Hampstead paedophile hoax C4

[veryvanessa]

Anyone watching this? It's quite hard to follow. I can't work out what's real and what's dramatised. The mums are played by actors but what about the kids mum is she real?

I listened to the podcast - it is just terrifying what can happen when a mob forms. https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/hoaxed/ recommended.

Yea I think all the mums are played by actors but using the voices of the real mums.
They used the phrase lip synched at beginning

But the mum who made the accusations - is that her real photo and videos or is that an actress too?

Oh I must watch this. I listened to the podcast and as outrageous as the children's mother is, the other school mothers sounded poisonously snobbish and unlikeable.

Yea I think the accusations mums videos are of her.
I've had to switch off because it's too ridiculous

Those are the genuine videos of the children's mother Ella Draper. The children are living in a different country with their father now and have new identities.

Ella and her partner Abe Christie are living abroad and are still wanted by the police.

There is real footage/interview of the 'legal advisor' Sabine too inthonk.

Yes the Ella and Sabine footage is them as are the child interviews.
The other parents were audio interviews and lip synched by actors.
I listened to the podcast of this a few years ago, it's bonkers.

Er, missed the chance to edit that. It should obviously say... I think.

This really is terrifying. The children are all over 18 now. I hope they're thriving.

The woman whose children made the allegations was real in that segment. The other mothers are actors, lip synching the real mothers voices.
I watched the 2 hour police interview with the children on YouTube. (The one they've just shown the clip of). Children of that age should not be able to tell of such horrific details for that length of time.
The details of what was happening, what took place, who was involved, the locations, the items used, the rituals... I'm sorry, but I do think there is a bigger story to all this. Children have vivid imaginations yes, but the details they gave were extraordinary and they didn't falter. That is a hell of a lot of information to be coached on and to remember at that age.
Even though they retracted their statements, I don't believe there isn't some truth to it. I may be wrong though and I hope I am 🤷‍♀️

Seriously?! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I gave up. It was hard to follow. I can see it would have been better as a podcast

I'd never heard of this case and think I need to read an explainer before this makes sense. Why did some people start making accusations? I mean, why were they seemingly targeted by these conspiracy theorists? The Sabine woman and the face yoga woman? Who are they and what's there relationship to the mothers?

🫠 Nope! This whole story was a complete fabrication by the conspiracy loons.

The Tortoise podcast is fantastic if you are struggling with the documentary.

@SwedishEdith

Face yoga woman was a school mum who wasn't part of the in crowd. She had an acrimonious split from her children's father (a custody dispute? Maybe that came later) and got with a new man. He was already a conspiracy theorist, centred on powerful peodophiles controlling all sorts.

That's how it begun.

The only people who made allegations were Ella Draper ('face yoga woman'), her new partner Abe Christie (conspiracy theorist) and Ella's 2 children (under duress and having been tortured by Abe). It began with a crusade by Ella to prevent her ex husband having access to the children and escalated when Abe decided to force the 'truth' out of the children. Then Ella got involved with Sabine who decided to put everything on the internet.

Absolutely mind blowing, and bloody scary how easy shit like this can go viral - and that was 10 years ago, can you imagine it now?

It’s really scary though how so much of your personal info, your children’s names , photos, school, class, home address, parents names can all be put online by a disgruntled ( or insane) parent. And how many people leap on this.

Thank you @TheSpottedZebra and @farley123 for the background. A horrible collision of wrong people meeting at the wrong time.

You're welcome SwedishEdith.

Yes thank you so much for the background. I wish they'd explained this in the programme better!

I don't know if this was mentioned on the programme, but this was talked about on Mumsnet many years ago. There were long threads about it. I wonder if they are still on the site, or have been taken down.

When reading the threads, I have to say I found the testimony of the mother and the children compelling.

I find it weird they have made a TV programme about it tbh.

@MoonWoman69

The children were bullied by their mother's boyfriend into, often for hours, into learning and reciting what he wanted them to accuse their father (and the other accused) of.

It's essentially emotional torture. Adults will sign detailed false confessions under duress and exhaustion. Children coached for hours by someone their fear don't stand a chance.

I'm surprised you think that the level of detail is proof it might be true rather than it being proof of the emotional abuse of their mother's partner.

There's a fantastic podcast about this called Hoaxed that's well worth listening to.

OMG, just watched this. It’s hard to believe that even with the evidence proving the step dad coerced the children to lie. Evidence showing his previous crimes, Sabine still won’t admit she was wrong. What a crackpot.
How those mums are still sane is beyond me.
Hard to watch but glad I did.

Really? That’s your take from this?!
These women have been terrorised for nearly 10 years. Their children have had their lives turned upside down. They have lived in fear of conspiracy nutters finding them and abducting their children. They’ve lost businesses, they’ve had to move homes. They’ve faced the most vile allegations imaginable. All set in motion by a disgusting couple who tortured 2 children into making false statements.

And your take is that the school mums sounded snobbish and unlikeable?
I would be fucking unlikeable towards someone that put me through hell for 10 years.