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UK Spammer's Appeal Rejected
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-09-29
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Peter Francis-Macrae has been described as "the UK's worst spammer." It seems likely that he will lose that title at some point in the next few years, though - Francis-Macrae's appeal was dismissed in court this week, and he now faces a six-year prison sentence.
Francis-Macrae was originally "convicted on a variety of charges ranging from fraud and blackmail to making threats to kill," according to The Register. In his appeal, he "argued that two of his convictions - involving concealing criminal property and fraud - were unsafe."
He contended "that the jury in the case had been misdirected by the trial judge's summing up of the case," the article continued. The Appeal Court judges rejected this claim - the case against Francis-Macrae was apparently very substantial. He "made an estimated £1.6m from a series of domain name scams, promoted through spam email," and also demonstrated some less than endearing personal traits.
"Francis-Macrae allegedly threatened to slit the throats of trading standards officers investigating complaints about his activities," The Register's John Leyden reported. "He was also accused of telling a police switchboard operator, who'd recently been diagnosed with cancer, that he hoped she caught the disease."
The spammer's friendliness did not stop there, either - he "threatened to plant a car bomb at the Cambridgeshire force's headquarters in a letter to his solicitors sent while he was awaiting his first trial."
Francis-Macrae should regard his time in prison as particularly unpleasant, given the lifestyle to which he'd become accustomed. He'd found spamming to be very profitable, and "his income financed his purchase of designer gear (£12,000 of Yves Saint Laurent clothing) and £16,000 in helicopter lessons," among other things.
When Francis-Macrae's sentence is complete, he will still face restrictions - he has been "made the subject of an anti-social behavior order preventing [him] from contacting police or trading standards officers for two years after his release."
Tag: Francis-Macrae
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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