Good news that Elliott beat the mob

HIS imminent return to Cheltenham makes Gordon Elliott’s story a triumphant one.

A man who made a stupid mistake was almost destroyed in a shocking example of the power of the demented mob.

This was a story that, within hours, had spun out of control. The reaction was primarily driven by online trouble-makers, with plenty who should know better joining in.

It stopped being about the offence caused by Elliott’s crass decision to sit on a dead horse. Details don’t matter when the rabble assemble.

Destroying a person judged outside the tribe became the focus.

These dreadful stories tend to follow a pattern, but Elliott (below) bucked it in not succumbing to the nastiness.

He credited the support of friends, with one owner giving him the use of a villa in Portugal to escape the frenzy.

Soon, Elliott was forgotten about and the creeps that tried to ruin him reverted to ‘be kind’ hashtags, and waited to pounce on the next poor soul that showed some fallibility. Reading Elliott’s thoughts on the entire sorry mess in these pages, one wondered if any of those who so eagerly flew into a rage out of all proportion to the mistake, have ever reflected on their conduct.

Elliott has paid for his error, but the online vigilantes rarely have to.

But they didn’t beat Elliott, and that’s worth cheering.