The four women at the centre of the hoax are speaking out for the first time.
The mothers of a vicious hoax are speaking out for the first time in a new Channel 4 documentary, Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax.
Described as though they were “under siege”, the innocent women are portrayed by actors and referred to by pseudonyms to protect both their privacy and that of their children.
The documentary explores how the ordeal affected the families of those targeted, and how they eventually brought those harassing them to justice.
Read on for the full story of Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax.
The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax true story
Four mothers were falsely accused of being satanic paedophiles by internet trolls.
In 2014, their names and contact details were published online as part of a list of 175 alleged cult members, and they were accused of abusing their own children.
A brother and sister, who were pupils at a primary school in Hampstead, alleged that the group were worshippers of the devil who had sexual intercourse with children, drank their blood and made sacrifices.
The siblings’ mother, Ella Draper, and her partner Abraham Christie also claimed that her children accused their father of running a satanic paedophile ring.
The police investigated their claims but could find no evidence, and in the following months they were re-interviewed and altered their story.
The children claimed Draper and Christie had forced them to lie and told the police how Christie was physically abusive and coerced them into telling the false story.
In 2015, the targeted mothers were made aware of the allegations. Anna (whose name is changed for privacy), told The Sun: “It was about 4pm and I was at work. I got an email from the school saying there had been some allegations [the] police had investigated and found nothing.
“But it didn’t say what the allegations were, so the first thing I did was google it. It was a heart-stopping moment.”
The women were harassed relentlessly on social media, and when reported to the police, they were told the trolls could not be prosecuted.
“We had death threats, by phone, email, even a drone over the school,” Jenny told the publication. “People were threatening to burn down our houses. When they started talking about kidnapping or ‘rescuing’ the 20 specific children – that became alarming.”
Later in 2015, a High Court judge ruled that the accusations were “entirely baseless”. “Those who have sought to perpetuate them are evil and/or foolish.”
Despite this, people still began flocking to Hampstead. “It just fanned the flames. We had vigilantes and lynch mobs threatening to come to town,” Jenny explained to The Sun.
“Apparently, they were going to investigate us, check our privates to see if we had devil tattoos, kill us, set fire to our homes or rescue our children.”
The targeted women all compiled evidence of what was happening to them, keeping thousands of screenshots.
Among those who targeted the women was conspiracy theorist Sabine McNeill, who encouraged her followers to confront the accused women. She was convicted on four counts of harassment and six counts of breaching a restraining order and was imprisoned for nine years in 2019.
“This case has to be one of the most serious cases of stalking and breach of a restraining order that there can be,” Judge Sally Cahill told McNeill (as per The Evening Standard).
“The direct consequences of your actions, is that for the four families concerned you have ruined all normal family life.”
Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax airs on Monday 11th March at 9pm on Channel 4.
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