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Weekly’s splash sees murderer’s Facebook page removed

A murderer who was using Facebook from jail has been removed from the social networking site following an exclusive story in a Kent newspaper.

The Kentish Express revealed that Zion Covey, who is serving a life sentence for kicking 21-year-old student Ben Nielson to death in 2009, had been messaging friends and playing online poker.

Facebook took down the profile after being alerted by the newspaper, on the same day that the story by reporter James Scott appeared on the front page.

The paper had already alerted the Prison Service to Covey’s activity on the site, which breached its rules on internet use by inmates.

Editor Robert Barman said the story came to light when they were tipped off by a reader who had seen updates from Covey on the the site, which included messages of support from his family with replies from him.

The Kentish Express's splash on Thursday

Said Robert: “Ben Neilson’s mother was genuinely upset to think that her son’s killer could be doing this from jail, so we were pleased that the Prison Service and Facebook acted so swiftly when we brought it to their attention.”

Covey and Gareth Powell were both jailed for life for turning on university student Ben outside a kebab shop during a night out in Ashford. He died from brain injuries a week later.

The victim’s mother Barbara Neilson told the Express she was “appalled” by the revelation and demanded to find out how he got access to it.

She told the paper: “He’s allowed to carry on with his life as normal and I’m left with nothing.”

It was not clear as to how Covey’s account was updated, whether it was done on a mobile phone, or if someone was doing it for him.

Prisoners are allowed to contact people using letters and phone calls but the use of mobile phones and internet is banned.

They are also not allowed to use or update any social networking website such as Facebook or Twitter while in prison, either personally or by asking someone to do it on their behalf.

 

 

 

 

5 comments

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  • February 20, 2012 at 10:33 am
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    Cracking splash and I don’t agree that the white space is a problem. Amidst the clutter of ever-more ad-heavy front pages, it’s a useful device to give the editorial content a bit more breathing space.
    What is fascinating, however, is the red space in the panel below the masthead: “Save £££s with our………………….” er…with our what? One rather hopes that it is a result of the page being a work in progress when it was pinged to HTFP. Perhaps the paper’s promotions dept were still trying to drum up a partner. Best not to dwell on the alternative explanation…!

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  • February 20, 2012 at 12:14 pm
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    Too much white space? Are we looking at the same page?

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  • February 20, 2012 at 12:25 pm
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    The red space on the promo panel is a corruption of the PDF file – it didn’t appear like that in the newspaper. The missing bit should say ‘free vouchers inside’, for those left in suspense.

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  • February 20, 2012 at 4:28 pm
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    What is it with subs? Never scared to hilariously miss the bloody point.

    Moaning about the blurbs and the “white space” is a bit like watching a UFO land on the roof of Buck House and complaining that it wasn’t quite as silvery-looking as you were expecting.

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