This was the thought that came into my mind when I read about the incredibly sad story of Lucy Meadows. Lucy Meadows was formerly Nathan Upton, a teacher working in a primary school in Accrington in Lancashire. Lucy was going through a transition to become a woman and the schools pupils had been told about what was happening and were told that in future Mr. Upton would be known as Ms Lucy Meadows. 

Unfortunately a group of parents of the children decided that the best way to proceed would be to contact the media and voice their concerns. 

The sometimes incredibly obnoxious Daily Mail then got their hands on this story and decided that it merited their particular style of treatment. There then followed a campaign against Lucy Meadows of harassment, intimidation and humiliation. It appears that the parents of the children were worried that their little angels should have to confront such complex gender problems at such a vulnerable young age.

Lucy Meadows committed suicide in March of last year and the coroner at the recent inquest described what happened to her in the media as “character assassination and the coroner said that the media had brought into question her right to pursue her career as a teacher. Lucy Meadows was not a celebrity. She had done nothing wrong. Her only crime was to be different.

Lucy Meadows is now dead. The parents who sought to protect their innocent children will say that they did not intend this to happen. The journalists who invaded her privacy and made her life such a misery and a torment will say that they did not intend her to commit suicide. In criminal law there is a principle that you are presumed to intend the natural results of your actions so for instance if I attack somebody and severely beat them and they subsequently die, I can be charged with murder because if I attack somebody like this, it is not a sufficient defense for me to say I didn’t intend to kill them. I did intend to inflict serious harm but I didn’t intend to kill them. It seems to me that Richard Littlejohn, the journalist who championed this piece of character assassination on behalf of the Daily Mail should perhaps be charged with murder based on this principle. He must have known that when he ridiculed and humiliated Lucy Meadows in this manner that serious consequences could have followed. He wouldn’t be convicted but it might put the fear of God into him!