Originally Posted by Julie&James

James here.

I haven't posted on RFUK since the aforementioned thread, because I was so disgusted by the behaviour of certain people on the forums that I frankly had no desire to continue to participate in the sort of place where a witch-hunt of the kind carried out against Lauren and Craig, and by extension Julie, could take place with the full approval (and even participation) of senior posters and moderators.

Now that the verdict has 100% vindicated Lauren and Craig and also those of us who stood by them while the press, the courts, and certain elements of these forums trashed them left and right, I feel one last post won't hurt.

Kato, after so many months, you might think you can shrug off the aforementioned quotes as "just a turn of phrase", but from my reading of events you stated TWICE - with a smug and assured laugh - that you were so sure of yourself that you'd eat your hat if this eventuality came about. Well, it has come about, and until such time that you post PICS on here of you doing just that, I'll be unable to take a single word you say as anything other than hot air. I wont hold my breath to see them though.

Maybe it's unfair to single you out, but reading back over that thread, you were bullish to the extreme, going so far as to warn me of the "dangers of libelling" the original judge (a person you hinted that you knew), claiming superior knowledge of the law, dismissing any idea that this process might be faulty, deriding the idea that the appeal might overturn the verdict - all in the face of evidence you clearly had no idea about. You weren't alone, and there are others who need to eat crow just as much as you do, but your position as a respected and senior poster on the forums gives extra weight to your posts, and gives other forum members a guide as to what is and is not acceptable.

At the very least, I'm sure you and all the others who jumped on the bandwagon in that thread would like to take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to Julie, Lauren and Craig for the additional stress and damage to their reputation which they might justifiably have expected not to receive on a forum full of reptile enthusiasts who know just how much the hobby is already vilified by some minorities in society - and how easy it is to take a pinch of incomplete information and use it to paint any of us as villains.

As for me, I'm just delighted for them that the nightmare is over, and they can start to build back towards some kind of normality.

I now return you to your regular contributor - the lovely Julie.