£1.6m spammer fails in appeal bid

Peter Francis-Macrae was jailed for six years

An internet spammer jailed for six years for running a £1.6m e-mail scam has failed in an appeal court bid to quash two of his convictions.

Peter Francis-Macrae, 23, of St Neots, Cambs, was found guilty in 2005 of making threats to kill, blackmail, concealing criminal property and fraud.

Anthony Martin QC, for Francis-Macrae, argued that the two latter convictions were unsafe.

But Appeal Court judges rejected the claim and dismissed the appeal.

Peterborough Crown Court had heard that Francis-Macrae had offered thousands of e-mail and website names when he had no right.

Attack servers

When victims complained, he threatened to destroy their internet systems by sending millions of spam e-mails.

When internet registry group Nominet posted warnings about his activities, he responded by saying he would attack its servers.

Francis-Macrae, who made more than £100,000 per week from the scam, spent £28,000 on designer clothes and flying lessons, the court heard.

Mr Martin QC, for Francis-Macrae, argued that shortcomings in the trial judge's summing-up had undermined the jury's verdict.

But Lord Justice Moses said: "The jury was in doubt that it should not convict on one count just because he was guilty of another."

He dismissed the appeal.