Bernie Spofforth

Bernadette "Bernie" Spofforth ,Bernadette SPOFFORTH Companies House erroneously named Bonnie Spofforth in a widely Daily Mail report,British businesswoman accused of being the first person to share false information about the Southport stabbing suspect wrongly being an asylum seeker says she is 'mortified' by Vivek Chaudhary (7 August 2024) The Daily Mail is a UK based and South African educated businesswomanBernadette Spofforth LinkedIn and swimwear inventorPatents by Inventor Bernadette Spofforth Justia turned denialist and conspiracy theoristGrowing polarization around climate change on social media by Max Falkenberg et al (24 November 2022) Nature Climate Change best known for her arrest for instigating race riots across the UK.Woman who ‘first shared fake name’ of Southport suspect arrested by Tom Witherow (9 August 2024) The Times Coming to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic tweeting out against public health measures around vaccines, masks and lockdowns, she later started spreading climate change misinformation related to Agenda 2030, The Great Reset, climate lockdown, and 15-minute cities,Right-wing media use misinformation around 15-minute cities to pivot toward climate change denial by Ilana Berger (12 April 2023) Media Matters as well as anti-trans rhetoric,Meet The Disinfluencers: Bernie Spofforth, The Swimsuit Inventor Turned Climate and COVID Liar by ClimateDenierRoundup (12 July 2023) Daily Kos amassing over 235,000 followers on her primary account before losing it.Bernie's Tweets Twitter ClimateDenierRoundup, pondering why a "supposedly successful" entrepreneur would decide to devote so much time to spreading disinformation on Twitter, concludes: 
She has written articles on economics, the environment and China for Byline TimesCoronavirus: How the Global Economy Could Catch a Cold by Bernadette Spofforth (21 February 2020) Byline Times and Country Squire Magazine,China’s Consumerist Virus by Bernadette Spofforth (21 November 2020) Country Squire MagazineSaving the Planet One Mask at a Time by Bernadette Spofforth (2 November 2021) Country Squire Magazine and been platformed as an expert by the likes of Julia Hartley-Brewer,Talk TV: Julia Hartley-Brewer accused of 'justifying' far-right violence by Steph Brawn (5 August 2024) The National Neil Oliver and Dan Wootton.Bernie Spofforth IMDb This platforming was criticised in the wake of the 2024 United Kingdom riots, which were instigated,Who is behind Southport social media storm — and can they be stopped? by Mark Sellman (1 August 2024) The Times in part, by the spread of false details originating with Spofforth about the 2024 Southport stabbing, with Prof. stating on Talk TV:
Spofforth was arrested and held in custody for 36 hours by Cheshire police on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racist hatred and false communications in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders.The real story of the news website accused of fuelling riots by Marianna Spring (8 August 2024) BBC Verrify The police later announced that no further action would be taken due to insufficient evidence.No charge over spreading of Southport misinformation by Paul Burnell & PA Media (18 September 2024) BBC News
 
==Going swimmingly==
Spofforth, according to reporting around her role in instigating the 2024 UK riots, is a millionaire businesswoman and mother of three (including actor Theo and artist Issy) married to sculpture artist Colin Spofforth with whom she shares Stamford Mill Farm (a £1.5 million farmhouse just outside Chester in Cheshire, England).First person to spread Southport rumour unmasked - and she has famous family by Saffron Otter (8 August 2024) Daily Mirror
Prior to her resignation in March 2024, Spofforth spent over a decade as Managing Director of safety swimwear company and has one utility patent and a handful of design patents for children's swimwear to her name. COVID and climate change denialist Spofforth touted the company's flagship product for its environmentally-friendly reusability and its innovative silver lining, which allegedly prevents the spread of COVID-19 and other harmful bacteria and viruses, saying:
ClimateDenierRoundup explains this apparent dichotomy:
Before this Spofforth was a director of four dissolved companies, including acting as the co-founder and co-director of Intempo Digital, a company that sold wholesale electric household goods (including radios) from 2004 until its dissolution in 2011. Her LinkedIn profile attributes three other Directorships to her, namely European Micro Plc, The Brand Cloud Ltd and Ultimate Products PLC. However Companies House records do not show her as a Director of any of these (the first two of which are also dissolved).
==Not waving but drowning==
Spofforth flushed this seemingly idyllic life as she got out of her depth in the cesspool of pandemic and climate disinformation with a series of increasingly erratic tweets concluding with her apparent arrest.
===Madness reigns===
In a July 31, 2023, tweet, viewed 972,000 times, Spofforth falsely claimed that the had included the reading of a letter from extraterrestrials warning of air and water contamination to which she responded:
The footage attached was in fact former Canadian defense minister reading an extract from The Keepers: An Alien Message for the Human Race (2006) by Jim Sparks at a 2021 so-called "Citizen Hearing".Fact Check: Was Letter Sent by Aliens Read Out at Congress UFO Hearing? by Tom Norton (4 August 2023) Newsweek
===If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose===
Within hours of the 2024 Southport stabbing, which resulted in the deaths of three young girls, Spofforth fanned the flames of hatred by spreading false information in a tweet seen by over 1.5 million peopleSouthport attack misinformation fuels far-right discourse on social media by Tom Cheshire and Sam Doak (31 July 2024) Sky News which read:
It wasn’t true, but all hell broke loose regardless as the dubious Islamic-sounding name and supporting details were picked up and elaborated upon by Southport stabbings: how online disinformation ignited unrest across the UK by Xavier Greenwood (2 August 2024) Tortoise a fake news aggregation site, initially alleged to have Russian ties,The obscure Russian-linked ‘news’ outlet fuelling violence on Britain’s streets by Lauren Shirreff (3 August 2024) The Telegraph and right-wing grifters, including Andrew Tate, Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage,Fact checked: The false far-right claims that sparked riots in Southport and across UK by Tom Watling (3 August 2024) The Independent fueling the racist hate which instigated the 2024 riots.How online lies and misinformation fuelled UK riots - and what really happened by Lydia Chantler-Hicks (6 August 2024) Evening Standard
As public backlash and potential legal ramifications became increasingly apparent, veteran denialist Spofforth deleted her tweet and issued an anonymous denial to The Times stating: 
When tracked down by the Daily Mail and the BBC, Spofforth went on record by telling the former:
And the latter: Adding that she was “not motivated by making money” on her account.
===No further action===
Despite the veteran denialist's repeated denials of any and all responsibility,The mother of three who sparked havoc with false claim about Southport suspect by Tom Witherow, Shayma Bakht and Mark Sellman (2 August 2024) The Times Spofforth was arrested by Cheshire police on August 8, 2024 on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racist hatred and false communications in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders.Woman arrested in connection with inaccurate social media post (8 August 2024) Cheshire ConstabularyChester: Woman, 55, arrested over fake ID post on Southport attacker by Mark Dowling (8 August 2024) The StandardChester woman arrested over inaccurate social media post about identity of Southport attack by Jonathan Blackburn (8 August 2024) Cheshire Live She was released on bail 36 hours later.Woman who shared false name of Southport suspect on social media bailed by Bill McLoughlin (10 August 2024) The i
==References==
Category:Anti-vaccination movement
Category:Business
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:COVID-19 denialists
Category:Crank magnetism
Category:Denialists
Category:Far-right politics
Category:Global warming denialists
Category:Islamophobes
Category:Living people
Category:Racists
Category:Right-wing activists
Category:Transphobes