Bus Driver Charged for Video Message left on cell

Thursday, July 13, 2006

A school bus driver in the UK named as John Stoneman, aged 39 will likely be sentenced to jail for sending a disturbing video message to a 12 year old girl which showed a clip of a Russian Soldier being beheaded.

The video message was sent to the girl as the bus driver drove her to school. The message was only discovered after the girl lost her phone and it was found by her teacher. The teacher then called the police and Mr Stoneman was arrested when the video message was traced to his cell phone. The girl was described as being disturbed having viewed the video message.

The video message, which is described to contain material of “indecent or grossly offensive nature” is believed to have been made by rebels in Chechnya . This case brings to light that picture and video messages sent through cell phones are subject to criminal charges if considered grossly offensive or indecent.