Since the original piece came out in The Observer last weekend, I've been a bit overwhelmed by the response, it really has been amazing, so thank you to everyone who took time to message me about the story, I'm really very grateful for all the kind words.
There has also been a fair amount of press interest in the story as well, so here's a little something that's coming up in the Daily Mail today. I can apologise in advance for my ridiculous serious face, but apparently submitting a heavily Instagrammed selfie wasn't good enough.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2362378/These-women-thought-theyd-Mr-Perfect-online--fact-tricked-lonely-heart-fantasist-wasnt-man.html
*straps on hard hat and vows not to read the comments*
Oh, and in case you haven't seen *that* perfume bottle picture, you can see it here:
There has also been a fair amount of press interest in the story as well, so here's a little something that's coming up in the Daily Mail today. I can apologise in advance for my ridiculous serious face, but apparently submitting a heavily Instagrammed selfie wasn't good enough.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2362378/These-women-thought-theyd-Mr-Perfect-online--fact-tricked-lonely-heart-fantasist-wasnt-man.html
*straps on hard hat and vows not to read the comments*
Oh, and in case you haven't seen *that* perfume bottle picture, you can see it here:
Hey clare! Firstly I wanna say that I'm really horrified to hear about your experience with this loony bin sebastian/amy character, but I heavily applaud and salute you for not giving up and seeing it through to find this sick maniac. One thing though, I've become utterly obsessed with this sad and horrific tale, I'd absolutey love to know what was going though the mind of the person who did this. It would be the icing on the cake, the ultimate victory to get this loony in a police station or to someone who can question the motives behind this twisted act. Anyways, I wanna know will you be persuing this further? Maybe try and get amy to speak about what happened? I really think you should tell someone of authority, maybe the police again, a phsyciatrist or even her parents! I'm really eager to know about how and what motivated her to do this. Just why? Its beyond human comprehension and mind baffling!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I do really hope you are well and able to move on! Sorry if I'm asking unnecessary stuff and bringing it all back. I really hope that you leave this all behind you and move on! X
With the exception of the minor harassment and hollow "threats" that "Amy" made, which the police thought were a waste of time to follow up on, she did NOT break any UK laws, so just what exactly do you expect to happen?
DeleteIt's not actually illegal to right-click-save or print-screen someone's Facebook / dating site pictures and go around telling people on the internet that you're that person. It's not illegal to fake your name or make up stories online.
Guardian journalists and the women involved have already tried to figure out her motivations by confronting her in person and writing to her - she has declined to comment. She is not legally obligated to disclose her motivation, she's not on trial.
It's reasonable to conclude from the evidence provided that she's got some mental illness and/or has problems with relationships and expressing her sexuality in real life for whatever reason and feels the best outlet for this is through fictional identities online. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that she's a lesbian or bisexual either (though it's possible), despite the fact most of her targets were female. She pretended to be an educated, well off, attractive man with an outgoing and romantic personality, the sort of man she herself is attracted to but cannot attract; her victims were simply pawns in her fantasy world, though she did fall for them.
Anyway, the best thing to come out of this fiasco would be that "Amy" seeks professional help and takes steps towards forming healthy relationships, for the victims - and indeed any reader - to be cautious when forming friendships and relationships online. If you're getting close to someone online always try your best to ascertain that they are who they claim they are - through webcam / video chats, Facebook, Google, whatever means possible.
I don't like the way people assume that just because she did something like this, then she must have a mental illness or something. Yeah sometimes people do things so far-fetched and unbelievable that we always want to be able to understand them or to be able to justify them so that we can have peace of mind by understanding the reason or motivation behind such unreasonable actions. But the truth of the matter is, some things are beyond our comprehension because people might just do them simply because they get their kicks out of doing them and because they can. Maybe she enjoyed doing it? Have u ever thought that maybe she liked lying to her victims and having them under her control like that? Being able to do to them whatever she wanted. Having that kind of power and control is exciting and addictive. Maybe she just liked the thrill of it and nothing more. That doesn't make her ill or mentally disturbed. Just that she lacks empathy and is not a nice person. Quit making excuses for behaiviours please. Some things we just simply cannot understand because it is beyond our own capabilities to do them, but for others it may be easy and dare I say it, fun or normal, and such might be the case for 'amy' too.
ReplyDelete