How low can you get?
A girl in my sister's year at university has been murdered, and other day my sister got an e mail from Now! magazine:
Dear Joanne,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I apologise for contacting you at
what must be a very difficult time - especially through such an informal roiute
as email.
I'm writing to you from NOW! magazine because the Editor has been deeply shocked
by the murder of your friend Meredith. Here at Now! we have run a long-standing
campaign raising awareness of the dangers women can face whilst travelling and
living abroad.
Our Editor is planning to run a commemorative piece in Meredith’s honour and
re-ignite this campaign. We are hoping you might be willing to spare a couple
of minutes over the phone to pay tribute to Meredith as part of this. I’m sure
that speaking to the press is the last thing on your mind at the moment, but I
know a few words from you would add immense weight to this piece. We also hope
that with our high readership we might be able to reach out to women thinking
about going abroad and help prevent similar deaths like this.
We are also hoping to add another angle to this piece. We believe that we need
to raise awareness of how young women's promiscuity can place them in grave
danger. We are trying to build a picture of Meredith the woman rather than just
a tribute to poor little Meredith the girl. I hope i will not be offending you
by asking the following questions but we really feel this could help save many
women's lives.
We would be extremely interested if you could provide us with details of any
acts of sexual depravity (such as orgies, threesomes etc) that Meredith may
have been involved in whilst studying at Leeds. We would be particularly
interested if you had engaged in any form of sexual contact with Miss Kercher
yourself, or have attended any of these sex parties yourself. Once again I
would like to apologise for any offence caused.
I know you may have concerns about talking to us, but I can assure you that Now! handles stories in a sensitive and professional manner and does not seek to be sensationalist. Our thoughts are very much with those closest to her and we appreciate that now is a difficult time.
We can make a payment to you for your time, which you are free to donate to a charity of your choice to help some good come out of this terrible tragedy. The current fee for any information on this story is £250, however that could be adjusted if the information you provide is particularly useful. We would want to make sure you’re happy with the piece too, so could read it back to you on the phone before it was published
However, I would be grateful if you would get in touch. I can be contacted by
Facebook or at work on ************. Rest assured that calling me will place
you under no obligation to do anything, but it should at least give you an
opportunity to ask me any questions you might have.
Once again our thoughts are with you and all your friends during this very
difficult time and i am sorry to have to contact you under such sad
circumstances.
Kind Regards,
Miles Richards
Dear Joanne,
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I apologise for contacting you at
what must be a very difficult time - especially through such an informal roiute
as email.
I'm writing to you from NOW! magazine because the Editor has been deeply shocked
by the murder of your friend Meredith. Here at Now! we have run a long-standing
campaign raising awareness of the dangers women can face whilst travelling and
living abroad.
Our Editor is planning to run a commemorative piece in Meredith’s honour and
re-ignite this campaign. We are hoping you might be willing to spare a couple
of minutes over the phone to pay tribute to Meredith as part of this. I’m sure
that speaking to the press is the last thing on your mind at the moment, but I
know a few words from you would add immense weight to this piece. We also hope
that with our high readership we might be able to reach out to women thinking
about going abroad and help prevent similar deaths like this.
We are also hoping to add another angle to this piece. We believe that we need
to raise awareness of how young women's promiscuity can place them in grave
danger. We are trying to build a picture of Meredith the woman rather than just
a tribute to poor little Meredith the girl. I hope i will not be offending you
by asking the following questions but we really feel this could help save many
women's lives.
We would be extremely interested if you could provide us with details of any
acts of sexual depravity (such as orgies, threesomes etc) that Meredith may
have been involved in whilst studying at Leeds. We would be particularly
interested if you had engaged in any form of sexual contact with Miss Kercher
yourself, or have attended any of these sex parties yourself. Once again I
would like to apologise for any offence caused.
I know you may have concerns about talking to us, but I can assure you that Now! handles stories in a sensitive and professional manner and does not seek to be sensationalist. Our thoughts are very much with those closest to her and we appreciate that now is a difficult time.
We can make a payment to you for your time, which you are free to donate to a charity of your choice to help some good come out of this terrible tragedy. The current fee for any information on this story is £250, however that could be adjusted if the information you provide is particularly useful. We would want to make sure you’re happy with the piece too, so could read it back to you on the phone before it was published
However, I would be grateful if you would get in touch. I can be contacted by
Facebook or at work on ************. Rest assured that calling me will place
you under no obligation to do anything, but it should at least give you an
opportunity to ask me any questions you might have.
Once again our thoughts are with you and all your friends during this very
difficult time and i am sorry to have to contact you under such sad
circumstances.
Kind Regards,
Miles Richards