Briton jailed for hacking a Facebook account

Gareth Crosskey, a 21-year-old from West Sussex who was arrested for hacking into a private Facebook account, has been handed down a prison sentence of 12 months by the Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.

Crosskey was arrested on 14 July 2011 at his home, and his computers and various storage devices were seized by the police. He was taken to a local police station, questioned and released on bail.

On 29 February 2012 he was charged with two offenses under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, and pleaded guilty of having gained unauthorized access to the Facebook account of a US citizen, including his private messages.

After the targeted individual alerted the FBI, the agency traced the source of the intrusion to the UK, where the Metropolitan Police Service’s Police Central e-Crime Unit took over the investigation.