The Paper is rarely full of happy news. Especially concerning recent events. I picked up the paper today, and was faced with this article;
SECRETS OF CRUEL MR WEIRD
Jan 4 2005
He's the son of a war hero, he spends hours on the internet, he wears dark glasses at all times.. and he sent 35 hoax emails to British disaster families
By Rod Chaytor
THE email hoaxer who told worried relatives their loved ones had died in the Asian tsunami was behind bars last night as his weird lifestyle was revealed.
Christopher Pierson, 40, was locked up for his own safety after confessing in court to sending 35 messages to families waiting for news of the missing.
Pierson, son of a Second World War RAF hero and brother of a Squadron Leader, claimed he acted in a "moment of madness" following a series of tragedies in his own life, including the death of a baby son.
People who know him described a computer-obsessed loner who always wore dark glasses and hardly spoke to anyone.
He appeared in court on the day Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced there were 159 Britons still missing, bringing the total of dead and disappeared to 199. After the case family friend Ruth Williamson said: "He must be really sick."
And Steven Baxendale, who received one of the hoax emails while searching the internet for relatives, said: "It was a sick practical trick at a time like this when people are so worried about friends or family."
"This was a malicious prank that could have caused a lot of upset, I really hope he is handed an appropriate punishment."
Now I discussed this article with a friend, and they said well he's obviously got mental health problems, so they shouldn't be to harsh to him. I can't say I agree. My heart goes out to people who do suffer from mental health problems. I know that they can ruin peoples lives, and are often not recognised as a real illness. Whether this man was suffering from mental health problems or not what he did was evil. This is a traumatic time already, without him adding to it. What he did deserves to be punished. Maybe he can be treated, but that's not the point. Some people are just naturally evil.