Justice Clamp Down On Facebook

Thirty Facebook accounts used by convicted criminals to taunt their victims were today shut down.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the move, but said social networking sites must do more to curb "deeply offensive" material.

Mr Straw met with victims' groups to discuss how inmates illegally using web-phones can be better policed.

He said it had taken Facebook 48 hours to remove the offending internet pages, insisting he was was "reassured by the co-operation" his department had received from the international company.

"This is horrible, profoundly disturbing... and it's deeply offensive to public morality," Mr Straw said.

The Justice Secretary discussed the matter with Margaret and Barry Mizen, the parents of teenager Jimmy Mizen who was murdered at a bakery in south-east London in May 2008.

He also met with Richard Taylor, the father of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor, who was killed in a north Peckham estate in November 2001.

Mr Mizen said: "I'm sure Facebook is a massive organisation and there's lots of money floating around. If you have to spend a bit more on monitoring, then you have just got to do it."

Mr Straw later met representatives from Facebook and Ofcom.

"We are getting much tougher about people smuggling telephones into prison and using them," he said.

"I'm afraid we're dealing with crooks. Devious, manipulative people who actually have no respect for their own bodies so they push these mobile telephones into their body orifices."

Specialist visitor chairs are used in some prison, which preform internal scans.

However, Mr Straw said some family members of criminals were involved in updating social networking pages on their behalf.

Among those caught accessing and contributing material to Facebook from behind bars was Jade Braithwaite, 20, the killer of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella.

He used the same website to boast he was "down but not out", as well as posting how he wanted a remote control so he could "mute or delete people when I need to".

All the major social networking sites have policies to remove material considered to cause harassment or distress.

(PR/GK)