The Spy, the Stalker, His Victim, and Her Lover - Interactive Fiction That is Too Active

Truth Stranger than Fiction Dept.

What happens when two teen English boys meet in an MSN chatroom? Talk about football? Girls? The injustices of teenage second-class-citizenship in a cold industrialized society that robs them of the rites and rituals they desperately need to make the transition to manhood?

Nope.

How about murder? Yes, MURDER MOST FOUL!

But this isn't your typical 'lets kill the other bloke' type of story. This is a story of a 14 year-old boy, lets call him Mark, who was almost successful in arranging his own death by the hands of an MSN chatroom acquaintance. The 15 year-old acquaintance, lets call him John, was convinced to do this because Mark used six (or more) chatroom aliases to fabricate an elaborate plot involving a sexy female spy, a stalker, a murdered girlfriend, a brain tumor, sexual blackmail, fifty-six thousand lines of chatroom text, and a slightly used kitchen knife!

What? No wombats? Amazing.

While sorting through the news stories doesn't exactly reveal what happened when, the general outline goes something like this:

Mark assumed the identity of a teen girl and enticed John into an online sexual relationship. During the relationship, John would masturbate in front of his webcam thinking he was virtually loving on his girlfriend. I theorize that Mark recorded the sessions, too. Eventually she introduced John to her step-brother - another of Mark's characters.

Here is where the news reports get hazy. Please allow me to postulate how things went.

Once the step-brother gained John's trust he began warning John that there was a stalker who was following him for some no-good reason. By a judicial use of paranoia, John was able to foil the stalker. Frustrated and insane, the stalker sought out John's girlfriend and killed her. John could stop flogging his meat online, thank god.

In an effort to find the stalker and bring him to justice, the step-brother introduced John to a number of other characters who were in a position to help John out. Somewhere in there somebody else dies like a red shirt in a Star Trek episode.

The big payoff comes when John meets an attractive middle-aged woman who is a spy for the British government. Apparently, this spy has a problem; she needs a poor boy with a brain tumor put out of his misery. Like a cunning spider in her web of deceit, she draws John into another online relationship.

(Are we still clear here that everybody John is talking to is actually Mark? Good.)

Although John is still in mourning for his murdered girlfriend, he finds himself strangely attracted to this mysterious woman. Undoubtedly, he begins whacking off in front of his camera. It probably occurs to him to ask why she doesn't do the same for him. I'll bet the answer was that it would violate national security.

This is where my conjectures end. As reported:

To encourage John to waste the little sucker with the brain tumor, she offered him money, a job as a British secret service agent, and real physical sex with the spy. I know I'd take that offer!

From the chat logs:

John: u want me 2 take him 2 trafford centre and kill him in the middle of the trafford centre?? thats wot ur asking?

Spy: yes

John: and just leave him 2 die in the trafford centre?

Spy: no stay with him

John: wot do I do then? Get help?

Spy: yes ill get help for you

It seems that it never occurred to John that middle-aged professional female secret service agents tend to use capitalization and punctuation... at least, mine do.

So the plan was set. On June 29, 2003, Mark and John met at a shopping center in Altrincham, Cheshire, England. Together they went and bought a kitchen knife and walked into an ally where John did as he was instructed and stabbed Mark once in the chest and once in the stomach. John then called an ambulance.

Still no wombats in this story! What could be wrong?

Mark ended up in the hospital and almost died. John was charged with attempted murder. When John told the tale which led up to the incident to the local police they probably laughed. After they got finished laughing they went to Mark's home and checked his computer. Police then charged Mark with a first in British history: attempting one's own murder.

The trial has just recently ended. Mark pleaded guilty to attempted murder, was given a two-year supervision order and banned from any contact with John. John pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and incitement to murder. He was given a three-year supervision order, banned from any contact with Mark and was told he must only access the internet under adult supervision.

Try these links to see if you can get a better sense of what went on than I did:

Ecommerce Times - Internet Boy 'Posed As Spy to Arrange Own Murder'

BBC NEWS - Boy created chatroom murder plot

BBC NEWS - Web friend conned into murder bid

POSTSCRIPT

The fate of Mark is now in the hands of his extremely confused parents. I have to say, though, if I were a TV or movie producer, or a publisher, I would be doing my best to find Mark and beat a path to his door in order to offer him a job. This kid must have some sort of freakish talent - think of the things he might come up with for a Fox reality TV show, for example.

On second thought: don't.