Sally Bercow turns off Twitter after hacker breaks into account

 
20 November 2012

Sally Bercow today dramatically took down her Twitter page after making a series of gaffes and having her account being hijacked by a hacker who called her a “stupid woman”.

The Speaker’s wife’s account was deleted after a mysterious final tweet at 2.21am read: “Hello 1000s of followers (funking lunatics). Stupid woman — password softearev.” The comment appeared to be a disdainful reference to the password protecting her account not being secure enough.

The drama came a day after a senior lawyer advised Mrs Bercow to “turn off her Twitter account” after getting into legal trouble for the second time this month.

Mrs Bercow is already facing legal action by Lord McAlpine, the former Conservative Party treasurer, for drawing attention to tweets speculating about the identity of a “senior Thatcher-era Tory” wrongly accused of sexually abusing children.

That furore claimed another scalp today when comedian Alan Davies said he had apologised to the peer.

In a tweet he said: “I’ve just written to Lord McAlpine to apologise for re-tweeting his name in relation to false allegations following a BBC investigation.”

Yesterday Mrs Bercow got into hot water again by apparently breaching a court order banning the naming of a schoolgirl who allegedly ran off with her teacher — an action that could carry a £5,000 fine.

She sent a message to her 59,000 Twitter followers at 8.40pm on Sunday asking what happened to the teacher and giving the girl’s first name.

Media lawyer Sarah Webb, of Payne Hicks Beach, said the online comment amounted to publication. “The contempt of court requirements will apply to her just the same as any newspaper or broadcaster,” she told the Telegraph. “I would advise her to be very cautious. I would certainly urge her to turn off her Twitter account at the moment.

“She may not know the law, but equally most people who have an understanding of these things know that in respect of actions involving children and things like that, you can’t go around naming them. I think it is surprising that none of these things seem to cross her radar.”

A 30-year-old man has been charged with abducting a child and was remanded in custody at a court hearing last week.

Last night, Mrs Bercow said she had been advised by her husband, Speaker John Bercow, and her lawyer not to reply: “Looking at tweets but (sadly) can’t reply (#lawyerswhippedmyass #asdidMrB).”

She deleted the tweet several hours later after being warned that her comment could land her in trouble.

Mrs Bercow is a colourful tweeter and has insisted her tweet about Lord McAlpine was mischievous rather than libellous. She has accused the peer’s lawyers of being “ambulance chasers” and “big bullies”.

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