An estranged dad rebuilt his relationship with his children after tracking down his son's Facebook cyber bully.
Darren Jamieson had not spoken to his three children for around five years following a bitter divorce from their mum but by chance was able to reconnect. The 46-year-old was contacted by his ex asking if he knew anything about Facebook because someone had set up a fake profile of their son Robbie.
The fake profile of Robbie, who was 12 at the time, was sending abusive and "obscene" messages to fellow pupils at his school. Teachers had been alerted but Robbie, who has Asperger's Syndrome, didn't even have Facebook. Darren, from Ellesmere Port, runs a digital marketing firm and said his team was well-equipped to track down who was behind the profile.
READ MORE: Four men arrested after £140m of cocaine found in shipping container
He told the Mirror : "I can definitely do this, this is my opportunity. As it turned out, it was. It was something I threw myself into, got one of my developers at my company and said ‘how can we get around this?’"
At the time, Facebook ran a service called Imposter Account Information Request in which as long as it could be proved a profile was fake, the platform would provide details on who created it. Darren said: "I still can’t believe to this day that Facebook gave us this…Facebook sent us a three or four page PDF showing all the dates and times that people had logged into this fake account.
“It gave us all the IP addresses that they used to login. And it gave us the mobile phone [and number] used to verify the account and the email address they used to set it up. We had everything.”
Darren handed all of this information to the school and the culprit was suspended. But Robbie found it hard to accept that they were allowed back just a couple of weeks later. The culprit turned out to be someone who had been to Robbie's house. Darren said Robbie had to move to a different school following the ordeal.
After uncovering the bully, Darren's ex contacted him again and said Robbie and his other children, Kira and Miley, wanted to see him. Darren travelled to Newport to meet his children and their mum at a park.
Darren said: "It was the first time I’d seen them in four or five years. They didn’t seem sure who I was. We essentially played for half an hour in a park throwing a ball back and forth and it was all very weird, very strange. They were keeping their distance from me so the ball game was a good idea because it allowed you to throw something over a distance but they weren’t coming, I didn’t get a hug because they didn’t know who I was. That was really difficult."
Darren is now back in regular contact with his children and can't believe how close he is with them. Robbie is now 21 and living with Kira, 20, in Liverpool, while Miley, 18, is in Newport.
Referring to the day he got the call from his ex about the cyber bullying, the dad-of-three said: "I thought if I can do this, and show them I’m there for them…I never expected it to but secretly I hoped it would happen. I never thought I would have the relationship with them I have now.
"Everything has turned out great in the end but it’s just a shame that I’ve lost all of that time - I get quite annoyed when I think about it. I genuinely didn’t think I’d ever see them again."
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here .
READ NEXT:
Man buys nine separate tickets for one train journey and saves £360
First picture of police officer accused of 'abusing position for sexual purposes'
Remorseless 'predator' saw teenager heading home from night out as 'easy target'
Floral tributes for man, 36, who died after falling from bridge
Find the coins hidden on the ECHO website for the chance to win a £200 voucher
