Skip to main content

British man sentenced to 12 weeks in jail as result of Facebook posts

A youth in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison as the result of abusive messages he posted to Facebook about two missing children, with the judge issuing the sentence saying that the comments were so abhorrent that they deserved the longest possible sentence available. Matthew Woods, an unemployed nineteen-year-old in Chorley, Lancashire, plead guilty to charges of sending by means of a public electronics communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive following being arrested for his own safety earlier this month.

Woods was responsible for multiple Facebook “jokes” about April Jones, a five-year-old girl who went missing near her home in Wales last week, as well as Madeleine McCann, who disappeared during her family’s vacation in Portugal back in 2007. David Edwards, who was defending Woods during the sentencing, told the Chorley magistrates court that the messages were posted “in one moment of drunken stupidity,” and that Woods now considers himself “public enemy number two – behind only the person who [was responsible for Jones’ disappearance]” (46-year-old Mark Bridger was charged with the child’s murder earlier during the day).

Woods was actually arrested following a public outcry in response to the posts, in a very literal sense. Around 50 members of the public, having seen what he had written – including “Who in their right mind would abduct a ginger kid?” and other messages of a more disturbing, and more sexual, nature – went to Woods’ home, seemingly with the intent of terrorizing an apology out of him (He was actually arrested at a different address). Initially, Woods said that he posted the messages with the purpose of convincing people that his account had been hacked, but he admitted that “it got out of hand,” according to prosecutor Martina Jay. Edwards, in summation of the defense for his client, said that Woods “did seem genuinely remorseful and regretful for what he had done [and] fully accepts that he was the author of his own misfortune.”

Such penance didn’t win any favor from the magistrates hearing the case. Speaking before issuing the 12 week jail sentence, chairman of the bench magistrate Bill Hudson said that “The words and references used to the current case in Wales and that of the missing girl in Portugal are nothing less than shocking, so much so that no right thinking person in society should have communicated to them such fear and distress.” He went on to add that “The reason for the sentence is the seriousness of the offense, the public outrage that has been caused and we felt there was no other sentence this court could have passed which conveys to you the abhorrence that many in society feel this crime should receive.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Graeme McMillan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A transplant from the west coast of Scotland to the west coast of America, Graeme is a freelance writer with a taste for pop…
Facebook reminds users to get flu shots, limits reach of anti-vax posts
facebook preventative health tool web

Facebook can already manage your online shopping, your job search, your news, and even your dating life -- and now the social media platform wants to send you reminders when it’s time to get a flu shot or head in for a check-up. On Monday, October 28, Facebook launched Preventive Health, a tool that encourages users to get preventative tests and helps the uninsured find federally funded health centers. The tool launches as Facebook stunts the spread of anti-vax posts on the network.

Using profile data for age and gender, the Preventative Health tool suggests tests such as blood pressure checks, cholesterol tests, pap smears, and mammograms. From the tool, users can check an option saying that they’ve already had that test done and can set a reminder for when the next test is due, based on testing timelines from organizations like the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.

Read more
How a two-year-old Facebook post may lead to jail time for a visitor to Dubai
Crisis Response Hub

Comments posted on Facebook two-and-a-half years ago could result in jail time for the British woman who wrote them.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates arrested the woman as she entered Dubai last month to attend the funeral of her former husband, campaign group Detained in Dubai said.

Read more
Man pleads guilty to scamming Facebook and Google out of more than $100M
facebook stories on desktop tested sign

It seems hard to believe that tech companies like Facebook and Google could fall victim to phishing scams, but between 2013 and 2015 both were tricked into paying tens of millions of dollars to a team of scammers.

Last week a 50-year-old Lithuanian man admitted his role in the fraud, which netted a reported $98 million from Facebook and $23 million from Google. Evaldas Rimasauskas pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and has also been charged with counts of aggravated identity theft and money laundering. He could face up to 30 years behind bars when a New York judge passes sentence in July.

Read more