The woman at the centre of a high-profile online bullying case has been exonerated by a US judge - despite having previously been found guilty of computer crimes that led to the suicide of her teenage neighbour, says a report in The Guardian.

At a sentencing hearing in Los Angeles, Lori Drew (50) was told that the verdict of a Californian jury would be overturned and she would not face imprisonment for her role in the death of Megan Meier (13), who killed herself in 2006 after being bullied on MySpace. Despite having been found guilty on a number of minor counts last November, US District Judge George Wu overruled the jury in the original trial and said that Drew should be acquitted. Wu said he was concerned that the case set a dangerous precedent for prosecuting anybody who broke the terms of service of a Web site. The report says the latest development marks the latest twist in the long-running case - which had been heralded as a landmark test in US law, as the first prosecution over accusations of cyberbullying.
Full report in The Guardian