Voodoo creeps

They got her sacked and with no payoff. Now the Sun and the Daily Mail are stalking Sharon Shoesmith in the street. Do those creeps realise their witchcraft may result in blood on their hands?

Madeleine Bunting in The Guardian calls it "21st century voodoo" and she's being polite. Because the harassment our finest tabloids are subjecting former head of Haringey children’s services Sharon Shoesmith has now reached the levels of a horror film script.

First, The Sun and the Mail went on a rampage that they wanted the woman sacked. She got sacked. Then they demanded that she receive no payoff. She got no payoff. Now they're saying she should receive no pension. And, for at least five years, she won't touch any of the pension she's entitled to. Even though Shoesmith worked all of her life and paid her tax until the age of 55, our crazed tabloids think she should never be allowed to touch her retirement money.

If that wasn't enough, their psycho obsession has now stepped up one gear. They are now stalking every one of Shoesmith's moves. True to gutter journalism, the Daily Mail is nosing into where she lives and how much she pays. Whether she's renting or whether she isn't. Because of course that is so relevant to Baby P.

The creeps also went off on one because the woman was guilty of walking to a "nearby Waitrose before popping into a Pret-A-Manger" with a few friends. For a second she was photographed smiling. Bad call. The braindead tabloids kicked off again. 'Wipe that smile off your face', you 'social smirker'. If that weren't enough, Sharon Shoesmith also had the nerve to go for a meal. Bitch. According to the Sun, she "smirks in the street yesterday — before heading off to a swish Italian restaurant".

So what could possibly end this creepy, irresponsible obsession? Shoesmith locked in a basement engaging in 9 til 5 sessions of self-flagellation? Rocking in a chair at a mental institution with her hair shaven off? Because they won't print it, but I suspect driving the woman to death, whether suicide or carried out by some dim-witted vigilante, is the only thing that would stop the hate-soaked tabloids from acting like such a bunch of raving maniacs.

The saddest aspect is that the 'Baby P case' started out as a genuine tragedy and ended up as an even bigger one. In the sense that a helpless, guiltless 2-year-old baby became the amulet of an insane, literally, insane witch-hunt run by a bunch of ruthless money-making yobs with no sense of proportion.