When did Mr. Colegate hire the PR Company ? I find this absolutely bonkers - if I had a loved one lost on a mountain the LAST thing I would do is spend my time looking for a PR Company to hire !
Somebody mentioned Ian Huntley and they are right, it does have similarities, Huntley imposed himself on every part of the investigation just like this.
I want to see any evidence that the Police have said Mr. Colegate is in the clear - because otherwise I don’t see how he is not a ‘person of interest’.
To be fair sometimes it’s a way to protect yourself from media intrusion. PR companies might approach people to offer their services, when that person is literally being deluged from media and press from around the world. Unless you’ve been the victim of press intrusion it’s difficult to understand quite how vile and underhand they can be. They will ‘doorstep‘ you relentlessly, your friends, colleagues, anyone who might know you. Journalists can be horrendous in their pursuit of a story and sometimes to direct everything via a PR agency is an effective way of getting them to stop all the dishonest
tit they try to pull on inexperienced people, as once they know you are represented they will often stop all the underhand
tit because they know they won’t get away with it. I have a little experience in this area via an old PR job and I’ve ‘protected’ individuals by representing them if that makes sense. Often a PR companies objective is to keep individuals OUT of something (often completely innocent people!) as much as it is getting publicity so from that perspective I understand him
, and her parents, having instructed them.
That said, this guy is guilty as sin in my eyes lol.....I just meant to add some context really. Not everyone who instructs a PR firm has something to hide! Often they’re just your run of the mill person - who has no experience of having the media all over them like a
bleeping rash for months on end - and just need help and advice.
I worked with an 18 yr old and his family once. The boy had had sex with his teacher when he was younger, but by the time it all came into the press via her teaching regularity body, he was an adult and the media were
bleeping awful, hounding him and his family to try and get him to ‘tell their side of their story’. They were desperate for ‘horny boy had sex with sexy older teacher’ story, but that really hadn’t been the case (he had in fact been quite a vulnerable young lad with his own personal issues), but they had their angle and they were offering him all sorts of cash for a story and quotes etc.
Unfortunately I had to break it to them that despite the journalists promises, he had no guarantees over the headline or the subsequent angle of the piece. No-one would come out of it looking pretty, and he would be even less likely to move on and have a successful future. He wanted to move on and although tempted by the cash, didn’t want to ruin his life by having his name out there in print, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer and they were offering some decent sum as at one stage. Once we were appointed they directed all enquires to us and hey presto we knew exactly the language to use with the journalists (and what parts of their own journalistic code to hold them to account for!).They backed the
duck off once they were threatened with us approaching their own regulatory body for their breaches of their own bloody ethics with a family that didn’t know any better.
