IRELAND AM viewers have all been left appalled after a couple opened up on the “menancing” abuse they suffered from a gossip website.
Antrim couple, Donna and Neil Sands, recently brought a defamation case against the gossip forum, Tattle Life.
Donna and Neil were left delighted when they won their case and were respectively awarded €176,000 each in damages.
During the trial, the couple’s legal team were tasked with the job of tracking down the owner of the site, who had been hiding behind a fake name, Helen McDougal.
The owner of the website was named as Sebastian Bond, a British native, and failed to show up in court for any proceedings.
Speaking about their troll torture on Ireland AM, Donna and Neil recalled the first time they heard about the 45-page thread written about them on the site.
Donna explained: “I first heard about the website in 2021, my friend contacted me and said, ‘Donna I heard people laughing in the office about a thread on Tattle’.
“And Initially I thought, ‘This sounds very childish’, but I very quickly realised that it wasn’t a gossip website, this was harassment, slander and defamation.”
The 34-year-old highlighted how the website had been affecting known celebrities, business owners and people who had “no public facing whatsoever”.
Neil noted that the pair were “strong believers in free speech” and added: “If somebody has an opinion, I strongly urge folks to put their name behind it and their face beside it.”
However, he continued: “But in this case, people were writing every defamatory statement possible about our business and personal life and it just got more menacing over the years.”
The entrepreneur gave an example of the torment himself and his wife were receiving.
Neil recalled how a lady approaching them in a restaurant to gush over Donna’s fashion business.
The couple got chatting to the woman and her pals and even ended up buying them a drink.
However, just under an hour later, the couple’s entire conversation with the lady was posted on the Tattle Life website.
Neil conveyed how the abuse online only got “worse” as time went on, with their home address even being leaked to the public.
‘HORRIBLE’
The frustrated man revealed that people were driving “back and forth” to their house over a period of months and the license plate on his car was even uploaded to the site.
And Ireland AM viewers were all left in shock at the couple’s harrowing experience.
One viewer wrote on Instagram: “Wow. Absolutely shocking and terrifying in equal measures.”
Chloe said: “God bless you both, so horrible.”
Emily remarked: “Purely disgusting that website was allowed to run for that long.”
And Hannah commented: “This is shocking stuff.”
