A teenage boy was sentenced in a British court on Friday for assuming false personas in an Internet chat room in order to induce an online friend to try to kill him. The boy who was convicted, 14 at the time of the events in question, fooled his friend, then 15, with an "elaborate matrix" of fictional identities, including that of a spy, in the chat room, the court was told.
Acting on the "spy's" orders, the older boy tried to kill the younger one, stabbing him in the chest and stomach in June of last year, leaving wounds that required hospitalization.
The court, which identified the older boy only as "Boy A" and the younger one as "Boy B," sentenced them both on Friday.
Boy A, who had pleaded guilty to attempted murder, was sentenced to two years of supervision to be overseen by probation officers, police and social workers.
Boy B, who had pleaded guilty to obstructing the course of justice and incitement to murder, was given three years of supervision, was barred from chat rooms and was told he could only have access to Internet under adult supervision.
"It's staggering to be dealing with a case that arises out of a boy's invention of false personalities, false relationships and events arranged for his own killing at the hands of a boy who he had met via an Internet chat room," Judge David Maddison said while sentencing the teens in Manchester Crown Court.
Belinda Sproston, an Internet expert, said the case showed how confused children can become in conversations on Internet chat rooms about the difference between fantasy and reality.
According to testimony, Boy B persuaded the older boy to carry out the attack by pretending to be a middle-age female spy who would reward him with sex and money and help him become a spy himself.
Detective Chief Inspector Julian Ross, who led the investigation for the Manchester police, said he believed that Boy B had launched the scam in an effort to commit suicide.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
RSS