A man has been arrested on suspicion of harassing a Brighton woman on Facebook.
The 32-year-old man from Bournville in Birmingham was arrested yesterday (Tuesday 21 August) by detectives from Brighton and Hove CID and officers from West Midlands Police.
He is accused of misusing a computer to harass the woman online and has been bailed until Friday 19 October while Sussex Police detectives continue their investigation.
The victim complained about the abuse that she had received while using her Facebook account.
She believed that her account and e-mails had been hacked into by an unknown source.
Officers examined her computer as part of their investigation to try to trace the source of the abuse and the alleged security breach.
The arrest comes ten weeks after Nicola Brookes, 45, from Brighton, won a High Court case to unmask the identity of the internet troll or trolls who had been hounding her.
A judge ordered Facebook to reveal the personal details of the person or people who had impersonated and bullied her on the social networking site.
The online abuse started after she posted comments in support of the Woodingdean X-Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza.
This story is a particularly vile example of what happens every day on the social media websites. It really needs to be stopped now, and if there is sufficient evidence (and I am sure there will be) the courts should make an example of the abusive socio-path who attacked Ms. Brookes for months as well as hacking into her computer.
We need to make a decision about whether we want a ‘free’ and lawless internet where only the sick and abusive thrive by preying on the rest of us, or whether we want an internet which is safe for everyone to use without fear of being attacked by poisonous idiots.
I know which I would like to see. It’s time to take out the trash.