The prosecution was widely condemned by the liberati of Twitter, and the acquittal therefore welcomed as an important victory against state censorship on a moral level.
But if you sympathise with Peacock, it's worth sparing a though for Darryn Walker and what is probably one of the most important failed UK prosecutions in the history of the internet.
In 2007 Mr Walker published a fantasy/horror story about the torture, mutilation and rape of members of pop group Girls Aloud on a Usenet Newsgroup. (The story remained for at least a year under the alt.sex.stories hierarchy but has, from a precursory check today, since disappeared.)
Shocking and disturbing, sure - but should such fiction be illegal? And when it's hidden in some internet backwater where's the harm?
And, since the story involved selling body parts of the dismembered songstresses on eBay one can only assume the work contained a level of comedy and/or satire.
And, since the story involved selling body parts of the dismembered songstresses on eBay one can only assume the work contained a level of comedy and/or satire.
Soon after publication, an 18-month legal ordeal which saw Darryn lose his civil service job was started by the most unlikely moral guardians of The Daily Star:
"We can reveal that Interpol has been notified to help track down the man behind the bizarre work"The Daily Star claimed Girls Aloud members were being "stalked by a vile internet psycho". Sensationalised in the mainstream gutter press brought the story to a whole new audience.
Daily Star, 26th July 2007
