What happened to the Tia threads?

[Psammead]

I am posting here as I guess they have been deleted and I didn't want to draw attention. I looked in chat and In The News and couldn't find a single thread. Did they go pear shaped? Is it a forbiddan topic now?

Difficult when it's an ongoing investigation, for MN to allow speculation in case someone objects/sues.

Fair enough if the accused (whoever they turn out to be) are to be given a fair trial I suppose.

Yep, we had to remove due to the level of speculation. Here's the post OliviaMumsnet wrote just before the latest one was removed:

Hello all
Just to let you know that we shall shortly be deleting this thread.
As we said, we do understand that feelings are running high this evening.
This is a situation every parent dreads.
But we don't think any good can come of unfounded speculation and blame.
And, as no one has been charged with murder, as yet, any posts that state or speculate on the identity of the killer are potentially libellous.
THANKS
MNHQ

HTH

Thanks. What a shame it gets out of hand.

Netmums have allowed a 'in memory of' type thread. Nobody is going against the rules over there. It seems civilised

Contempt of court issues - does everyone have really short memories? Have you all forgotten the Chris Jefferies/Jo Yeates saga? Speculating publicly about culprits/methods/motivations could prejudice a fair trial.

No. Not forgotten that.

I understand the reason why but there is one thing i would like to say and get others opioin on about this case.

When will we be allowed to discuess it?

I suppose it is difficult to balance the desire of some to discuss the case with the need for a fair trial later (no one wants a convicted perpetrator to be able to appeal on grounds of media speculation pre-trial).

It is frustrating though as there are important side issues worth discussing like how should professionals monitor domestic access to children and how the police should balance supporting and suspecting families in child cases. (I remember feeling bad for the family a while back whose DD died suddenly on a campsite and the parents were arrested- how awful).

The grandmother has been arrested.

'I understand the reason why but there is one thing i would like to say and get others opioin on about this case'

Then take your questions to NetMums, Facebook or pm people.

Noone has been charged and the body has not been id'ed yet.

'It is frustrating though as there are important side issues worth discussing like how should professionals monitor domestic access to children and how the police should balance supporting and suspecting families in child cases.'

Then start a thread discussing those issues, without referring to cases and trials that have not ended yet.

No, netmums aren't discussing it either

Well I reported the very nasty persnal remarks and offensive language directed at the op. Others on the thread said they were reporting the op's thread as inappropriate and offensive. I don't know which one caused the thread to be pulled. Maybe both?

lemarchandbox in that case neither explanations I gave here are correct.

Evening. Just to be clear, we don't want to stop discussion of this (or anything else) but we do have two quite big ishoos with this particular story.

First - and most important of all - a mother has lost her daughter, in the most terrible of circumstances. And a family have lost a child. It's a situation every parent dreads, and we really don't think it's the time to point fingers/blame anyone.

Secondly, though people have been arrested, no one has been charged. And the body has not yet been identified. As things stand legally, naming anyone as Tia's murderer, implying anyone is Tia's murderer or saying anything about anyone's involvement with her (alleged) murder is potentially libellous. And leaves you, as the poster, and us at MNHQ liable for prosecution.

Those are the two key things we're bearing in mind when we decide to delete posts/threads about this.

Hope that's made thing a little clearer.

Aside from this case for a moment - and going off on one of my characteristic tangents - I wonder how fair it is that an individual especially or an organisation like MN could be prosecuted for speculation about an alleged murder. Have there been such prosecutions in the past ?

I feel with all these new social media sites, and with a long-standing and deeply defended right to free speech in this country, is it really right to continue to surpress speculation and discussion at such times ?

Don't fully understand how such speculation can hinder a fair trial.

Hopes my post surely cannot contain anything libelous ?

Good. Well done for deleting it.

@JugglingWithFiveRings

Aside from this case for a moment - and going off on one of my characteristic tangents - I wonder how fair it is that an individual especially or an organisation like MN could be prosecuted for speculation about an alleged murder. Have there been such prosecutions in the past ?

I feel with all these new social media sites, and with a long-standing and deeply defended right to free speech in this country, is it really right to continue to surpress speculation and discussion at such times ?

Don't fully understand how such speculation can hinder a fair trial.

Hopes my post surely cannot contain anything libelous ?

Yes, there were eight libel claims brought by Jo Yeates' landlord recently when there was speculation about him as being her murderer.

For anyone wondering what the problem is with discussing the case, please read this article explaining the sub-judice rule and contempt of court, particularly as applied to user-generated content, eg posts on forums like Mumsnet.

The case is now active, as people have been arrested, so it is clear that unless MNHQ delete all posts naming suspects, giving details and speculating on motives, methods etc they risk being in contempt of court.

And if a suspect can show that there has been so much information and so many accusations about them published in the media or on the Internet, they could argue that a fair trial would be impossible as no unbiased jurors could be found, so charges would be dropped. I don't think anyone would want that.

Rest in peace, Tia