CPS weighs up appeal against email ruling

Accused teenage DoS bomber could stand retrial under Computer Misuse Act

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is considering appealing against a court ruling last year involving a teenager charged with bombarding and crashing an insurance firm’s systems with five million emails.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court ruled that there was no case to answer, but the decision was criticised by industry experts who said it showed clear weaknesses in the 1990 Computer Misuse Act (Computing, 10 November).

The CPS is now seeking expert advice before deciding whether to appeal against District Judge Kenneth Grant’s ruling.

A CPS spokesman said: ‘We are gathering opinions from counsel. It is a difficult element of the law, so it will take some looking into.’

During the original case the defence lawyers claimed that email servers are designed to receive emails, so what the teenager was accused of doing did not constitute unauthorised modification under the Act.

Peter Sommer, senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, and an expert witness in the case, said: ‘You would think admitting sending several million emails would be enough. On these grounds the CPS might say the CMA isn’t clear and ask a higher court for its opinions.’