CRUEL KEELEY ..FIRST GIRL IN BRITAIN JAILED FOR BULLYING ON FACEBOOK; She waged campaign of abuse.

Byline: ROD CHAYTOR

A TEENAGE girl yesterday became the first in Britain to be locked up for bullying on Facebook after she posted death threats.

Twisted Keeley Houghton boasted on her Facebook page that she would kill 18-year-old Emily Moore, who she had bullied for years since they were at school together.

Houghton, also 18, was sentenced to three months in a young offender institution after pleading guilty to harassment.

Worcester magistrates heard that last month Houghton cruelly wrote on her Facebook site: "Keeley is going to murder the bitch. She is an actress. What a f****** liberty. Emily F***head Moore."

District Judge Bruce Morgan told Houghton: "Since Emily Moore was 14 you have waged a campaign of compelling threats and violent abuse towards her.

"Bullies are by their nature cowards, in school and society. The evil, odious effects of being bullied stay with you for life."

He added: "On this day you did an act of gratuitous nastiness to satisfy your own twisted nature."

Jobless Houghton was also given a restraining order banning her from contacting Miss Moore in person, on the internet or by any other means. Two days before making the threat, Houghton approached Emily as she enjoyed a quiet drink with her boyfriend.

They were in The Vault Inn pub in Malvern, Worcs, when Houghton came up to her and put her arm around her in a show of mock friendship.

Sara Stock, prosecuting, said: "Emily was in the pub when she saw the defendant who stared at her while she was dancing.

"Later when Emily was sitting on her own, the defendant came over and sat next to her and asked her: Are you Emily Moore? Can I have a huggle?" Ms Stock went on: "Emily warned the defendant to leave her alone otherwise she would have to call the police.

"Keeley then threatened her, 'I'll give you something to ring the police about'."

The court heard that Houghton, of Malvern, Worcs, had terrorised Emily for four years.

Houghton had also notched up two previous convictions both linked to her obsessive vendetta against Emily.

In 2005 she was convicted of assaulting Emily as she walked home from school and was subsequently expelled from school.

Two years later she was convicted of causing criminal damage to Emily's home by kicking her front door.

Houghton sobbed throughout the 15-minute hearing and her friends shouted: "We love you Keeley", as she was led in handcuffs to the cells.

Last night legal experts confirmed that defendants have previously been jailed for stalking victims using social networking sites.

However, it is believed that Houghton is the first person in this country to be jailed for bullying anyone on a social site.

pounds 10billion of success

FACEBOOK has taken the internet by storm since its launch in February 2004.

The social networking site was founded by computer programmer and Harvard student Mark Zukerberg, 23.

It was launched as The Facebook and named after the sheets of paper distrib-uted to new students at Harvard, profiling pupils.

It rapidly spread through US universities and in September 2006 the network was extended.

The site is now worth around pounds 10billion and attracts 131 million daily visitors as the most used social network on the web, followed by MySpace.

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BULLY Houghton at court yesterday