Mumsnet founder's 'Swat attack' shock

Mumsnet has reset its users' passwords after a series of attacks, one of which involved armed police being called out to the London home of the parenting site's co-founder.

Justine Roberts said she suffered a "swatting attack" last week - a type of harassment in which a perpetrator calls the emergency services out to their victim on a false pretence.

"I wasn't actually there - I was on holiday," she told the BBC.

"The first thing I knew was when our au pair contacted us the next morning to tell us that at 03:30 she'd been woken up and disturbed by a Swat team of five armed police and three unarmed police and a police dog.

"They'd received a report of a man prowling round the house with a gun."

She said that she was aware such incidents had become more common in the US, but she believed they remained relatively rare in the UK.

"At first I think the police were slightly nonplussed and said they were not sure, because there were no actual real victims, that it was a pursuable crime.

"But I think in the States it's treated incredibly seriously because, of course, if you get copycat things like this it can be incredibly disruptive, not to mention the cost to the security forces."