Woman identified on television as being an online troll found dead


An English woman accused of posting thousands of abusive messages online about the parents of a missing girl was found dead in a hotel room Saturday.
On Thursday, Brenda Leyland, a 63-year-old housewife from the village of Burton Overy, Leicestershire, was confronted by a reporter from Sky News, who asked her if she was one of the trolls on Twitter harassing the parents of Madeleine McCann, the young girl who disappeared in 2007 while on a family vacation in Portugal. "I'm entitled to do that," she said.
Now deleted, the Twitter handle thought to be Leyland's (@sweepyface) sent thousands of tweets about the missing girl, the BBC reports. One tweet said, "#mccann To Kate and Gerry, you will be hated by millions for the rest of your miserable, evil, conniving lives, have a nice day!"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Both Kate and Gerry McCann have been cleared by police of being involved in the disappearance of their daughter. They have 9-year-old twins who they say are also being abused online. Before Leyland's death, Gerry McCann told the BBC: "Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet. I think we probably need more people charged."
Police say Leyland's death is not being treated as suspicious.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Inside The Peninsula, London’s first billion-pound hotel
The Week Recommends As the capital’s super-luxury hotel scene continues to expand, the respected brand is still setting the standard
-
AI is making houses more expensive
Under the radar Homebuying is also made trickier by AI-generated internet listings
-
Sudoku medium: October 22, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from Louvre
Speed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 years
Speed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Fire
speed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan church
Speed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school mass
Speed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murders
speed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bail
Speed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived