In 2006, Neil Weiner planted hundreds of images depicting child pornography in his boss’s laptop. The reason? His boss, Eddie Thompson (a school caretaker) was “exceedingly grumpy, bad-tempered and irascible.”
I guess working out your thinly veiled rage issues by keying your annoying superior’s car has become passé.
In this Gizmodo entry, vinod1978 left a comment, calling Weiner’s method an “odd choice,” when there were “soooo many other ways to get people fired.”
I, on the other hand, believe that Weiner’s plot was calculated to generate maximum damage to Thompson’s life. One can assume that the reason why Weiner planted child pornography, instead of drugs, firearms, or indeed, regular pornography, is that an accusation of violating child pornography laws carries with it the sort of social stigma that a person cannot recover from. An accusation of this nature, even if later proven to be untrue, completely destroys the life of the person accused.
If Weiner’s plan had been successful, Thompson would have been tried, convicted, and imprisoned under UK child pornography laws. He would have had to register as a sex offender. He would never have gotten another job as a school caretaker. No person could conceivably trust him with children after this whole thing.
Some measure of justice, however, has been served. Weiner was sentenced to twelve years in prison for “perverting the course of justice and possessing indecent images of children.” Dissatisfied with simply handing out this ruling, Judge David Paget also told Weiner: “You will go to prison for a long time. The prison population is not renowned for being particularly fair or reasonable.”
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