'One horrific, horrific comment stunned me': Andrew McGinley on being targeted by trolls
Andrew McGinley pictured in happier times with his children Carla, Conor, and Darragh McGinley. Their mother, Deirdre Morley, was found not guilty of murdering all three children by reason of insanity. Picture: Andrew McGinley/Conor's Clips
Andrew McGinley has shut down the Facebook page created in memory of his three children — Conor, Darragh and Carla — after it was targeted by trolls.
The three siblings were killed by their mother, Deirdre Morley, who was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity following a trial last week.
Mr McGinley revealed that in the days following the verdict, the Facebook page 'Conor's Clips' has been targeted by people making comments about himself and his family.
Explaining his decision to leave the social media platform, the bereaved father said he has been receiving comments "about me and my family from people who have no knowledge of mental health, our family or anything relating to life with mental health".
He added: "They type with an air of confidence but when challenged by me they delete their posts.
"Whether they post for 'likes' from fellow trolls, I don't know, but I think there are too many here that I don't find anywhere else. Therefore I'm choosing to go."
He called the messages that appeared under posts on the page rancid and horrific.
"Over the past year-and-a-half, I have directly seen myself absolutely horrific comments made about me and my family and Dee."
Some of the people leaving hurtful comments claimed to be friends who knew 'the real truth'.
"For them to be allowed to post something like that and then gain support for an absolute scandalous lie with other people rowing in behind it saying 'I wasn't aware of that, didn't know you know the family. It's good to know this, I was feeling sympathy for them'.
"I was stunned."
Although Mr McGinley said he had thought he was made of "tougher stuff", the outpouring of comments from the public have praised him for making the decision to put his own wellbeing first.
Conor's Clips will continue to have a social media presence on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Mr McGinley has been using the social media pages to share memories of his three children and to raise awareness for the initiatives he has set up in each of their memories.
"I still have a great experience on Twitter and on Instagram so I just do not need the kind of commentary that is attracted to Facebook so I took the decision to just come off Facebook," said Mr McGinley.
Leaving the social media site was not a quick decision as he revealed it is something he had been considering for some time.
"Particularly last year, I was going to abandon Facebook last year. There was one horrific, horrific comment that stunned me when I saw it," he said.
He set up Conor's Clips last year to keep a promise he had made to Conor that he would help him to set up a YouTube channel where he could share funny sketches.
The As Darragh Did charity was set up to encourage people to get more involved in their communities as Darragh had done throughout his short life.
Snowman for Carla is a colouring competition in honour of the little girl who loved colouring, "especially snowmen".
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