Facebook bullies ruined my life: As the first internet bully is sent to jail, the story that will terrify every parent

By Kathryn Knight

Victim: Emily Moor was targeted by bullies via social networking sites

A new fan club has popped up on the social networking site Facebook. With 367 members unified in their vociferous support of the fan club's figurehead, it bears the pointed title: 'Keeley Is Not A Bully.'

The club is the brainchild of Nicola Houghton, Keeley's devoted mother, who is determined to clear her daughter's name.

Keeley, 18, is serving a three month sentence in a young offenders' institute, having been found guilty of harassment on Facebook.

Her sentence - the culmination of a four-year hate campaign - is thought to be the first handed out for bullying through a social networking site.

One person who won't be signing up to the campaign is 18-year-old Emily Moor.

In fact, the fan club's very presence makes Emily, a quietly spoken schoolgirl from the outskirts of Malvern, Worcestershire, feel sick. For it is Emily who is the victim of Keeley's vicious intimidation.

Emily is anxious about her bully's imminent release - Keeley is likely to serve only six weeks of her term - despite a five-year restraining order preventing any contact.

As her mother Connie says: 'The internet is a sinister, silent enemy: you simply don't know where to start to tackle the problem.

'But faceless as a computer may be, it is every bit as threatening as a physical bully, if not more so because the audience reading these horrible messages can be enormous.

'Even though Keeley is in prison, we are still being tormented on Facebook by her mother's campaign.

'We have contacted Facebook's administrators to ask for the site to be removed, but we are still waiting for a response.'

Ironically, Emily is one of the lucky ones. Earlier this year, Macclesfield schoolgirl Megan Gillan, 15, took a fatal overdose of painkillers after classmates used the social networking site Bebo in a bullying campaign against her.

In the U.S., two teenagers are known to have committed suicide as a result of cyber-bullying.

All of these children were attractive, happy children from loving families - yet the internet is no respecter of social status and, of course, neither are bullies.

The chilling fact is that what happened to Emily - and to the other children - could happen to anyone. No wonder mothers are terrified of the phenomenon.

Emily has no idea why Keeley and three of her friends singled her out. Brought up alone by Connie, 47, a nursery nurse, she had grown into a bright and attractive young teenager who shared a close bond with her mother.

She went to school at The Chase, a vast and modern secondary in Malvern. When the bullying began, it was as random as it was childish.

'I was about 13 and they started calling me names. It was so ridiculous that I barely registered it at the time,' says Emily.

Before too long, however, the name-calling became worse.

'Keeley wasn't in any of my classes, but suddenly she started to shadow me on my way home from school, calling abuse from across the road,' says Emily. 'She'd hardly registered on my radar, but suddenly she was this horrifying presence in my life.

'I tried to stand up for myself by saying I wasn't any of the things they were calling me, but it made it worse.'