Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

'Stupid woman': Sally Bercow's Twitter account deleted after apparent hacker posts message criticising her

Deletion took place after a series of gaffes from Bercow, including breaching a court order banning the naming of a schoolgirl, and linking Lord McAlpine to a flawed Newsnight film about child abuse

John Hall
Tuesday 20 November 2012 13:35 GMT
Comments
Sally Bercow has left Twitter after a hacker apparently compromised her account, calling her a “stupid woman” and criticising her soft password
Sally Bercow has left Twitter after a hacker apparently compromised her account, calling her a “stupid woman” and criticising her soft password

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sally Bercow has left Twitter after a hacker apparently compromised her account, calling her a “stupid woman” and criticising her soft password.

At 2.21am last night her account appeared to have been hacked when a message in broken English appeared, reading “Lou yeah I. md Dilly Bercow! 1000s of followers (funking lunatics). Stupid woman - password softearev”.

Her account has subsequently been deleted, although it is not known if it was removed by the hacker, Twitter, or Mrs Bercow herself.

The hacked message appeared hours after Mrs Bercow tweeted that she had been advised by her lawyers and husband – Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow – not to use the social networking site.

Yesterday a leading lawyer urged Mrs Bercow to leave Twitter after she breached a strict court order banning the naming of a schoolgirl. It is thought she could face a £5,000 fine for doing so.

That gaff came just days after it was revealed that Lord McAlpine is planning to sue Mrs Bercow after she named him on Twitter at a time when there was frenzied online speculation over the identity of an former MP wrongly accused of being a paedophile by BBC’s Newsnight programme.

Last night Mrs Bercow tweeted: “Looking at tweets but (sadly) can’t reply (#lawyerswhippedmyass #asdidMrB). So text/email/DM if you’re a mate. Hope 2 b back soon.xx”

Mrs Bercow named the missing schoolgirl, whose identity is protected by a Section 39 Order under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, at 8.40pm on Sunday evening.

She followed the message up by tweeting “Forgive random question - just discussing with a friend…”

She failed to respond to warnings from journalists that she should withdraw the post, finally removing it several hours later.

Mrs Bercow has already been sent a “letter before action” from Lord McAlpine, who accuses her of defamation over a tweet that linked him to a flawed Newsnight film about child abuse.

“Why is Lord McAlpine trending *innocent face*” she tweeted.

After finding out she was going to receive the letter from Lord McAlpine’s lawyers, Mrs Bercow tweeted “*gulps*”.

She has since tweeted calling the peer’s lawyers “ambulance chasers” and “big bullies”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in