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Daily Record
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Lauryn Goodman slams trolls after social services called on her kids
Lauryn Goodman has spoken out about her horrific experience with notorious gossip website Tattle Life, saying that social services were even called over her kids she shares with Kyle Walker. Reality television star Lauryn Goodman has spoken out about the harassment she faced from trolls. Including some who called social services on her children with Kyle Walker, after being targeted on a notorious gossip website. Lauryn, 34, has been subjected to horrible slurs from "keyboard warriors" on the "toxic" Tattle Life site. The disgraced platform allowed users to anonymously post intimate and private details about celebs and influencers, often spreading and fuelling gossip. The site has caused irreparable harm to both celebs and wide businesses. Those affected by the site include well-known stars like Katie Price, Alice Evans, Stacey Solomon, and Molly-Mae Hague. Tattle Life's founder, Sebastian Bond, has recently been identified after spreading false and hurtful claims about couple Neil and Donna Sands. The couple won a substantial £300,000 libel payout due to a defamatory 45-page thread on the website. Fashion influencer and clothing brand Sylkie owner Donna, and tech entrepreneur Neil, received damages for the harassment and defamation suffered, according to reports in the Mirror. Lauryn connected with the couple on Instagram and formed a WhatsApp group to attempt to identify the individuals responsible for spreading the malicious rumours on the site. Recounting her dreadful ordeal with the site, she told the Mail that it all started during lockdown when she was expecting her eldest son Kairo with footballer Kyle while he was on a 'break' from his wife Annie Kilner. She alleged that Tattle users slandered her, accusing her of being an escort paid to travel to Hong Kong for sexual encounters. As her relationship with Kyle became public knowledge, she explained that Tattle users began directing vile abuse at her kids. "They have called my children so many nasty, nasty things which I don't ever want to say because it's so disgusting. They used terms for children born out of wedlock, horrible terms that you shouldn't refer any child by. "They're so innocent – they're minors and it's sick. I can't understand why anyone would do this to kids. They think they are funny with it but there is nothing funny about it, what have my children done to deserve this? Take away my part in the mess, what have they done? It's a form of harassment." The situation escalated further when she disclosed that social services had been falsely alerted about her, with claims that Kairo and Kinara were not being cared for properly. Confessing her embarrassment, she said: "People from Tattle were anonymously ringing social services. They say it on the website too, things like: 'She's going to be getting a call from social services...' and the next thing, I get one." Lauryn stated that there had been two interventions from social services, which she described as "just horrible". "They say my children aren't loved but they are, they get hugs all of the time and I read a book to them every night," she said. "They said stuff like I don't feed them and when Kairo was a baby they said I was starving him. I mean, I was exclusively breast pumping to give him milk all hours. It was horrible, it was mean and it is totally unacceptable." She then disclosed that Kinara's name first surfaced on Tattle Life, a detail she hadn't made public and had only shared with close friends and family. "Inevitably, it caused trust issues for me. It makes me paranoid," Lauryn expressed. "It gave me anxiety and it changed me. I used to be outgoing but now I'm a nervous wreck." The influencer also voiced her deep concern over how individuals on the site would track her favourite coffee shop locations or other places she visited. She further alleged that her medical records were discussed on the site, along with outrageous claims that she was "off her head on the gear", implying cocaine use. Lauryn denies ever using drugs. She added: "They contact the companies and point out bad things about people and then they get dropped and that means they lose money, this is affecting people's livelihoods and it's not fair." After her widely covered court case with Kyle, Lauryn revealed how the public attention intensified for her. She commented: "I feel like it has impacted me in quite a lot of ways, not just defamation and libel issues but it has contributed to the circus and the narrative of the saga with Kyle."
The Journal
19 hours ago
- The Journal
The full story of how the operator of gossip site Tattle Life was unmasked in an Irish court
Aoife Moore & Sinéad O'Carroll TATTLE LIFE COULD now be the most consequential website you may never have heard of. The so-called gossip platform has been at the centre of a potentially landmark but until now secretive court case. Last week, the identity of the site's operator was uncovered for the first time during those legal proceedings. The full Tattle Life tale is more salacious than anything that was allowed to be posted - without verification or moderation – on the site itself as part of the operator's £320,000-a-year grift. Pseudonyms, incognito email addresses, cryptocurrency exchanges, proxy servers, VPNs, global payment services… the modern world provides tools aplenty to gift anonymity and protection to Internet entrepreneurs when they go rogue. So, how then did one Irish couple unmask the identity of one of the most-wanted men of the social media world? It's a story that brings us from Termonfeckin to Thailand, has us hearing from forensic accountants and Instagram influencers, and leads to judges googling for 'threads'. It's a story that has seen countless lives changed or ruined irrevocably. It's a story of how the Internet isn't always the anonymous place we deem it to be. And it's a story showing that free speech online may have as many consequences as it does in real life. Tattle Life was set up in 2017, quickly becoming one of the most notorious corners of the Internet for people who use social media as businesspeople or influencers. The basic-looking message board describes itself as a place for 'commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain'. Although many people are ignorant of its popularity or even existence, the site attracts up to 12 million visitors monthly. The views mostly come from the UK but there are threads related to a significant number of Irish personalities. One click through any conversation will have you running the gamut of insults – from messages about 'her energy being off' to jibes about 'dead daddy' (a literal reference to a woman whose father had died). Unsurprisingly, problematic weight gain and weight loss commentary is a mainstay. *** 'Some days I didn't feel like I could get out of bed,' Donna Sands says of 2021. When she did sleep, she woke up with a 'knot in her stomach'. The restless nights and the grim awakenings were not due to work concerns, business objectives or even Covid-19. Donna owns the clothing brand Sylkie which prides itself in being 'Sylkie chic, effortless and fun' and sells its wares online. Founded in 2020, the Sylkie Instagram page has 30,000 followers. As a byproduct of a modern fashion business, Donna herself is popular with over 20,000 people following her personal account on Instagram. Despite the pandemic, the headaches of the business were paling in comparison to the major issue in her life. Donna and her then partner, now husband, Neil Sands were being tormented and harassed online. A friend came to Donna during the week of 20 February 2021, telling her that people had been discussing the couple on a 'gossip' website called Tattle Life. Users mostly comment on the threads anonymously and in doing so, often claim to have inside knowledge about influencers and business people, much of it false, insulting and defamatory. The only rule to start a thread is that the target has a discernible following online. 'Neil barely had social media and had never heard of Tattle,' Donna recalls. But because I had shared photos or videos of him, both of us had our lives dissected for years. As Donna's profile online had risen with the success of her businesses, she began sharing her experiences and life online, which included Neil, a tech businessman with very little social media. *** The creation of the Tattle thread about the Sands', which would ultimately grow to 45 pages, consumed the couple's lives, left them fearing for their safety, their businesses and had a profound effect on their mental health. 'It went into themes,' Neil said. 'The first was clear defamation about our businesses and how we conducted our personal and private lives, horrendous stuff. 'The second was stalking. The day we got our house was supposed to be a special day, for instance. 'We had worked our whole lives to get this house. We were standing outside and this white car drove up and down the road all day. That same day, a photograph of the house was posted on Tattle.' There were other instances that have damaged Neil and Donna's trust in people. The couple, who live in County Antrim, were visiting Neil's hometown of Termonfeckin, drinking in a bar when a woman approached them. The group chatted for a while and the woman left. Donna immediately had a bad feeling. 'Neil is so open and trusting, whereas I've become more guarded with people now because of it,' she said. 'Forty minutes after the conversation, everything I had said to this person was posted onto Tattle.' Donna confronted the woman, a lawyer, who admitted she had written it. The harassment online was constant and the couple had repeatedly contacted Tattle in order to have it removed. 'We had sent five emails to get stuff taken down,' Neil says of correspondence fired off as early as 21 February 2021. 'I begged. I used the words, 'I'm begging you', it was humiliating.' The thread remained live. They heard from Tattle Life once – on 24 September 2021 – but the admin didn't remove the content; instead they made threats against the couple in order to protect the anonymity of posters. 'Then, no matter what we did – happy days, like getting engaged, getting married, everything was in the shadow of this bubble of hatred,' Donna adds. 'On my wedding day, on the morning getting ready, I was thinking; 'if I post this I'll be criticised', everything, no matter what it is, you're second guessing. I've no issue with people not liking my dress or whatever, but some of the things said were ridiculous. So untrue and damaging.' Donna and Neil Sands Instagram Instagram Neil said the mental toll began affecting how he carried out his work too. 'You know how 'a lie gets round the world, before the truth gets its shoes on'. I didn't even know where to start,' he said. 'I do some lecturing as part of my work, and I was paranoid that every time I stood up there, someone would google my name, and this is the first thing that would come up.' In one affidavit to court, the Sands' legal team outlined how messages such as 'we are watching you' led to hyper-vigilance and a feeling of being persistently scrutinised, even at home. Donna promised Neil and her family she would stop looking at the page. It was dragging her down and making it hard to live. 'I said I would stop, but I couldn't,' she said. It's so hard knowing it's all out there and there's nothing you can do.' The couple were already aware of the dozens of people who had previously tried and failed to take on Tattle Life. The owner was in the wind, masquerading as a woman named 'Helen McDougal'. Petitions to have the website removed failed. Police requests went unanswered. Dozens of articles and investigations in the press brought up nothing. However, Neil felt his background and contacts in the tech sector might help. He decided to try to do something about it. 'We were aware of people much richer than us who tried to tackle this,' he said. 'This man's inbox is full of solicitors' letters… and he got away with it for the best part of 10 years. We knew so many people had tried, and who are we? I'm a lowly tech nerd. Donna's in fashion. But we decided to dig into it and talk to lawyers. 'We knew it would be expensive but every morning it was the first thing I thought about and last thing at night, something had to change.' The couple approached Gateley Legal, a high-flying firm with an impressive record, but even with means and motivation they knew finding the operator would not be easy. 'He was a ghost,' Neil explains. 'He's multiple ghosts, he commands the platform on an admin level, but he's a moving target.' On 12 May 2023, Gateley Legal sent pre-action correspondence to TattleLife via its one and only publicised email – tattlelife@ It was the first step of an arduous and difficult search for accountability that would last for years, call in forensic tech, accountancy and legal professionals and span multiple continents. Statement of claim Six weeks later, nobody from or on behalf of Tattle Life had replied to Gateley Legal. So on 28 June 2023, over two years after they had first became aware of the thread about them on the website, the Sands' served a statement of claim to 'person or persons unknown operating under the pseudonym Tattle Life'. The document, filed by Peter Girvan for Gateley Legal, pointed not only to the anonymous nature of Tattle Life but also to the fact that the site was not registered with the Information Commissioner's Office nor Revenue & Customs in the UK while it was making about £320,000 per year through online advertising. In their claim, the Sands' put forward the argument that Tattle Life is widely recognised as a 'hate-filled forum where abuse, harassment, vapid tittle-tattle and invasive content targeting individuals posted by anonymous users is widespread and permitted'. Of the 45-page thread on the couple themselves, Neil and Donna's legal team described a 'mocking and cruel tone' that is 'wallowed-in by its anonymous participants'. The claim detailed the alleged instances of harassment, libel and invasion of privacy of and against the Sands'. In detailing the particulars of aggravated and exemplary damage, the statement of claim sets out how the content was directed at 'core features' of the Sands' personalities and attacked the 'sanctity of their marriage'. It also outlined how individual posters mocked Neil and Donna for taking steps to stop or limit the abuse. Through the court document, the Sands' said Tattle Life knowingly profits from inflicting misery. Importantly, they also asked for injunctive relief (that the thread about them should be removed and the details therein not repeated) and reporting restrictions (so they would not be named in relation to the action). Another vital request, for special damages for financial loss and damage arising from their search for the owner and assets of Tattle Life, was also made. Reporting restrictions were granted by Mr Justice Friedman on 23 June 2023. Ostensibly to protect the Sands' because of the ongoing publication of the thread, the restrictions also meant that open proceedings would not alert the (at that point) unknown defendants, potentially allowing them to conceal assets. Less than three months later, Mr Justice McAlinden confirmed an injunction to stop the continued publication of the thread and ordered the defendants (again, still unknown at this point) to disclose all data and information about 12 users who had posted to it. The judgement was entered by reason of the failure of the defendants to ever respond or appear. As a result, the judge said he would hold an assessment of damages hearing on 1 December of the same year. On that date, in the High Court of Mr Justice McAlinden, again nobody related to Tattle Life turned up. The judge's ruling statement was brief but powerful. 'The papers in this case make very upsetting reading,' he began. 'Before the Court is a young couple who are trying to do their best in life which includes running their separate businesses. '… the way in which the plaintiffs have been vilified by anonymous posters to this Tattle Life website is quite appalling. This should not happen and there should be a speedy way to get to the bottom of these incidents with a view to closing these sites down… 'Unfortunately, the impenetrable nature of the web and the ability of these individuals to post anonymously are worrying matters which conspire to prevent speedy justice being achieved in cases of this nature.' Advertisement According to Mr Justice McAlinden, the posts in question 'utterly trash the reputations' of the Sands' who have been 'grossly defamed and severely harassed'. The judge himself said he did an experiment to see how easily the thread could be accessed. His conclusion – it was simple. Screenshot of Tattle Life, still in operation 'This is clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit,' Mr Justice McAlinden determined. 'It is the exercise of extreme cynicism, the calculated exercise of extreme cynicism which in reality constitutes behaviour which is solely aimed at making profit out of people's misery under the pretext of exposing or calling out so called 'influencers'.' He predicted a day of reckoning would come for those behind Tattle Life – and those who post on it. 'In order to hasten that day of reckoning, it is appropriate that the court makes an award of damages to each plaintiff in in this case,' he said, making an order in respect of £150,000 in damages each to Donna and Neil Sands. In also awarding costs on an indemnity basis because of the defendant's continuous 'contemptuous' behaviour, the Northern Ireland court allowed the Sands' search for accountability to continue apace as their costs should eventually be covered. *** Just under a year later, Gateley Legal was back in court with a number of requests – each one highlighting the scale of the challenge they had to officially hook their now chief suspect. In the interim, Nardello & Co. – a London and New York based investigator – had been hired by Gateley Legal to track the 'ghost' of Tattle Life. Alan Kennedy and Finn Duggan were put on the case by the firm recently named 'Investigations Consultancy of the Year' by Global Investigations Review (GIR), 'the hub for global coverage of corporate investigations and their aftermath'. Their task was to unmask – and track down – the imaginary 'Helen McDougal'. Led by lawyers, former journalists and tech investigators, Nardello sells itself on these types of missions. Their employees' day jobs are finding things or people that others do not want found. The reasons can be anything from messy divorces to corporate smear campaigns. Kennedy says that everyone, no matter how hard they try, will leave a trace online. Those who spend an inordinate amount of time on the World Wide Web leave a distinct print. They can be profiled. What kind of person are they? What are his interests? 'The investigation included the piecing together of countless, disparate fragments of the operator's multiple online identities, aliases and personas, amassed over the course of two decades,' Kennedy said on Sunday. The clues were in domain names, company filings, social media profiles, past businesses and former websites that 'lay the foundation for Tattle Life'. Kennedy and Duggan studied the technical and structural features of Tattle Life and found other websites which were similar and used the same mix of programmes. Patterns emerged. The technical side of things married up with the public record. Language was also studied. Style of writing, errors or preferred turns of phrase, unusual or incorrect punctuation habits can be revealing. The investigators found evidence, including subtle grammatical errors and recurring themes in a vegan website called Nest and Glow run by someone purporting to be one Bastian Durward. The operator of Tattle Life was sophisticated but not infallible. The Nardello report established that they consistently used the same or similar passwords across various online accounts. The codes were obtained through a confidentiality agreement and submitted to the High Court under seal. They also left marks when studying in Brighton – long before Tattle existed or before they realised they might like, some day, to hide everything. Old photographs and videos that had been posted by the operator were found. The details in the background of those photos and videos led to geo-location being possible. The tracing method can sometimes pinpoint more than one online identity but a discounting exercise was undertaken to strike off any other possibilities that emerged with the same name or similar online tag. Believing they had pieced the puzzle together, Kennedy and Duggan spent another month going through all of the evidence from the beginning to end. They feared the operator may be framing someone else and, out of abundance of caution, they had to entertain the possibility they had the wrong person entirely. During an assessment of damages hearing earlier in proceedings, Mr Justice McAlinden asked Paul Girvan if any individual had been identified yet. Girvan's reply was illuminating: '[The plaintiffs] are fortunate in the sense that they have access to resources that others would not and then to date they have spent obviously the money in these proceedings but they have instructed a company which is a world leading investigation firm…. essentially for the last year they have been working with the material they have been provided, including the material that was garnered from the Norwich Pharmacal Order and at the minute we have a draft report from them but it is not one at the minute they are not willing for it to be used in court but we are getting there if that makes sense.' Norwich Pharmacal Orders are legal instruments which compel a third party – like a social media company, bank or payments firm – to disclose information that could help identify a wrongdoer in a legal dispute. They, along with Bankers Trust Third Party Orders and Freezing Orders, were used extensively in the case. Freezing orders meant Bond was effectively locked out of accounts and couldn't spend more than a personal weekly limit set by the court. It also precluded him from dissipating any assets. The Sands' nor their legal team wanted to rely on any single piece of information or communication before asking any court to remove reporting restrictions. Taken together, forensic tracing, analysis of financial disclosures following court orders and the Nardello report, a compelling picture of the true operator of Tattle Life emerged. Any potentially lingering hesitancy to publicly name Sebastian Henry Bond as the man behind the site was dispelled when Neil Sands received a legal letter from a solicitor retained by Bond. In that letter, dated 10 June, the solicitor described Bond as 'a founder' of Tattle Life. University-educated with technical expertise in software development, Bond was without doubt Helen McDougal. And Bastian Durward. He had set up Tattle Life. He had profited from its operations for the past eight years. He was the 'person unknown'. The next step for Gateley Legal was to return to court to ask for the lifting of reporting restrictions and the substitution on all orders and claims of 'person unknown' to 'Sebastian Bond'. On Friday, 13 June they were successful on both counts. *** But where is Sebastian Bond? And where is his money? Without knowing where Bond is and making sure he couldn't dissipate his assets, the judgement that the Sands' had won in September and December 2023 would be on paper only. The Nardello report, dated November 2024, revealed Tattle Life's financial structure, banking arrangements, revenue streams, digital assets and operational infrastructure. It also identified which third parties could hold important information which would be used to further untangle Bond's corporate web. The investigators ascertained that Bond was the sole director of a company called Yuzu Zest Limited, incorporated in the UK in December 2019. From June 2023 to March 2025, there were regular recurring credits as well as one-off exceptional payments between Yuzu and Bond's accounts. The court heard the patterns of the payments supported the inference of an 'embedded and complex financial relationship'. Yuzu Zest Limited went into voluntary liquidation on 21 October 2024, a process which seems to be ongoing. However, it has also filed a declaration of solvency with an estimated surplus of almost £900,000. The Sands' worried that Bond was using – and continues to use – a 'corporate veil' to escape liability. Kennedy and Duggan, through a cyber investigation tool, were also able to link Bond to cryptocurrency exchanges. In an affidavit in late 2024, Peter Barr of Gateley Legal, said there were real concerns that Bond may dispose of assets related to Tattle Life and Yuzu. He argued that Bond is a man with technical expertise in software development who has displayed an 'acute awareness of digital security and finance'. The court heard that he has no fixed residence or tangible assets and has provided varying birth dates. 'The use of digital banking services and cryptocurrency exchanges, which often elude conventional regulatory scrutiny, suggests a strategy aimed at preserving anonymity and enabling asset protection,' Barr argued in his affidavit. The Freezing Orders on Bond's and Yuzu's assets were applied for to try to safeguard the High Court's damages ruling. They were granted on 9 December 2024 to the tune of £1.8 million in order to cover growing costs, as well as damages. To life the freezing orders, Bond must pay at least £1,077,173.00. Orders for Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust Disclosures were also made against third parties and led to the identification of another company, Kumquat Tree Limited, related to Tattle Life's finances. Incorporated in Hong Kong on 22 February 2024, the company received money that was generated by Tattle Life's revenue-raising activities. As with Yuzu, Bond was the sole director and shareholder of Kumquat. The revelations also meant another return to court on 20 March 2025 to further ask for a freezing order in relation to Kumquat and more third-party orders to compel financial institutions to provide disclosures of all relevant records about Bond, Yuzu and Kumquat. The information furnished from this round identified multiple bank and financial accounts to which monies made by Tattle Life was deposited. The accounts span several asset management firms and investment banks. Spending habits revealed in statements included regular transactions in supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations and hospitality venues across the UK point to physical presence in the country through 2023 and into much of 2024. These ended on 24 March 2025. *** After this flurry of court activity, the thread about Donna and Neil was finally deleted from Tattle Life on 11 May this year, 20 months after the initial injunction. 'We were so elated and it shows it can be done,' Donna said in the aftermath of Friday's hearing. Since then, the story has exploded. The news spread across titles all over the world – every outlet from The Guardian to the Daily Mail has covered the story in the UK, while it's also reached the pages of Cosmopolitan and television screens through Good Morning Britain. Where to next? The couple is attempting to take legal action against everyone who posted the thread and is encouraging others to make sure they have gathered any evidence of the threads that named them specifically. For Bond, there will be attempts to freeze even more of his assets. He is believed to currently be in Thailand but he also has significant links to Bali, Indonesia. 'I'm so happy to have his name on his docket, a man hiding behind a woman's identity, encouraging people to the darkest corner of the internet to tear each other down,' says Donna. 'It's so nice to see the support we have, we're overwhelmed, we knew there was a lot of people damaged by it. We've had messages from across the world, I hope we can use this good news now to lift each other up.' Neil believes this is a turning point. 'There hasn't been many turning points in the history of online bullying and harassment, but this is one. 'It's not a threat to free speech but consequence-free speech – speech that crosses the bridge into criminality. It's not really over. It's not over until he's in front of a court to answer questions. 'He's had one weekend of what everyone bullied on Tattle has had for years.' Tattle Life was basically uncontactable. Uncontrollable. It had one tick-the-box email address or contact form address on its ugly interface. In limiting the ability to reach out, Tattle Life was deliberately frustrating, deliberately unknowable. But, in the most devastating evidence captured during the case, a third-party disclosure confirmed this decision was another mistake, another weak point in the shield of anonymity. But now it is known. Mr Sebastian Henry Bond is the individual who operates the email address tattlelife@ Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Daily Mirror
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Lauryn Goodman receives calls from social services over kids with Kyle Walker
Reality TV star Lauryn Goodman, 34, has faced savage slurs from what she dubs "keyboard warriors" on a notorious gossip site - which led to her receiving calls from social services Lauryn Goodman has revealed that trolls called social services on her children with Kyle Walker as she shared her nightmare experience with a notorious gossip website. The reality TV star, 34, has faced savage slurs from what she dubs "keyboard warriors" on "toxic" site Tattle Life. The website has seen influencers and celebrities' private and intimate information posted and gossip to be spread about them. Tattle Life allows for members to post anonymously about anyone and anything they want, which has led to some heartbreaking consequences for those written about including businesses ruined and some even resorting to self-harm. Among those talked about on the site include Katie Price, Alice Evans, Stacey Solomon and Molly-Mae Hague. However, the site's founder Sebastian Bond has been unmasked this week after nasty, unfounded claims about couple Neil and Donna Sands on Tattle Life led to them winning a £300,000 libel payout. Donna, who is a fashion influencer and owns clothing brand Sylkie, and tech entrepreneur Neil were awarded damages for harassment and defamation over a 45-page thread on the site. Lauryn met the couple through Instagram and formed a WhatsApp group in a bid to unmask the trolls on the site. Detailing her own horror experience with the site, she told Mail+ that it all began in lockdown while she was pregnant with eldest son Kairo with footballer Kyle while he was on a 'break' from wife Annie Kilner. She claimed that Tattle users accused her of being an escort paid to go to Hong Kong to have sex. However, once her relationship with Kyle became publicised, she said Tattle users began attacking her children with hateful slurs. She said: "They have called my children so many nasty, nasty things which I don't ever want to say because it's so disgusting. They used terms for children born out of wedlock, horrible terms that you shouldn't refer any child by. "They're so innocent – they're minors and it's sick. I can't understand why anyone would do this to kids. They think they are funny with it but there is nothing funny about it, what have my children done to deserve this? Take away my part in the mess, what have they done? It's a form of harassment." Yet the situation worsened still as she revealed that social services were called on her, claiming Kairo and Kinara weren't being looked after properly. Admitting she was "so embarrassed", she said: "People from Tattle were anonymously ringing social services. They say it on the website too, things like: 'She's going to be getting a call from social services...' and the next thing, I get one." Lauryn revealed that there had been two calls from social services, which she dubbed "just horrible". "They say my children aren't loved but they are, they get hugs all of the time and I read a book to them every night," she continued. "They said stuff like I don't feed them and when Kairo was a baby they said I was starving him. I mean, I was exclusively breast pumping to give him milk all hours. It was horrible, it was mean and it is totally unacceptable." She went on to claim that Kinara's name first appeared on Tattle Life - which she had not yet revealed publicly and had only told her close friends and family. "Inevitably, it caused trust issues for me. It makes me paranoid," Lauryn said. "It gave me anxiety and it changed me. I used to be outgoing but now I'm a nervous wreck." The influencer also was left deeply concerned as those on the site would stalk her regular coffee shop hot spots or various other places. She further claimed that her medical records were mentioned on the site, along with wild accusations that she was "offer her head on the gear", referring to cocaine. Lauryn strongly denies that she has ever taken drugs. Lauryn continued: "They contact the companies and point out bad things about people and then they get dropped and that means they lose money, this is affecting people's livelihoods and it's not fair." Following her highly publicised court battle with Kyle, the heat ramped up on Lauryn. She said: "I feel like it has impacted me in quite a lot of ways, not just defamation and libel issues but it has contributed to the circus and the narrative of the saga with Kyle."
The Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- The Journal
Identity of Tattle Life publisher revealed as Irish couple wins £300k damages in legal battle
AN IRISH COUPLE have been awarded £300,000 after suing the publishers of controversial 'gossip' website Tattle Life in a Northern Ireland court. Business people Neil and Donna Sands were originally awarded £300,000 damages against the then-unknown operators of Tattle Life in late 2023. Donna Sands runs the popular clothing brand Sylkie, while Neil Sands is an AI founder and businessman. The couple were subject to defamation and harassment on the website. Tattle Life describes itself as a platform for 'commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain'. It attracts up to 12 million visitors monthly, mostly in the UK. However, the website has long been criticised in Ireland and the UK for threads of toxic discourse based on anonymous online attacks. Numerous Irish influencers and business people have spoken publicly about the effect rumours and inaccurate information had on their lives. 'Threads' or message boards on the website are often filled with criticism on influencers body types, relationships, parenting styles or business practices with little to no proof or evidence. Users mostly comment on the threads anonymously. The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland today granted an application to lift reporting restrictions, as well as orders leading to the identity of the publisher of the controversial website being revealed after a two-year legal battle. The operator is Sebastian Bond, a businessman who according to the plaintiffs' legal team uses a number of aliases, including Bastian Durward – known on the internet as a vegan cooking influencer and author of the book 'Nest and Glow'. The Nest and Glow Instagram account has 135,000 followers. In the latest hearing this week, the plaintiffs submitted to the court that they had identified the actual publishers and sought an order to name them. In the subsequent order today, Mr Justice Colton confirmed the defendants in the case could now be named as Bond, plus two of his firms – Yuzu Zest Limited (a UK registered company) and Kumquat Tree Limited (registered in Hong Kong). During Thursday's hearing, the court was shown a letter sent to one of the plaintiffs by a legal firm acting for Sebastian Bond. The letter stated that Bond was a founder of Tattle Life but that he was unaware of any legal proceedings against him. The Sands' legal team disputed that Bond was unaware of the actions and orders related to Tattle Life. Timeline Neil Sands first wrote to the website's operators in February 2021, asking them to remove a defamatory thread or face legal action, but say they were eventually left with no option other than to formally initiate proceedings, at their own cost, in June 2023. The couple claimed to be subject to defamatory and harassing commentary over a 45-page thread that was only finally removed in May 2025. The Sands' said they were motivated to undertake the action not just on their own behalf but for all those impacted by what they saw as targeted abuse published on the site over many years. The Sands were awarded £150,000 each in damages. The Court also granted injunctive relief (to ensure no posting about the couple should be repeated) and a series of orders designed to trace and freeze assets. In making his award, Mr Justice McAlinden noted: 'A day of reckoning will come for those behind Tattle Life and for those individuals who posted on Tattle Life. Advertisement 'To hasten that day of reckoning, it is appropriate that the court makes an award of damages to each plaintiff in this case. 'It would be remiss of the court to award costs on any other basis than indemnity.' (Indemnity costs include all fees and expenditure incurred by the party taking the litigation, in this case, the Sands'.) And on the defendant's business model, the judge said: 'This is clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit. 'It is the exercise of extreme cynicism — the calculated exercise of extreme cynicism — which in reality constitutes behaviour solely aimed at making profit out of people's misery. 'People facilitating this are making money out of it… protecting their income streams by protecting the identity of the individual posters.' In December 2023, the High Court granted the £300,000 damages award and ordered that legal costs be paid on an indemnity basis, with further costs and third-party compliance expenses raising the total to be injuncted to £1.8 million. The 'cessation' figure – the amount payable by the defendants to lift the freezing orders – now stands at £1,077,173.00. This is understood to be the largest damages award for defamation in Northern Ireland's legal history and includes extensive freezing orders against the identified defendants and their corporate interests, now subject to continuing enforcement and disclosure proceedings. The case was complicated by difficulties in tracking down Sebastian Bond who resided in a number of Asian countries and transferred large amounts of cash from UK bank accounts in an apparent bid to frustrate the orders made against him. The couple succeeded in freezing money believed to be the proceeds of Tattle Life in a range of jurisdictions around the world. Neil Sands said: 'We undertook this case not just for ourselves but for the many people who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online attacks on this and other websites. 'We believe in free speech, but not consequence-free speech – particularly where it is intended to, and succeeds in, causing real-world damage to people's lives, livelihoods and mental health. We were in the fortunate position to be able to take the fight to these faceless operators, and it took a lot of time, effort and expense. 'Along the way we heard many stories from those damaged by the scurrilous commentary on the website and we are glad to be finally able to shine a light into this dark corner of the internet. What we have established today is that the internet is not an anonymous place. 'We are grateful to the Court for recognising the seriousness of the conduct involved in this case. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to our legal team at Gateley NI – partners Peter Barr and Rory Lynch – to Northern Ireland counsel, Peter Girvan- and to our technology partners, for their unwavering commitment, professionalism and expertise throughout these proceedings.' Peter Barr, Gateley NI, added: 'This wasn't just a matter of law – it was a global forensic investigation. We had to pursue the money around the world, from the UK to Hong Kong, using a mix of legal innovation and digital evidence to expose what was clearly a sophisticated effort to avoid scrutiny. This judgment sends a clear message that online anonymity cannot shield unlawful behaviour.' Rory Lynch, partner and head of reputation management at Gateley NI, also said: 'This was a game of high stakes, international cat and mouse that ran for three years, with an anonymous defendant determined to avoid accountability at every turn. It is testament to the indefatigable determination and courage of Neil and Donna Sands that justice was rightly served.' A further case review is scheduled at the High Court for 26 June 2025. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... 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