Death threat after Michael branded a paedophile

Abuse victim’s anger over US website smear.

A Scots sex abuse victim falsely branded a convicted paedophile on an American website is battling to clear his name.

The website smearing Michael Dutton has been viewed more than 15,000 times but the 53-year-old, who was sexually abused as a child while in local authority care, says he is powerless to shut it down.

The posting on www.reallybadpeople.com claims the former solider – who now runs a log homes business in Dumfries and Galloway has convictions for sexually abusing children in Australia and Africa.

Mr Dutton only became aware of the website when he received an anonymous call from an American saying he was going to fly to Scotland and kill him after reading the smears online.

“I thought it was just a hoax call but when I saw the website it just knocked me for six,” he explained.

“I am just desperate to get this stuff off the website. It is all a pack of lies it says I fled Australia but I have never even been there.

“It has brought back everything that happened to me as a child, something I haven’t thought about for decades, and I just want it to stop.

“I really don’t have a clue who could be behind this and why they have picked on me.

“But I know I am not the only person to suffer from this sort of smear and my heart goes out those, usually younger ones, you hear about in the news who have not been able to cope with this anonymous abuse which people seem to think they can get away with on the internet.”

Reallybadpeople.com is based in the United States and hosted by American firm GoDaddy.

The site claims to inform “the public of all bad people and companies” and consists of mainly American people and businesses.

The posting about Mr Dutton, an engineer who has lived in Russia and South Africa, was made in May but he only became aware of it six weeks ago.

He added: “I hold GoDaddy fully responsible for this, if you look at its terms and conditions their customers are not meant to be doing this sort of thing but they are not enforcing them.

“The police say they can’t do anything because the website is in the United States and I can’t get any of the authorities over there to do anything.

“The only way to do it would be to go over there and hire lawyers and try and get some sort of court order but you are talking silly money for that and I can’t afford it. It is really frustrating that people can get away with this.”

South of Scotland Nationalist MSP Chic Brodie has taken up Mr Dutton’s case.

He said: “It is appalling that this sort of thing can go on and the victims of online smears have to battle so hard just to get the things removed.”

Laurie Anderson, GoDaddy’s director of domain services, said: “GoDaddy reviews all complaints received regarding content on our customers’ websites. We are not in a position to determine if any website is engaging in illegal activities. In these cases, we direct complainants to contact their local law enforcement to investigate and make the determination as to whether the site is engaged in illegal activity.”