11 March 2024 , 19:55
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The 'UK's worst online troll' spread rumours of a secret paedophile ring that cooked and ate babies.
Back in 2015, an internet conspiracy theory went wild about a satanic cult at a primary school and adjoining church in Hampstead, north London. It claimed 175 teachers, parents and religious leaders had brought babies over from other countries to abuse and kill them. Rumours even alleged they cooked and ate the bodies.
Tonight, a Channel 4 documentary titled Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax tells the story of four mums, who were falsely accused of being part of the ring at their children's school, and how it impacted their families. Sabine McNeill, 78, is an ex-computer scientist who led the campaign and ruined the lives of local parents and their kids.
The horrifying ordeal began in 2015 when two children, aged eight and nine, were forced to make shocking accusations on camera about bloody rituals they claimed were happening in the area. One of the children alleged: "We do sex with the baby, sacrifice and eat the baby, and drink the blood from it… we dance with the skulls."
The two pupils claimed their own father was at the head of the ring. The videos were posted on an obscure blog by their mother's new partner, Abraham Christie. Police ruled the children's stories were fabricated and the result of "relentless emotional and psychological pressure as well as significant physical abuse" at the hands of Christie.
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Christie and their mother, Ella Draper, fled the country and the investigation was closed. But rumours continued to spread. Pensioner Sabine McNeill uploaded interviews and videos of the children making the allegations online, and shared an 11-page document with the names, contact details and information of the pupils in the non-existent cult.
McNeill led a campaign that falsely claimed to uncover child rape and murder at the school, and harrassed the four mothers whose stories feature in the documentary. Their families' lives were 'ruined' and her actions forced innocent children to carry tracking devices, change their names and practise panic drills at home.
In 2019, McNeill, then 74, was sent behind bars for nine years. Judge Sally Cahill told her at Southwark Crown Court: "This case has to be one of the most serious cases of stalking and breach of a restraining order that there can be. The direct consequences of your actions, is that for the four families concerned you have ruined all normal family life.
"The allegations were of murder, cannibalism, satanism and sexual abuse. They could not be more serious or vile. The children's lives have been blighted forever. In my judgement you are an arrogant, malicious, evil and manipulative woman." McNeill, of Camden, north London, was convicted of four counts of harassment and six counts of breaching a restraining order.
Prosector Miranda Moore told the jury she was "an online troll of the worst kind, making the lives of innocent families a misery". The horror has since died down but the affected parents still find malicious content online, and Christie and Draper are living freely. It is believed they are living in Spain. McNeill, now 78, is serving her sentence behind bars.
In 2020, McNeill wrote for the prisoners' magazine Inside Time at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey and claimed her bed was 'uncomfortable' and she was in a 'toxic environment'. She moaned about her hip pain and said that she should be able to buy her own mattress.
McNeill wrote: "In my attempts at getting my Chronic Pain Syndrome recognised so that I can survive in this toxic environment, I have already acquired a wheelchair thanks to my friends and supporters. That took six weeks of begging for permission and the threat of being handcuffed on my back while being carried.
"That was when I sat on the floor because my hip was hurting too much. I was forced to crawl with my crutches. Ever since I had my hip dislocated in a car accident I wish I could make my pain visible. But here, rules matter and their happiness, not our relieving of pain." McNeill has since remained under the radar.
- Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.