Man (30) jailed for sending late night abusive social media messages in Derry

Derry Magistrate's Court has been told that people who send abusive messages over social media rarely do it at 10am on a Monday morning but usually at night after consuming alcohol.

By Staff reporter

Published 24th Mar 2023, 12:12 BST- 1 min read

Updated 24th Mar 2023, 13:01 BST

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Bernard Cooke (30) of Cornshell Fields in Derry admitted a charge of improper use of the communication network on February 6 last year.

The court heard on Friday that between 2.30am and 3.10am on that date Cooke had sent a series of abusive messages that caused 'distress' to the injured party.

One of the messages said he was going to 'come to the door' of a female.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said there were ten messages in total and some of them were what he described as 'neutral'.

He said others were 'much worse' and said that the time the messages were sent was significant.

Cooke was jailed for three months and a Restraining Order was imposed for a period of 3 years.