“We need to make examples of people who are causing damage”: Gerry McCann suggests more trolls should be charged for offenses
Gerry McCann has blamed reporting by newspapers for kidnapping threats and comments made to both himself and his wife Kate.
The duo have been trolled on channels such as Twitter, Facebook and in chat rooms since their daughter Madeleine went missing in 2007, while the family was on holiday.
“I think some of the internet trolling is fuelled partly by the newspaper reporting. If it was more responsible I think we would have less of the former,” he said in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
To deal with trolling, McCann said “I think we probably need more people charged”, adding that the abuse led to himself and his wife moderating their behaviour.
“We do not have any significant presence on social media or online.
“And I’ve got grave concerns about our children as they grow up and start to access the internet in an unsupervised capacity.
“There have been other instances where people are threatening to kidnap our children. People are threatening violence against Kate and myself.”
Last month, a tweeter was jailed for 18 months for trolling Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow.