Facebook bully jailed

An 18-year-old woman has been sentenced to three months in a young offenders' institution for posting a death threat on the social networking site Facebook.

On 12 July, Keely Houghton posted a message on the site: "Keeley is going to murder the bitch. She is an actress. What a f***ing liberty. Emily f***head Moore."

She pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment at Worcester Crown Court.

Ms Houghton was also banned from contacting her victim, Ms Moore, for five years.

District Judge Bruce Morgan told Houghton “Since Emily Moore was 14 you have waged compelling threats and violent abuse towards her. Bullies are by their nature cowards, in school and society... On this day you did an act of gratuitous nastiness to satisfy your own twisted nature."

The court heard that Houghton had two previous convictions relating to Ms Moore, including one for assaulting her in 2005.

Emma Jane Cross, Chief Executive of the charity Beatbullying, said "Cyber-bullying is a worrying and fast growing trend which can be more harmful than typical schoolyard bullying.

"However, the solution is not to limit young people’s internet access and phone usage. Instead, social networking sites like Facebook, along with the Government and charities like Beatbullying, must work together to tackle the real root of the problem, the bullying itself."

Over a third of young people surveyed by the charity said that they had been bullied online.