Political

Miranda Grell loses her appeal

Waltham Forest Labour councillor Miranda Grell lost her appeal today over her conviction for falsely smearing her Liberal Democrat opponent in the 2006 elections.

The smears involved painting her opponent as a child abuser.

It’s worth remembering the awful personal tragedy behind this case – the terrible effect on Barry Smith, the Liberal Democrat councillor who was defeated by Miranda Grell:

In the months after his defeat he was abused, threatened and spat at in the street and on one occasion two men followed him home from a shop and accused him of having sex with children. [24dash]

Hat tip: Anthony Hook

Given the vehemence with which some (though to be fair, by no means all) Labour supporters have defended Grell, even after her initial conviction (and including fabricating a tale about a court transcript that didn’t exist), I’m not 100% sure that even losing her appeal will be enough to get the message through to them about the disgraceful havoc wrecked on Barry Smith’s life by Miranda Grell’s behaviour.

But let’s hope it does.

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