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BY JESSICA GOODWIN

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

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A British man who posted hateful messages on Facebook about late teens -- and upset their horrified families -- is now in jail after he pleaded guilty in an internet trolling case.

Skynews reports:

“Each of these four teenagers died in tragic circumstances, but if that wasn’t enough, the pages honoring their memories were subjected to the sickest of attacks. 25-year-old Steven Duffy admitting that he trolled them by creating malicious profiles, images and even videos and posting them online.”

A chief inspector for the Thames Valley police explains to the BBC why Mr. Duffy targeted the families with cruelties:

“By his own account Mr Duffy was trying gain attention by upsetting families who lost loved ones. He himself acknowledges that. The intention was to cause hurt and damage to those families. That’s what trolling is.”

The Herald Sun UK outlined some of Duffy’s crude comments-

‘He created a Facebook page entitled RIP Lauren Drew after the 14-year-old died from an epilepsy attack. He posted images called "Lauren's epifit" and "Lauren's rotting body".

‘Duffy defaced pictures of 16-year-old car crash victim Hayley Bates and wrote underneath a picture of flowers at the crash site: "Used car for sale, one useless owner."’

‘His final target was Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death. He created a group called "Jordan Cooper in pieces" that had a profile picture of a bloodied knife.’

Australia’s Ninemsn writes Duffy has pleaded guilty to two offenses under Britain’s Malicious Communications Act -- which prohibits sending messages designed to cause distress.

Duffy, has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison -- but the court is banning him from using social networking sites for five years. He also must inform police of any cell phone he buys that allows him internet access.

Some said Duffy’s conviction was an important step to cull trolling.
In the Independent, Anti-bullying charity Beatbullying called the conviction-

"A monumental move towards bullying and cyberbullying being taken more seriously".  
..The sentence sends a strong message... that bullying, whether online or offline, is not going to be tolerated."

But some disagree with the judge’s ruling -- saying it restricts free speech. The Author of ‘How to Lose Friends & Alienate People’, Toby Young, blogs for the UK Daily Telegraph --  

“I've come to the conclusion that Sean Duffy should not have been jailed, no matter how stomach-churning his comments.  I've often complained about being abused by trolls, particularly on Twitter. Nevertheless, I don't wish to see any of them sent to prison...
Their existence is a price worth paying for unrestricted free speech”
 

Transcript by Newsy