Could This Be A Case Of 'don't Believe All You Read'?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177155/Mother-claimed-assaulted-security-staff-breastfeeding-Primark-charged-perverting-course-justice.html

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// However, despite there being no evidence to support the story, the newspaper gleefully printed her lies anyway, so if I were you I would stop reading the
paper. ///

I was referring to her Facebook posts.

*** The alleged incident came to light after Mrs Starmer made a series of Facebook posts claiming she was asked to leave the store after breastfeeding in a 'quiet
spot'. ***

*** The posts resulted in thousands of messages of support for the mother. ***

So no I won't be taking your advice and stop reading the paper or any other for that matter, but I may well stop responding to your rather silly comments.

And while you are at it please stop carrying out those long drawn out copy and paste exercises, because I don't think anyone goes to the trouble to read them.

[Peter Pedant]

Is insanity a defence ?

poor thing - presumably they had cameras everywhere ....
what drives people to say 'yes ! yes ! it occurred' when no no it didnt ?

I have been a supporter of someone on the wrong end of untrue allegations. I have to say their heart didnt go out to the ickle liar ....

[Peter Pedant]

// woofgang, Freya (Norse mythology) associated with love, sexuality, war and death. make of that what you will. //

and they drank horns of Chardonnay at their lustful Viking feasts ?

sorry the other child was not called Chardonnay - thread slippage there

[Gromit]

It is pretty obvious you don't read links that are posted, even the ones you post yourself. So I will reprint whatever I think is relevent.

[Hypognosis]

@AOG

//And while you are at it please stop carrying out those long drawn out copy and paste exercises, because I don't think anyone goes to the trouble to read them. //

I did. Saves me actually having to click on the DM link. Much appreciated; cheers, Grom!

A 'teaser' thread title, a link and zero effort to do a write-up to induce me to click said link. Why should I consume megabytes of photos unrelated to the story itself (side panel stories, footer stories and inline ads).

Give us enough of the story to debate it and we'll debate it.

Alternatively, kindly tell me how much I can get paid to feed story links into AB, 7 days a week?

[Gromit]

Facebook should never been viewed as a source of accurate information. There are very few Site Rules, and making stuff up is not prohibited.

I suspect this was a made up event to get attention in what is otherwise this woman's boring life. Once it went viral and the newspapers picked up on it, she had dug herself too big an hole to get out of.

(I think one or too others didn't realise this post was about Facebook)

[jno]

the Guardian report says she did make the claim in the press, after FB. My guess is that something in the shop happened to upset her (there may indeed have been words about breastfeeding), that she blew it up into a FB rant and then didn't know how to back down when the press started phoning her, nor when the police came calling.

I have a twinge of sympathy for people in that situation; it's hard to find a way of saying "I exaggerated it out of all proportion, let's forget it." But I have more sympathy for Primark, facing some sort of Twitter storm on what appear to have been flimsy foundations, and even for the police sent out to interview what may have been an unreliable witness.

Still, perverting the course of justice is a serious charge, so there may be more to it than all this. I wonder if it'll stand up.

[mikey4444]

jno.....I don't have an ounce of sympathy for this daft woman ! She may have set the cause for breastfeeding back years by her actions. And what about the poor Primark staff, being implicated in this affair. Mud tends to stick, as I know only too well, and there will always be somebody that says.....well, there's no smoke without fire, etc.

I have always understood that "Perverting the Course of Justice" is potentially a very serious offence, so she may bitterly regret her moment of fame.

[sp1814]

mikey4444

Take that back!

Kylie is a fantastic name is belongs to one of the greatest human beings who ever lived.

[sp1814]

At the time, I thought there was something very odd about this story.
Primary went on the record stating that they had studied the CCTV footage and couldn't find any evidence of the assault (she alleged that the guard had actually taken her baby from her).

I wonder why she did it (if it's proven thus).

It seems very odd.

[agchristie]

Mikey, would you not even have an ounce of sympathy if it transpires that she does have mental health problems?

Mud can stick but the CCTV evidence should prove clear cut so the impact on the security guards and Primark's reputation should be nil.

[jno]

the poor Primark staff, being implicated in this affair

Reading between the lines, it sounds as if they don't actually have a 5ft 10in Asian security man, so it's possible nobody is any the worse for this. As I said, I do sympathise with Primark itself, who appear to have got bad publicity they didn't deserve.

But we'll see - there may be more to come out.

[agchristie]

Jno,bad publicity yes, I agree but I don't believe their reputation will be damaged. In fact, the opposite could prove to be the case.

[Gromit]

I reckon Primark will be more concerned with loss of revenue than reputation which can be repaired. People will have not shopped there either because they have babies, or showing solidarity with breast feeding mothers.

It appears to be a false accusation, and she deliberately blamed an Asian man who seems not to exist. Perhaps her Facebook friends are anti muslim and she posted

[Gromit]

... to pander to them.

[whiskeryron]

I do not of course know what happened in Primark But I can suggest that this young woman decided to breastfeed her infant in a discreet part of the store & was asked to go elsewhere to do it. Becoming irate at being asked to stop doing what in her opinion was her right to do she then had to invent a story to make the store look bad which would of course have the support of all other women who heard this dreadful news.

[Tilly2]

How snobby some of you are!

[Gromit]

Whiskeryron,

The store appear to be saying they have her on CCTV in the store, but they did not have a 5ft 10in asian security guard. And that they did not have this incident on tape because it did not happen, not because there wasn't CCTV coverage.

[sherrardk]

I have a daughter named Freya, I didn't realise it was considered chavvy - maybe I should run my other kids' names past the AB good taste committee for ratification (I'm sure they wouldn't mind changing them to something more tasteful if they fail to come up to scratch)?

[Hypognosis]

If the "Asian man" is a complete fabrication, then there is no-one in a *direct* position to accuse her of race-hate speech. Does the law *literally* allow others to take offence on the behalf of all Asians, having been impugned in this manner?

Other ABers often decry any such second-hand offence taking; I just thought this was an ideal opportunity to pose this question to our legal eagles.

If it's a legal non-starter, all that remains is to make sure that this story isn't being referenced in years to come, to prime yet more youngsters with negative stereotypes about minorities.