The historic decision to announce the fate of the British au pair, Louise Woodward, on the Internet backfired when a power cut prevented the message from being sent.

The loss of power loss in part of Massachusetts brought the electronic mail system used by the court to a halt. It appears the message was instead broken by leaks to American television networks from court staff, several minutes before anything appeared on the Web.

At the BBC, the order was received at 4:04 GMT, over one hour after it was expected. The mail from a court official read:

"At 9:59 am there was a power outage in an area of Brookline, Massachusetts which affected the mail server I am using. Would you believe it?"

The judge's message was the most eagerly awaited E-mail in the history of the Net

Judge Hiller Zobel's order was the most eagerly awaited email in the history of the Internet. His decision to publish his ruling electronically not only made legal history but put certain Web sites and email operations under more demand than ever before.

Many of the major news sites became 'gridlocked' as millions of people attempted to discover the fate of the British au pair.

At the Lawyer's Weekly, the Web magazine originally chosen by the judge, a message on the site's front page promised that the servers had been checked to ensure they would cope with demand. It also set up 'mirror' sites in Europe and America to cope with the expected surge in Internet trafffic.

But when the clock struck three, no updates appeared on the site as thousands of Internet users jammed the lines to try to see it first.

The Woodward story has made a huge impact on the Internet since the trial began. Supporters from all over the world set up Web sites and created an electronic yellow ribbon picture for people to download and add to their own sites.

Judge Zobel's decision to publish his order on the Web had added even more excitement as many of the supporters' sites began to link to official announcement sites.

Not since the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales, has the Net been used so comprehensively to access information about a single news story.
 

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