Graham Fitzgerald, Sky News Online
Home Secretary Alan Johnson is to meet Facebook bosses to ask why it does not have a ‘panic button’ for children concerned about paedophiles, Sky News has learned.
The judge said the case was a “salutary lesson for teenage girls and parents rising from the now obvious dangers that can be associated with social networking”.
Det Supt Andy Reddick, who led the investigation, cautioned against meeting strangers through sites such as Facebook.
“It’s clear from our investigation that sexual predators are using these sites to target their next victim,” he said.
“Our message is do not meet people who you have only met on social networking sites.”
:: Facebook has overtaken Google to become the most visited website in the US for the first time, according to industry analysts Experian Hitwise.
It follows the case of teenager Ashleigh Hall, who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a serial sex offender she met on the social networking site.
Paul Chapman killed the 17 year old from from Darlington after posing as a teenager himself and arranging a date with her.
Knowing Ashleigh would suspect him when she saw him arrive as a balding, older man, he sent her a text to say his father was coming to meet her.
He texted: “My dad’s on his way babe”, and when Chapman arrived, Ashleigh texted back: “He’s here babe.”
Chapman, 33, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a minimum of 35 years by Judge Peter Fox QC at Teesside Crown Court.
Sky News Online