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UK man charged with "web-rage" attack

Flame gone bad

17 November 2006 15:05 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Next time you are about to flame someone on a chat room make sure you really think about what you are about to do. Today a man has been convicted in what is being described as the UK's first "web-rage" attack.

Paul Gibbons, 47, from south London, has been jailed for 2 1/2 years for assaulting a man he had exchanged insults with over the Internet, with a pick-axe.

Gibbons admitted he had attacked John Jones in December 2005 after months of exchanging abuse with him via an internet chatroom dedicated to discussing Islam.

Gibbons, who the court heard had previous convictions for violence, admitted unlawful wounding on the first day of his trial last month.

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