Who is WITNESS A and what is BDBLD?

A window into the Murky world of anonymous social media in Northumberland politics

In this very short preamble, we'll leave our readers and the politicians of Northumberland with a few questions they may wish to answer about what is needed to create a more positive discourse to allow politics to function to the benefit of residents and politicians alike.

This is an extract from an official letter and it lifts the lid on the perpetrators of anonymous social media sites which are purely designed to harass and intimidate. They proliferate and have been covered in the local media here

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/how-are-local-politics-playing-out-online-and-on-social-media-1-9369546 

Some are the main offenders are Berwick Deserves Better Than The Liberal Democrats and the Northumberland Murky blogspot. 

This site may be anonymous but we try to present facts not conjecture, smear or intimidation. Our motto is the truth will out and we're simply a site to publicise the tough issues that the council and their political lackey's want to keep from your eyes. WE BELIEVE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST and we don't like to be bullied. If there's anything factually wrong in our content please feel free to challenge it and if you're right we'll correct. That hasn't happened once since we started by the way and the corrections policy applies to the county council too. 

The statement below beggars the question - who is Witness A? 

"On 13th May 2017 Witness A attended Berwick Police Station to be questioned about your allegations. In interview she answered all questions put to her and confirmed she had made and published all 19 comments referred to in your statement. She denied harassment and stalking offences. Her responses formed part of the file of evidence. She confirmed she was the administrator for the BDBLD site". 

She's clearly been interviewed as part of an investigation into harassment and stalking offences and was clearly interviewed in Berwick. We've taken the decision not to reveal who she is because it would be better coming from the elected member themselves. I'm sure she will want to answer why she has hidden her identity for so long, regularly accusing others of being involved in anonymous smearing online. 

Now what is BDBLD? It is an anonymous site. 

Witness A has confirmed that she is the administrator of the site. It was set up to smear Liberal Democrats and has pushed some very nasty and illegal smears which have been subject to official complaints. The most notable is the claim that Liberal Democrat activists had stolen bundles of votes from the 2017 local government count at Hexham. It was a clear smear and would have been a  serious breach of election law if it was true. 

Witness A pushed that 'fake news' which was discounted completely by the council legal team and Northumbria Police who neither had received an official complaint. The Berwick Deserves Better Than The Liberal Democrat site alleged a crime had taken place when it hadn't and there was also a general election where this kind of serious smear could have influenced people's intention to vote for party. A very similar modus operandi is operated on the Northumberland Murky site which loves to push a story that illegal acts took place at Arch yet there's been no evidence of any illegal acts. 

Now we know BDBLD is run by and she is responsible for the content of a nasty, smear site we think it's time she answered the call to reveal herself as Witness A. 

After all, she's one of the most prodigious 'keyboard warriors' who has a penchant for murky dealings along with being a champion for transparency. 

Step forward Witness A and reveal yourself. 

Tell us why you should be believed if you can lie about bundles of votes being stolen by your opposition, what else are you hiding?