Internet troll, Brenda Leyland

Brenda Leyland

Internet troll Brenda Leyland was found dead in a hotel room near her home at the weekend, a few days after she was outed by Sky Reporter Martin Brunt for sending thousands of vindictive messages about the McCann family.

Her son Ben 20, studying law in Los Angeles, posted a brief tribute. "I love you mum and will miss you forever" and added "I am love and I am light, thanks to you."

She was tracked down to her house and when confronted, she said she was entitled to make those hideous comments using her Twitter id @Sweepyface.

Burton Overy

She lived in the small village of Burton Overy, population 280, and the landlord at the local pub said "She wasn't a regular at the pub but popped in for the occasional meal.  She was a perfectly pleasant person who socialized with friends she had in the village and appeared to be very well liked.  No one is blaming the media, they have a job to do reporting the news and she admitted sending those tweets."

It didn't take long for everyone in the village to find out what she had done - her picture was in every newspaper and TV station across the country.  An anonymous local said "We knew she had suddenly left her home and there were concerns about what she might do, but no one thought she would go this far."

Asked about @Sweepyface, Mr McCann said "I haven't seen her tweets, we do not have any significant presence on social media or online."

Ms Leyland, a divorcee, was educated at a convent school and studied at Goldsmiths, University of London so it's reasonable to assume that she was fairly bright.  So why would she believe that the McCanns had anything to do with their daughter's disappearance?  It's quite bizarre.

We will never know what turned this seemingly pleasant woman who was well liked by her neighbours into a vile, hate-filled devil.  

But if a law was passed that made all hate-filled posts illegal, she wouldn't have said those terrible things, and she wouldn't have died of shame.