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| US Facebook death threats troll: Reece Elliott jailed | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A British man who threatened to kill 200 people in the US in posts he made under a false name on Facebook, has been jailed for more than two years. | A British man who threatened to kill 200 people in the US in posts he made under a false name on Facebook, has been jailed for more than two years. |
| Reece Elliott, 24, of Foss Way, South Shields, made the threat in February on online memorial pages for two Tennessee girls killed in car accidents. | |
| About 3,000 pupils in Warren County missed school the next day as a result. | About 3,000 pupils in Warren County missed school the next day as a result. |
| Elliott, who pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court in April, was jailed for two years and four months. | Elliott, who pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court in April, was jailed for two years and four months. |
| The father-of-one admitted one count of making a threat to kill and eight of sending grossly offensive messages. He had been held in custody since his arrest in February. | The father-of-one admitted one count of making a threat to kill and eight of sending grossly offensive messages. He had been held in custody since his arrest in February. |
| Elliott targeted a tribute page to 17-year-old Caitlin Talley, a popular pupil at Warren County High, who had died in a car accident in October. | |
| He also posted comments on the tribute site of a 15-year-old girl who cannot be named. | |
| Schools 'lockdown' | |
| Using a false name, he wrote on the RIP Caitlin Talley page: "My father has three guns. I'm planning on killing him first and putting him in a dumpster. | Using a false name, he wrote on the RIP Caitlin Talley page: "My father has three guns. I'm planning on killing him first and putting him in a dumpster. |
| "Then I'm taking the motor and I'm going in fast. I'm gonna kill hopefully at least 200 before I kill myself. So you want to tell the deputy, I'm on my way." | "Then I'm taking the motor and I'm going in fast. I'm gonna kill hopefully at least 200 before I kill myself. So you want to tell the deputy, I'm on my way." |
| Using the same pseudonym, Elliott then posted the threats about driving into school. | Using the same pseudonym, Elliott then posted the threats about driving into school. |
| He said: "I'm killing 200 people minimum at school. I will be on CNN." | |
| At his first appearance at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court in February, Gary Buckley, prosecuting, said: "The residents of Warren County and all the people who have access to the Facebook page were clearly concerned. | |
| "I am told that the local authority immediately put all the local schools in the area on what was called lockdown. | |
| "Because of the hysteria caused, around 3,000 children were kept off school on that specific day." | |
| Sentencing Elliott to 28 months in jail, Judge James Goss QC, the Recorder of Newcastle, told him the offences were driven by "no more than self-indulgent nastiness". | |
| The judge took into account Elliott's early guilty plea and genuine remorse. |