News

Courier Mail assistant editor tweeted London bus bomb picture with #illridewithyou hashtag

The Courier Mail’s assistant editor Des Houghton tweeted a picture of a London bus destroyed in the 7/7 terrorist attacks in 2005 along with the hashtag #illridewithyou.

Houghton posted then deleted the tweet on the social networking site on Wednesday evening, using a picture of a bus destroyed by terrorists. It read: “I’ll walk thanks. #illridewithyou #sydneysiege #terrorism.”

desmond houghton tweet

The #illridewithyou hashtag  came to international prominence following Monday’s attack on Sydney’s Lindt Cafe which left two hostages dead, and was started to engender a sense of unity around Australia.  

The 7/7 suicide attacks on London’s transport network by Islamist terrorists killed 52 people and left 700 injured.

On the same evening as posting the picture Houghton took to Twitter to criticise the ABC for refusing to call gunman Man Haron Monis “a Muslim terrorist”.

desmond.houghton tweets

des houghton ABC news intern

Houghton also retweeted messages criticising the #illridewithyou movement, as well as the much-maligned message from News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch which praised his newspapers for capturing the “bloody outcome” of the siege.

desmond.houghton tweets

des houghton rupert murdoch retweet

Houghton could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, and News Corp has declined to comment.

Miranda Ward & Alex Hayes

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