Sally Bercow calls time on Twitter after second gaffe

Published on 21/11/2012 01:18

FOR Sally Bercow it was a tweet too far. The wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons has abandoned Twitter after breaching a ban on identifying a girl at the centre of an abduction case.

Mrs Bercow, already on a list of those who wrongly named or linked Lord McAlpine with child abuse claims, sent a message on Sunday night to her 59,000-plus followers asking what happened to teacher Jeremy Forrest, 30, and reportedly named the girl.

The tweet was deleted after Mrs Bercow was apparently warned about the media ban by journalists. An order has been made under Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, banning identification of the girl.

For Mrs Bercow, who has been photographed nude but for a bedsheet in the Speaker’s flat overlooking the Houses of Parliament and joined the Big Brother house in an attempt to raise her profile, the mistake seems to have been the final straw. Yesterday, those seeking to follow her on Twitter were greeted by the message: “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!”

Sussex Police said it was “fully aware of reporting restrictions around the case involving Jeremy Forrest and, therefore, is being cautious in the information we release.

“We will actively investigate potential criminal breaches of these restrictions by others.”