obviously an extreme case, but could lead to more cases of people being slighted.
A 34-year-old woman has been found guilty of posting fake sex ads on the internet in the names of people she worked with.
Aishling Madden from Monastery Drive in Clondalkin was found guilty by a jury of four counts of criminal defamation and two counts of publishing grossly offensive material.
The jury took one hour and 53 three minutes to reach its decision. She will be sentenced on 28 July.
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A garda source said afterwards that they are constantly carrying out surveillance of online communities and social networking sites to track down similar offences.
Her lawyer, Senior Counsel, Sean Gillane, said his client was living with her parents and was undergoing a regime of particular treatment that was not an easy matter.
The court had heard that Madden was working as a temporary receptionist for the consulting company Accenture in May 2006. She came across the CV of another receptionist on a computer and emailed it to herself to use as a template.
A month later it appeared on the Gumtree website, as part of an ad offering sexual services.
A similar ad containing the name and phone number of a man who worked with the recruitment agency Office Angels also appeared on the website.
The victims of what Aishling Madden described as a âpractical jokeâ, got phone calls and emails as a result of the ads.
Madden told gardaĂ she did not post the material on the internet. She said other people had access to her computer. But, she said, she had forgotten their names.