Woman Falls Foul Of Internet Hate Campaign

A distressed single mum fears she has become the target for a malicious hate campaign after her telephone numbers were posted on an internet porn site.

Julie Blackburn is afraid to answer her own phone after her ex-directory numbers were placed on the pornographic contact page next to sexually explicit photographs.

The nursing home care worker says she has been unable to sleep after the calls started flooding in,day and at night.

She has now banned her young daughters from picking up the receiver and lives in fear the person responsible is someone she knows.

"It's been a nightmare and I'm very, very upset.One night I didn't go to bed at all.I keep thinking the person who did this has probably been drinking tea at my kitchen table."

Julie says the problem began on July 27,when she received the first in a flood of phone calls to her home from a man asking for "Laura".

"My boyfriend has been getting calls on his mobile as well,so it's obviously been done on purpose,and by somebody who knows our phone numbers" she said.

"Some of the callers have asked if I want sex,others have just shouted and been abusive.My 15-year-old daughter Charley answered once and was obviously upset."

Julie's numbers were posted on the disturbing website via an American server.Although her details have now been removed,she's worried she can do nothing to prevent it happening again.

"I want other women to be aware of how easily this can happen.I also want the culprit caught and punished."

Police are investigating the incident and are currently awaiting a report from British Telecom.

However vice experts say crimes of this nature,which are becomingly increasingly common,are notoriously difficult to trace.

Servers in the US only keep logger information for three weeks and often require a court order before they will release customer's details.