How warped trolls are waging war on celeb mums with sick game to take their kids away – and they’re powerless to stop it
FOR four exhausting months, Ashley James barely slept through the night, fearing her children could be snatched away from her.
Thanks to a pack of malicious lies from complete strangers, the loving mother-of-two was put under investigation by social services - and there was little she could do to hit back.
The TV host and model told The Sun: “When I first received the letter from social services explaining that they were investigating me I was pregnant. It put a huge amount of stress and pressure on me.
“It was also embarrassing because I had to explain to all of my childcare providers what was going on, so they could speak to social services too.
"It was quite mortifying, incredibly stressful and upsetting."
Ashley, 36, who regularly posts about her life as the mother of young children on social media, had found her life turned upside down by trolls who took against her approach to parenting.
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And astonishingly, she is far from alone.
Over recent months, an alarming number of high-profile mums, from reality stars to MPs, have faced the legitimate risk of having their children removed thanks to ghouls anonymously - and legally - contacting social services.
But concerningly, they have found it near impossible to bring their tormentors to justice, even when the incident has been reported to the police.
“It is absolutely a form of harassment," says Ashley. "These people will try and damage my reputation, doing extremely nasty and unwarranted acts such as trying to get me dropped from jobs or TV stations, by contacting people directly.
"They get a kick out of it and it’s sick really."
Reality star Charlotte Dawson, cleaning guru Mrs Hinch, YouTuber family The Smithys and MP Stella Creasy - who all regularly speak about parenthood online - are among the high-profile stars to have been targeted in this year alone.
Psychotherapist and author Dr Aaron Balick, a specialist in how we relate to each other on social media, believes it is easy for negative opinions to form rapidly online.
"He had never met me or seen my children in person, but as a direct result of his actions both now have a social services record."
Creasy was cleared, but told by police that they would not pursue a criminal investigation into the actions of her tormentor.
She says she was told by Leicestershire Police that her accuser was “legally entitled to show concerns to social care", commenting: "He did this because he has concerns that if your views are communicated to your children then they will become extreme.”
Brand and Culture expert Nick Ede says: "There is something very sinister about the trend to shame celebrity parents on social media and then report them.
"The social services and the police all have duty of care to make sure that children are cared for, so trolls targeting famous faces for no reason but to cause distress need to be investigated and stopped.
"Sites like Tattle Life that speak ill of social media stars and bloggers can really affect their mental health and they need to be moderated and carefully policed.
"With the police force and social services stretched as they are, this kind of abuse needs to be stopped and the perpetrators prosecuted accordingly. Celebrities are living in fear of being targeted by strangers."
A Leicestershire police spokesman told The Times: “Leicestershire police takes any report of harassment extremely seriously and will carry out a full investigation into the report and take the appropriate action."
Harassment and doxing - which means revealing identifying information about someone online - are both issues Ashley believes the Government needs to take more seriously.
That is why she, alongside Creasy, have called for more protection for women and girls as part of the Online Safety Bill, which was finally passed by Parliament this week.
“When you have a social services case opened against you, they have to notify your doctor and your school," says Ashley.
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“When my son starts going to school, whenever he’s in my care or someone else’s care and he has an injury, it would get flagged to doctors and nurses that he’s potentially being abused.
“This behaviour has real-life consequences. Why do my children deserve having their mum taken away?”