David Meade death threats in end-of-world trolling

David Meade from Rathfriland in County Down is a mentalist - but did not predict the end of the world

Having the same name as a man who predicted the world would end on Saturday - last Saturday - has caused County Down mentalist David Meade no end of grief - even five death threats.

American conspiracy theorist David Meade claimed that Planet Nibiru would collide with Earth on 23 September.

David Meade, from Rathfriland, County Down, has been forced to dissociate himself from the claims.

Newspapers have incorrectly linked the claim to him on social media.

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His picture has also been used in relation to the story.

Mr Meade, who now lives in Banbridge with his wife Elaine and their family, said: "About six or seven months ago we started getting the odd tweet here and there and I thought it was hilarious.

"I think part of the source of the confusion, first of all, is that it is a pretty unusual way to spell Meade, with an 'e' at the end.

"But then also, when people were arriving on my site they were seeing things like 'mentalist', 'mind reader'.

"That probably sounds like the sort of person that would predict the end of the world," he confessed.

"The last two weeks have been extraordinary and actually it's verging on worrying this morning."

The father-of-two is both a lecturer in international business and an entertainer who "caught the bug" for mind-reading as a teenager.

His website has been so inundated with traffic that it has crashed three times, something he said was a concern, as he has five employees.

"Sixty percent of my work is in the United States, it is deeply worrying to think that this nonsense could be there online and could affect my business," he said.

He has now received five death threats but said that he is not taking the threats seriously.

His lawyer is in contact with a number of media outlets asking them to retract stories linking the County Down man to the story.

"A Fox news anchor linked directly to my Twitter feed, directly to my website, and, to date, has refused to apologise for it," he said.

"My main concern is that no one seems bothered to correct this."

The entertainer seems confident the Earth is not facing impending doom - from an unknown planet at least - and has offered a "1000%" refund on tickets sold for his upcoming tour "in the event of an apocalypse".

Following the fact that the world did not end on Saturday, the American David Meade told the Washington Post: "The world is not ending, but the world as we know it is ending."

"A major part of the world will not be the same the beginning of October," he said.

He describes himself as a "Christian numerologist", whose apocalyptic theory is based on a "numeric code" he said he found in the Bible.

David Meade, the "Christian numerologist"

Mainstream Christian groups have dismissed his theories and have denied that Christians believed them.

He describes himself as a having studied astronomy and being a "specialist in research and investigations" and talks about a "Planet X".

However, the US space agency said Planet Nibiru, also known as Planet X, does not exist.

David Meade, the conspiracy theorist, said, however: "The existence of Planet X is beyond any reasonable doubt."

He said Nasa discovered Planet X in the 1980s and that preparations for it striking - or closely passing - Earth were well under way in both the US and in Russia.