Simon Cowell calls in police over claims of a Britain's Got Talent fix: Shock internet 'revelations' that talent show is rigged so Ronan, 12, wins
*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*- Furious Cowell calls in police to investigate the internet blog
Looking sharp: Ronan Parke has a keen eye for fashion"
The claims, fiercely denied by Cowell’s production company Syco, centre on 12-year-old singer Ronan Parke, who is the bookmakers’ favourite to win the final tomorrow night.
An anonymous internet blog, unsubstantiated but claiming to be written by a Sony BMG executive, alleges that Syco talent-spotted Ronan two years ago – in direct contravention of show rules – and has fixed it for him to win.
The 2,500-word assault on Syco describes its alleged ‘manipulation of, not only the show and the contestants, but also the viewing public’.
Last night, appalled Cowell called in Scotland Yard making an official complaint about the malicious campaign to officers.
A member of his production company visited a west London police station last night.
Syco, a division of Sony BMG, issued a categoric denial and said it wanted police to investigate what it says is ‘harassment’ of Ronan.
Its lawyers also successfully managed to have the blog, which promised to ‘shine some light on the smoke and mirrors trickery of Syco’, taken off the JustPaste.It website. However, it received 139,166 views before it was removed.
Cowell’s people were quick to say there was ‘no truth’ to the claims but sources said there was no doubt this was a well-thought-out attack on the show.
Syco, which also co-produces the ITV show, put out a statement saying the talented youngster came to its attention only when he auditioned for the programme in London earlier this year.
However, the blog claimed Syco scouts spotted Ronan in 2009 performing at a birthday party for family friend Bryan Gunn, the former Norwich City goalkeeper.
The fact he sang at the party initially seemed to be confirmed by Mr Gunn to BBC Radio Five Live but then his wife Susan issued a statement which said: ‘The only time we have heard Ronan sing is at small gatherings with our two families.
‘He has only been having singing lessons for two years. Where this has come from I don’t know. It is libellous and lies. When I read it, I was really, really cross. It is just preposterous. This stuff about a 12-year-old boy is just sick.’
Under fire: The show has been hit by allegations it is 'rigged'
Mrs Parke told BBC Radio Norfolk said: ‘It’s laughable and it couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s no foundation in it whatsoever.
‘Myself and my husband didn’t even know that he’d applied. The first we heard of it was when we got a phone call to say he’d got an audition.’
The judges : Michael McIntyre, David Hasselhoff, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell"
He stunned the judges by singing Nina Simone’s Feeling Good at his audition, before belting out Make You Feel My Love by chart star Adele at his semi-final this week.
However, yesterday there was a fierce denial from Syco of any wrongdoing. A spokesman said: ‘There has been speculation on the internet that Britain’s Got Talent finalist Ronan Parke was known to and worked with Syco/Sony Music before entering the show.
‘There is no truth in this story whatsoever.
‘Ronan first came to Syco/Sony’s attention when he entered this year’s competition. Syco/Sony Music will not hesitate to take whatever legal action is appropriate to prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations.’
As well as preparing to involve police Syco alerted the Press Complaints Commission to the matter saying publication of certain aspects of the claims could breach the code to which newspapers adhere.
Hiding your ID online
There are many ways to cover your tracks when sending emails or posting items on the internet.
Among the most obvious are creating a false email account to hide your identity and going into an internet café to conceal which computer it was sent from.
But there are also more advanced services on the web that allow you to send anonymous emails.
Some allow you to send your email through random ‘nodes’ making it impossible to trace.
Some even wait for a period of time before sending on the message, making it less likely the sender could be linked to the time it was originally sent.
There are various ways of accessing the internet anonymously.
This includes changing your IP address, which involves removing your modem, leaving it for about half an hour and putting it back in. This generates a new address.
Those trying to avoid detection could also use a ‘proxy server’ which masks people’s IP address with another.
Site where anything goes
It is hardly a household name in the world of internet communication in the same way as Facebook or Twitter.
But yesterday thousands were logging on to the website JustPaste.It to read the explosive claims being made about Britain’s Got Talent and this year’s favourite Ronan Parke.
It was an unusual place to make the claims, given the use of Twitter in recent weeks in the controversy over celebrity super-injunctions. But many were redirected via Twitter to the website.
JustPaste.It is described by experts as a simple note-sharing service where users can post whatever they want. It can work as a word processor and also allows users to insert video or pictures.
When users ‘publish’ it creates a unique address for the item to share with others.
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