Net stalker jailed for seven years

NEWS An Internet stalker was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on Tuesday for hacking into a teenage girl's Web site and posting her home address with an invitation to rape and abuse her. Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Donald Ridley, 37, befriended a girl through helping to set up her Web site, and then turned against her when she refused to accept his sexual advances. After posting the victim's picture on the Internet to lure strangers to her home, the girl was bombarded with obscene emails from all over the world. The 17-year-old and her mother were forced to move house after receiving several threatening visits from strangers. Ridley, a housing officer from Poole, pleaded guilty to 25 offences, including publication of obscene material, improper use of the telephone system and sending indecent images. He also admitted to possessing and distributing 100 images of child pornography. Judge Samuel Wiggs sentenced Ridley to six years for the Internet offences and a further 18 months for the possession of child pornography. In his sentencing speech he said: "You sadistically used a computer to get pleasure for yourself from her pain, setting up these Web sites offering unbelievably foul sexual services." British courts have been flooded with Internet paedophile cases in recent weeks. In February, seven Britons were sentenced for their participation in the world's biggest ever Internet pornography ring, dubbed the Wonderland Club. At the beginning of the month, a 45-year-old man from London was convicted for raping a 14-year-old girl that he met in an Internet chatroom. Are your children in danger on the Internet? Find out with the Web of Porn Special Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Click on the TalkBack button and go to the ZDNet News forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom. And read other letters.

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