Katie Hopkins Alesha MacPhail Lies BUSTED

When six-year-old Alesha MacPhail went missing from the house at which she had been staying on the island of Bute, and soon afterwards was found murdered, the news shocked the whole community. This was, after all, just over 6,000 people strong, and there is normally zero crime there. But one person hundreds of miles away decided that she knew Who Done It. Thus the entrance of pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins.

Viewers may still want to look away now

“‘For an island with close to zero crime, there has been a recent disturbing trend on the Isle of Bute, Scotland’ she told solemnly, linking the killing to the recent arrival of 19 refugee families from Syria”. She then deleted the Tweet, but not quickly enough. Ferret Scotland noted that “The tweet was later deleted and replaced by a link to a story about the girl’s death, then a screenshot of an article about Syrian refugees settling in Bute ‘tweeted without comment’”. Nudge. Wink. Whistle those doggies!

Ms Hopkins also pitched recent statistics for sex crimes in Argyll and Bute, but her problem there was (a) the island of Bute contains less than 10% of the population of Argyll and Bute, (b) the level of sex crime for the whole area is in any case below the national average, and (c) the resettlement programme for Syrian refugees had only just started at the tail end of the time period covered by the figures.

In any case, Hatey Katie was once again Plain Flat Wrong. We know this as the judge in the trial of little Alesha’s murderer has now allowed him to be identified. As the BBC has reported, “The identity of the teenage boy who raped and murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail has been revealed. The judge who presided over the trial has lifted a ban on naming 16-year-old Aaron Campbell”. And there was more.

Aaron Campbell (photo (c) Police Scotland)

“Media outlets, including the BBC, made a case for reversing the court order which had protected his identity because he was under the age of 18 … Judge Lord Matthews said: ‘I can't think of a case in recent times that has attracted such revulsion’ … After hearing the legal arguments on Friday, he said: ‘I intend to grant the application. The press may name the accused and publish images of him.’” So why reveal his name?

“On Friday, Tony Graham QC, the lawyer representing several news organisations … said the attempt to have the restriction lifted was a balancing act of the age, vulnerability and rights of the murderer, and the potential collateral damage to his family, against the public interest due to the nature of his crimes and the nature of his defence”. He might also have added that the identification meant Katie Hopkins was bust.

So it should surprise no-one that Ms Hopkins has not seen fit to say anything about the revelation which shows that the murderer of Alesha MacPhail was not one of those Scary Muslims™. She likes to pretend that she is a journalist - no sniggering at the back, please - but will not stop and admit that she called something badly, and indeed maliciously, wrong. For her, the ends (stoking hatred) justify the means.

She should say sorry for another grotesque demonisation of Muslims. But she won’t. Being Katie Hopkins means never having to say you’re sorry.

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