Social networking website Facebook has today been criticised following the conviction of a man in Britain for kidnapping, raping and murdering a young teenage woman he met online.
Convicted sex offender Peter Chapman (33) was jailed for life in Middlesbrough yesterday after he changed his plea as he was to go on trial for the killing of Ashleigh Hall (17) last October. Chaptman was told he would serve at least 35 years.
The body of the 17-year-old childcare student was found dumped in a field near Sedgefield, Co Durham. Ms Hall, from Darlington, had been strangled.
Facebook today urged internet users today not to meet strangers they have only had contact with online .
In a statement, the social networking site said it was “deeply saddened” by Ashleigh’s death.
The statement urged people not to meet anyone they have only had contact with online unless they are certain they know who they are, “as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas”.
Ms Hall's mother Andrea,also warned of the dangers of social networking sites and questioned why Chapman was free to attack her daughter.
Speaking after the sentencing at Teesside Crown Court, Mrs Hall said she had been powerless to stop Ashleigh going out that fateful night.
“Them sort of people should be tagged and they should be kept an eye on all the time,” she said.
“I blame them for letting them out. He shouldn’t have been let out.”
Mrs Hall, who was comforted by her family and friends, said she was powerless to stop Ashleigh going out.
“What could I have done?” she asked.
“She was 17. You don’t stop your kids from going out. You tell them to be careful.
“He was a nice-looking boy. I couldn’t have stopped it and I wouldn’t have stopped it.
“The message is for people just to be careful. Please just be careful. Make sure you please do tell somebody if you are going to meet a person.
“That is the message, don’t go on your own.”
Her plea was echoed by chief superintendent Andy Reddick, who led the murder inquiry.
“The internet is a great thing but young people who go online can easily fall prey to the scheming, devious tricks of predatory paedophiles and perverts who, sadly, are all too willing to prey on the naive and vulnerable,” he said.
“It is a jungle that is full of pitfalls and traps and that is why companies who set up and promote such sites should do everything in their power to protect those that use them.
The Facebook statement read: “While it is not clear how these two met, what is clear is that Peter Chapman was a twisted, determined individual with an evil agenda who used every online and offline opportunity to meet people.
“This case serves as a painful reminder that all internet users must use extreme caution when contacted over the internet by people they do not know.
“We echo the advice of the police, who urge people not to meet anyone they have been contacted by online unless they know for certain who they are, as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas.
Chapman was jailed in 1996 for raping two prostitutes and was also suspected, though never charged, of carrying out other rapes and sex attacks against young women.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne criticised the “glaring failure” of Facebook to include the Child Exploitation Online Protection (Ceop) centre’s button, which allows users to understand the risks and to report suspicious activity, on its site.
"What Facebook doesn't have, when you go online on Facebook, is access to the Child Exploitation Online Protection button, which both Bebo and MSN are currently using, and which is a very important educational tool and an alert tool to alert Ceop when somebody is involving themselves this sort of activity," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Ceop chief executive Jim Gamble also criticised Facebook’s failure to include the panic button on its site. He said that of the 267 reports the centre received last year about activity on Facebook, 43 per cent concerned grooming but “only one or two” came from Facebook itself.
He said the inclusion of the Ceop button on social networking sites acted as a deterrent to abusers.
“We arrest people all the time because of this,” he added.