Tsunami hoaxer jailed for sick joke

A UK man has been jailed for six months after a sick email hoax informed families searching for relatives missing in the midst of the tsunami crisis that their loved ones were dead.

Christopher Pierson harvested the email addresses from a Sky News website and sent 35 separate emails with the gruesome and unfounded news, purporting to be from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Pierson's emails stated: "The UK government regretted to inform the victim that the missing person they were inquiring about was confirmed dead."

Pierson's defence said he had been under a great deal of stress leading up to the ill-conceived prank and claimed bereavements in his own life had caused him to send the emails.

Pierson's solicitor Andrew McArthur said: "He somehow saw that by sending these emails he was providing some sort of closure to the relatives and families to those people who may have been killed due to the tsunami."

According to a report on the BBC the victims of his hoax weren't convinced by this argument, with one claiming the cruel emails had caused indescribable levels of suffering for them and their family.

Appearing at Bow Street Magistrates, Pierson admitted one count of causing a public menace and one charge under the Malicious Communications Act.