Student (17) sent vile letter by ex's father is targeted by vicious online campaign
17-year-old sent vile letter by the father of her ex-boyfriend is targeted online after he pleads guilty
The victim's name was typed on the envelope
Carl Moran was seen on CCTV posting the letter
A Leaving Cert student who was sent an 'obscene and abusive' letter by this 50-year-old father-of-five is now the subject of a vicious online campaign waged by his supporters.
Carl Moran, from Upton, Kilmuckridge, Gorey, Co Wexford, received a suspended eight-month sentence last week after he pleaded guilty to sending the anonymous and hateful letter to the then 17-year-old girl.
The court heard how CCTV captured images of Moran posting the letter from Wells post office in Wexford on May 23, 2024.
At the sitting, Moran — who is the father of his victim's ex-boyfriend — accepted full responsibility for the letter, although he denied writing it, apologised for what he'd done and handed over €500 in compensation.
But instead of this being the end of the matter for his innocent victim, the case has sparked a series of horrific and unfounded online attacks against her and her family.
'I thought it [the court case] would be the end of it, but it just fired it up all over again,' his sixth-year student victim told the Sunday World.
'What he did is all there in black and white.
'I just can't understand how people can defend someone when there's a court report up stating exactly what happened.
'A court is not going to believe lies or take anyone's side.
'The judge saw the letter that he sent to me and here there is CCTV of him posting the letter.
'What more do people need?'
The victim's name was typed on the envelope
Among the shocking messages posted in response to a report on the case in the Gorey Guardian, was one stating: 'Carl is nothing but a gentleman who is full-time carer to his wife … People should know how twisted these [the girl's family] are. Absolute disgrace. If it was a dog, you would put it down.'
Another stated: 'Carl is a gent and I'm horrified by how easily this story is attempting to damage his name. Yes, this other family would seem to have friends in high places with the ability to abuse power.'
And another reads: 'The family and girl involved should be ashamed of themselves. Carl is a gentleman and has been hung out to dry.'
Other messages that have appeared online this week include one saying 'they [victim's family] should be run out of town'.
But following the series of vile taunts, the girl's mother hit back: 'Shame on these people. My daughter has already been through enough.
'Do these people not know children have taken their own lives over less?'
Outlining the background to the case, Moran's distraught victim said she had been going out with a teenage son of her attacker until their break-up, about six months before she received the letter.
'It ended not too bad,' she said.
'But then some untrue rumours went round about why we broke up.
'I'd nothing to do with those rumours, nothing at all.
'I told him [her ex-boyfriend] I was sorry it was happening but it was nothing to do with me.
'It was all cleared up and we were civil with each other.'
'That happened in December — and then I got the letter the following May.'
Recalling the circumstances in which the letter arrived at her family's home, the girl said her brother had been the one to pick it up.
'It had a normal stamp on it but it was Pritt-Sticked shut and my name was typed on the front of it,' she recalled.
Carl Moran pleaded guilty to sending the anonymous letter
News in 90 seconds - 12th May 2025
'It didn't look right so my brother hid it and rang my mum.'
The girl's mother said when she got home, her son handed her a pair of gloves and told her to read the letter.
'I did,' she said, 'And I was like: 'Woah!'
'My first thought was some girl in the school was upset with my daughter and they were behind this.
'But what was in it was so sick and horrible, I knew I had to go to the Guards.'
The girl's mum said she subsequently handed the letter over to the local gardaí.
At Moran's sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Paul Hayes said the Post Office Investigations Team traced the letter to Wells Post Office.
Gardaí then went to the post office, where CCTV footage was viewed which clearly showed Carl Moran posting the letter.
The letter itself, the woman explained, contained a printed reproduction of a vile WhatsApp message targeting her daughter – designed to appear as if it had been shared many times.
'It was done to make it look like it had been shared round – that people had seen it,' the girl said.
'It was done that way to make me afraid.'
A few days after the girl's mother handed the letter over to gardaí, an officer called to let her know CCTV had been obtained of the culprit.
'He said it was a male in his 50s and they identified the car he was driving.
'Then I knew,' the woman continued. 'It was Carl Moran.
'A man our family had offered support to while his wife was very ill.
'This was the father of a boy my daughter had gone out with.
'I felt sick to the pit of my stomach.'
Moran's victim said she was ostracised when it emerged she and her family had gone to the guards.
She said she was called 'a rat' in school and students she had known since playschool turned their backs on her.
'I just thought when people read about the case and realised what he had done, they'd say: 'Oh, we didn't realise, we're sorry'.
'But it's not been like that at all.
'If anything, it's gotten worse.
'But I'm glad I stood up because I didn't do anything wrong.
'He's a 50-year-old man who did this to a teenage girl.
'I'm not the one who is in the wrong here.'
A victim impact statement written by the teenager was read out in court.
In it, she wrote: 'This incident has not only impacted me but my family as well. I have lost all my friends, and my parents have lost close friends too.
'I have lost countless nights' sleep and lost countless days off school as I am terrified of this person. The days I am told are the best days of your life have been ruined.
'The fear and anxiety caused by this have been paralysing. I haven't been myself since this started and it will affect my relationships with friends for a very long time.
'I am very upset, my little brother found this letter and the people I love most had to read such cruel things about me.
'I hope one day he [Moran] will be able to realise the pain and loss caused and realise the wrong in what he has done.'
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