{"id":476047,"date":"2026-05-09T07:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/476047\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:42:11","slug":"amazon-refuses-to-remove-irish-paedophiles-books-despite-women-duped-over-abuse-stories-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/476047\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon refuses to remove Irish paedophile\u2019s books despite women \u2018duped\u2019 over abuse stories \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Two women who had books written about their experiences of sexual abuse say they have been \u201cretraumatised\u201d by the refusal of online retailer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/amazon\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/amazon\">Amazon<\/a> to remove the books from sale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, asked Amazon to remove the books from sale after Edward White, co-author of the books, was convicted of sexual assault of a nine-year old girl last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both women say they feel they were \u201cduped\u201d by White, who falsely told them he was a journalist with the Sunday Times newspaper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">White, a former hypnotist turned writer and sketch artist, was convicted in Tullamore Circuit Court last year on two counts of sexually assaulting the girl. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He is serving a 3\u00bd-year jail sentence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">White, whose original name is John O\u2019Loughlin, had amassed more than 20,000 followers on social media network X. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Under the online handle Editorialz he made highly personal attacks on Government ministers and others, with many of his posts veering into abuse and racism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Before changing his name to White, O\u2019Loughlin had faced complaints from women about his hypnosis stage shows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In 2019 White co-authored a book with Herv\u00e9 Jaubert, a French former spy, about Jaubert\u2019s efforts to free princess Latifa of Dubai before his escape boat was raided by Indian and Emirati special forces. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Jaubert said he later had to remove the book from sale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI had asked Edward White to edit my book, including English editing, grammar and spelling,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAs the publisher and author, I removed the book from publication a few days after I discovered gross discrepancies, inflated accounts and sexualised content that were never part of my story. It was unethical, unacceptable and dishonest, and I unpublished the book immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">White is the author or co-author of two books available for sale on Amazon that tell the personal stories of two women who say they were abused as children. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both women have spoken to The Irish Times about their disgust at learning of White\u2019s conviction for sexual offences against a minor. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">One of the women, Lorraine, had her life story turned into the book Little Lorraine \u2013 A Terrible Secret by White, after he moved into a house beside her in 2018. Having made a Garda complaint about her alleged abuser, Lorraine said White promised that he could get her case reopened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI genuinely took him as having an air of authority about him and that he knew what he was talking about,\u201d says Lorraine, who lives in the midlands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI could see that he knew a lot about the law. I think he came across as, \u2018If I put my mind to doing this, I can do this. There\u2019s no one stopping me.\u2019 I thought I was in safe hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"Portia\" class=\"c-stack b-it-article-body__pullquote\" data-style-direction=\"vertical\" data-style-justification=\"start\" data-style-alignment=\"unset\" data-style-inline=\"false\" data-style-wrap=\"nowrap\">\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">I suppose we\u2019re a little bit naive and gullible and we want to do this to help people. He took that and ran with it<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u00a0Portia<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Lorraine says White told her they did not need a contract for the book as he was her neighbour and she could trust him. Lorraine says White claimed to be a Sunday Times journalist and promised he would get her on The Late Late Show once her book was published. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">She says White accompanied her to her nearby Garda station and secured meetings with senior garda\u00ed to discuss her case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">When the book was published by White in 2021, Lorraine says he asked her to accompany him as they drove around to sell copies to her friends who had an interest in buying it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">She felt embarrassed asking friends for \u20ac30 for each book. Sometimes they sold up to 20 books a day. She says all the money was given to White and the total amount he gave her for the book was \u20ac200. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The book was sold on Amazon and in local shops, where they \u201cflew out the door\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">White set up a Justice for Lorraine site and Facebook page. This was where a second woman, Portia, got in touch with White. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portia (not her real name), who is from north Munster, sent messages to the Facebook page asking if White could be trusted after reading about Lorraine\u2019s story. She did not know at the time that White controlled the page. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He responded recommending White as an author who  could help her write her book. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portia had written about her own experiences of childhood sexual abuse during the Covid lockdowns. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">At first she did not like White, despite his claims of working for the Sunday Times and of having worked for RT\u00c9. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">She agreed to send him her draft story and then White asked her to pay him \u20ac6,000 to write a book about her story. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">She did not have the money and was receiving disability payments. She paid over \u20ac3,000 after signing a one-page contract that White gave her using the brand \u201cStoryKinds\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Irish Times has seen a copy of the signed contract and the bank records showing the transfer of the money on September 20th, 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Despite that contract specifying that both White and Portia would each receive 50 per cent of the royalties, she has never received any money from the book, The Proposal from Hell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">After the book came out in 2022, Portia says White \u201cpestered\u201d her to pay the second \u20ac3,000 to him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cHe was horrible towards me in the end,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"Portia\" class=\"c-stack b-it-article-body__pullquote\" data-style-direction=\"vertical\" data-style-justification=\"start\" data-style-alignment=\"unset\" data-style-inline=\"false\" data-style-wrap=\"nowrap\">\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">I personally feel I\u2019ve been victimised all over again \u2013 emotionally raped<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u00a0Portia<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both women were shocked to learn about White\u2019s conviction for abuse last year. They find it hard to believe they did not see the warning signs about White\u2019s behaviour given their own childhood experiences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Lorraine feels responsible for Portia giving money to White, as they met through her Facebook page. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cNow we are in the same predicament,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portia believes White targeted both of them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"> They both say they kept the abuse they suffered secret for decades before agreeing to tell their stories in books with White because he convinced them it would help other victims. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt just makes me so angry to know that he\u2019s seen whatever is in us,\u201d says Portia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI suppose we\u2019re a little bit naive and gullible and we want to do this to help people. He took that and ran with it, despite knowing how vulnerable we are. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI personally feel I\u2019ve been victimised all over again \u2013 emotionally raped. My anxiety went really bad. I\u2019m on medication and my mental health went down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"> They want to ensure White cannot profit from their books. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Despite making direct contact with Amazon to complain that White duped them by posing as a Sunday Times journalist, the web giant has refused to remove the books from sale. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portia says the thought of White profiting from her book is causing her distress. Lorraine says she feels retraumatised by Amazon\u2019s refusal to remove the book. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">She is worried other abuse victims might be convinced to tell their stories to White after his release from prison if they see the books for sale on Amazon. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cHe needs to be stopped,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">White has also written a book of reviews of Late Late Show episodes, which is for sale on Amazon. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Asked to comment, a spokesperson for Amazon said: \u201cThis is a dispute between an author and individuals referenced in the author\u2019s book and can only be addressed directly between the parties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Sunday Times says it has had no connection or interaction with any individual called Edward White or John O\u2019Loughlin in the past 10 years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Irish Times wrote to White in Mountjoy Prison, where he is serving his sentence, but received no response. There was also no response to a request for comment from White made through his solicitor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two women who had books written about their experiences of sexual abuse say they have been \u201cretraumatised\u201d by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[1463,18,117,19,17,110601,879],"class_list":["post-476047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-amazon","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mountjoy-prison","tag-x"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116543498309294218","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}