The Power of Blog

View Original

You head east and we'll try and cut her off at the pass.

Rachel from north London: Cyber-stalking: Your help is needed

A number of bloggers are running with this story and even publishing 'wanted' posters on their sites. As disturbing as this woman's behaviour has been I can't help feeling the response is all getting a little over the top. The woman in question has been arrested and convicted. She has now absconded and is being sought by the police.

The photograph provided on Rachel's site is out of date and may not be a decent representation of what she looks like now. The reality is that most of the bloggers displaying this woman's picture wouldn't recognise her in the street if they bumped into her. What are we supposed to do anyway? Call the police everytime we see a woman in a library or internet cafe that resembles the stalker?  I can see the police getting pissed off with that pretty quickly.

The police should issue a current picture (they have one but are overcome with Portugese style reticence about publishing it) to libraries and internet cafes in the areas where she is suspected of being. Although, as she is an avid reader of Rachel's blog, she may well be much more careful where she posts from in future.

Clearly this woman has a mental health problem, or she's a 'mad bint and 'nutjob' if you prefer the description used by DK. I'm not sure that the wild west approach is the most appropriate but the wanted poster makes a nice set when coupled with that other feel-good picture of Madeleine McCann.

Update: I see there is now even an animated gif wanted poster available.

I even made one of my own...