, who could go free as early as July next year, says he will not seek parole until his conviction is quashed.
He believes Levi Bellfield, 52 – who murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler – carried out the attack.
In an exclusive interview, Stone’s sister Barbara, 58, said: “He’ll only come out if he’s proven innocent.
“He won’t apply for parole. He wants to clear his name. He has fought since day one. He’s not going to give in now.”
Stone was given three life sentences after Lin, 45, and her daughters were tied up and beaten with a hammer in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996 walking home from a school swimming gala.
Josie survived with appalling injuries. They were reported missing by dad Professor Shaun Russell.
Stone, who had a history of violence and drug abuse, was arrested a year later. DNA at the scene did not match his, but he was found guilty in 1998 based on evidence from three other prisoners, including pal Damian Daley.
Daley told police Stone had confessed while awaiting trial at Canterbury jail.
Stone was found guilty again at a 2001 retrial, held after one of the three admitted fabricating his account. The retrial judge ordered he should serve a minimum of 25 years.
Stone, now 60 and held at HMP Frankland in County Durham is laying his hopes on a dossier of new evidence his solicitors submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2017.
Bellfield, also at HMP Frankland, is serving life for killing Milly Dowler, 13, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, in South West London between 2002 and 2004. He denies he carried out the Chillenden attack.
Stone’s sister Barbara said: “I’ve been reserved about it but I now think there’s every possibility Bellfield did it.
“He’s always hanging on to our case. Why else would he have an interest?”
Stone’s family say Bellfield’s height and face match descriptions of the killer and an e-fit, and he owned a car similar to one seen in the area.
Barbara said: “His job had taken him across numerous counties. He did go to the area. A man like Bellfield will have undoubtedly committed other crimes.”
She said of her brother: “I’ve never thought he was guilty. From the word go I was seeing things that were wrong.
“I think he retains just a little bit of faith in the justice system.”
BOUND AND BEATEN Lin Russell with Megan, six
MODELLING sensation Rob Rea got his break after a banking career went belly-up.
Rob worked for RBS during the credit crunch and says he saw “the ugly side of banking”.
He said: “I was dealing with guys under huge stress who had borrowed millions from the bank and were close to completely breaking down.”
When it all got too much, Belfast-raised Rob, 37, quit.
His girlfriend Jude, 34, who was a model, suggested a prolonged break in Cape Town, where she had been offered work. The move to South
Africa was a life changer.
Rob explains: “I got approached out of nowhere to do this advert for Nivea face cream. It was a one-off and my girlfriend encouraged me to do it. All the guys back home did take the mickey when they saw me advertising face cream.”
But the money was great, the job was fun and Rob stuck at it.
Soon after, he and
Jude landed a North
Face ad campaign together in London, haven’t looked back since – and have wed.
Since then he’s modelled for Nespresso, Gillette, Land Rover,
Ferrari, Bentley and
Samsung – often, ironically, in adverts aimed at the kind of guys he used to work with in banking.
THE boss of Britain’s biggest modelling agency wants fellas to try out for the Britain’s Most Handsome Man contest, calling it the “chance of a lifetime”.
Sarah Doukas, founder of the Storm agency, says: “It’s always the ones who have no idea they’d be right for modelling who end up making the better models.
“So if there are Sunday Mirror readers – parents or grandparents, uncles or aunts, brothers or sisters, or daughters or sons of a handsome man – be sure to enter them today.
“The majority of our great models have not just walked in the agency door.
“Look at Kate Moss, Lily Cole, Jourdan Dunn, Poppy and Cara Delevingne. We had to find them.
“I found Poppy and Cara at my daughter’s school. My point is, people just don’t know they have what it takes. That’s why competitions like this are so important.”
Storm is the Sunday Mirror’s partner in the contest, which has got the modelling world buzzing.
Sarah’s male models travel around the world for the most amazing jobs, which can open doors into showbiz.
And Sarah says a career in modelling does wonders for feelings of self-worth too, saying of recruits: “We see them blossom – the confidence just takes off.”