Facebook 'bully' explains actions

By Jim Reed
Newsbeat reporter Keeley was arrested after updating her status on Facebook

Earlier this year 18-year-old Keeley Houghton became the first person in Britain to be locked up for internet bullying.

She spent six weeks in the young offenders' wing of Eastwood Park prison after posting a threatening message about another girl on her own Facebook profile.

Part of the message read: "Keeley is going to murder the bitch." It also included other obscene language.

During sentencing, the judge took into account Keeley's two previous convictions for assault and criminal damage towards the same girl.

Under the conditions of her release, Keeley is not allowed on Facebook or other social networking sites until the new year.

She spoke to Newsbeat's Jim Reed.

This was part of a long running problem wasn't it?

Yes, we just never got on from the start. We never spoke as friends. Her friends and my friends just didn't get on. I can't really remember how it started... it just all got out of hand.

It was a status update that got you into trouble. What did it say?

'Keeley Houghton is going to murder the bitch'. I can't remember what else it said, but at the end it said her name.

Can you explain why you did it?

I've no idea why I did it. It was just spur of the moment. I was with my friends at the time, so it was just messing around. I didn't mean for her to see it all, it was just a joke with my friends. I thought only my friends on my Facebook would see it...

I realised what I did the day after and I deleted it. But people had already read it and she'd obviously printed it off to show the police.

Did you think you would get in trouble?

I didn't think anything of it. I didn't think anything like that was going to happen, until a week later when I got a phone call from the police... They didn't tell me they were going to arrest me. They just wanted to talk to me at first. They got more evidence or something, so they arrested me the next morning.

When people accused you of internet bullying what did you think?

It was just one comment. If I'd have put it on her Facebook page and more comments came up then it would have been internet bullying. But it was just one comment.

But some people would say you did threaten to murder her. If that's not bullying then what is?

I know what you're saying, but I don't think it's bullying. It's just one comment and it just got blown out of proportion.

But isn't one message bullying as much as five messages?

I don't think it is.

Do you have some sympathy for the girl you posted the message about?

If I saw someone had wrote something like that about me then I'd be a bit upset. But it was a bit blown out of proportion... You just can't see how people are saying what they're saying, so she wouldn't have known it was a joke.

Do you accept it was a foolish thing to do?

Yes, I do know what I did was wrong. I know I shouldn't have done it because it just wasn't worth getting into trouble over. I didn't mean what I wrote, but it was wrong to write it... I regret everything I've done because it's just childish things.

So what was it like to be in court?

Scary, I hated it. I had to go to court, then they adjourned it to three weeks later and that was the day I got sentenced. I was expecting the worst just in case it did happen, but I was still shocked when they told me I was going to prison.

What went through your mind when you heard the decision?

I couldn't stop crying. I was scared. The judge told me I was sentenced to three months and then they took me down into the holding cells.

What was life like in the young offenders' wing?

It was okay, it wasn't what I expected at all. It was still horrible, being without my friends and family... Two weeks after I was in there I had a visit from them. When you're locked up by yourself it's horrible because all you do is think.

Have you learnt anything from this?

Think twice before you do anything. It's just not worth it.

Do you think people appreciate just how serious it can be to write something on Facebook?

No, I don't think they do. I didn't before all this happened... I don't think anybody takes it seriously. There just isn't enough information on it.

You can use Facebook again in January - are you going to be back on it?

I don't know yet. I'll see what happens when it gets here. I probably won't. If I do use it I won't write anything of that kind on there.