THE first Australian convicted of "internet trolling" by plastering child pornography on the Facebook tribute pages of two slain Queensland schoolchildren is seeking bail pending an appeal against his three-year jail term

Lawyers for Bradley Paul Hampson, 29, this morning told The Courier-Mail an application had been lodged by their client for Supreme Court bail pending an appeal against his sentence.



Hampson, in documents filed into court Tuesday said: "I Bradley Paul Hampson, of Brisbane Correctional Centre, in Wacol (west of Brisbane) ... apply to the Supreme Court for an order that I be admitted bail pending my appeal.''

Last month Hampson fronted the the Brisbane District Court for posting offensive messages and photos on Facebook "RIP tribute" pages for a 12-year-old boy stabbed at a Brisbane school and a nine-year-old Bundaberg girl abducted and murdered in February last year.

Hampson, of Tarragindi, on Brisbane's southside, pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service, the internet, to cause offence and one each of distributing and possessing child exploitation material - meaning child pornography - between February 14 and June 4 last year.

Prosecutors said Hampson posted photographs of one victim with a penis drawn near their mouth and highly offensive messages, including "Woot I'm Dead", "Had It Coming" and others too offensive to publish.

The court was told the deaths of both children received extensive media coverage; however, under Queensland law neither child could be identified.

Prosecutor Anthony Gett said Hampson used the pseudonym of "Dale Angerer" to engage in internet "trolling" - which means to post inflammatory, extraneous or off-topic messages in an "online community".

``This in my research is the first (criminal internet) trolling case . . . in Australia,'' Mr Gett said.

``These posts (by Hampson) were designed to offend all of the members (of the tribute sites).

``He was mocking the deaths of these children in a highly sexual manner.''

Barrister Carl Heaton, for Hampson, said his client's actions could be construed as those of ``an appalling human being''. However, he said Hampson, who was autistic, was retaliating against people who had been offensive toward him and a Facebook site designed to assist autistic people.

Judge Kerry O'Brien, in sentencing Hampson on March 25, said: ``One can only judge your conduct as being depraved.''

Judge O'Brien jailed Hampson for three years, but ordered he be released after serving 12 months.

The bail hearing will be on May 3.

Originally published as Facebook troll seeks freedom