Bizarre tale of boy who used internet to plot his own murder

The final internet chatroom exchange took place on 28 June last year. "U want me 2 take him 2 trafford centre and kill him in the middle of trafford centre??" said one message. "Yes," came the reply. Less than 24 hours later, a 14-year-old boy was critically ill in hospital with stab wounds in the chest and stomach. At first it seemed as though a brutal, but straightforward, robbery had gone wrong. But yesterday the young "victim" became the first person in this country to be convicted of inciting their own murder. An intricate web of deceit had been spun by the boy on the chatroom to recruit another teenager as his would-be killer.

"This case serves as a stark warning of the dangers of the dark side of the internet," Nicholas Clarke, prosecuting, told the court yesterday.

The boy - who is now 15 and can be referred to only as John for legal reasons - persuaded his friend, known as Mark, now 17, to stab him to death in order to pass a fictitious initiation test for the British secret services in a meticulously planned attack one Sunday evening last summer.

John, from Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty at Manchester crown court to incitement to murder and perverting the course of justice. He was given a three-year supervision order, banned from contacting Mark or using the internet without strict adult supervision.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1227362,00.html

bullshit, this case serves as a stark warning of the stupidity of some people. The interenet isnt responsible for this kids situation, he is.

They could have used snail mail, telephone, messenger service...

smoke signals