Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2004/04/15/murder_blog/

Murderer blogs from behind bars

Nice little earner for 'Martin the Stutterer'

By Jan Libbenga

Posted in Legal, 15th April 2004 13:54 GMT

Being in prison apparently doesn't prevent some people from running a nice little earner. The Dutch Justice department is to investigate a blog set up by Martin K., who is unusual among bloggers since he is currently banged up for double murder.

In 2001, Volendam born Martin K. was sentenced to 14 years' jail for slashing the partner of his former girlfriend. A couple of years earlier he was convicted for his involvement in a cafe shooting. He developed a severe stutter that earned him the sensational underworld moniker "Martin the Stutterer".

Although Martin K. doesn't have access to the Internet - presumably to prevent he and his fellow lags from buying DVDs of Escape from Alcatraz online - he managed to file his stories through people visiting him in prison.

The blog itself isn't particularly controversial. Martin K. basically describes life in prison with no reference to his killings. But what has aggravated many is that it offers premium content. To access any of his police dossiers you have to pay, listening to a distressing phone call from a witness of one of his killings. Accessing a picture of his victims requires a fee too.

Some Dutch blogs have copied the premium content and made it available for free to prevent Martin K. from further profiting from his site. As none of this material is copyrighted, there is little he can do about it.

This is not the first time that Martin K. has conducted business from behind bars. Last year he was caught running an escort service from his prison cell. The detention centre in Alphen aan de Rijn has now revised its visiting procedure. The company that hosted the site, Myrin Solutions, has sacked the employee who registered the domain name Martink.nl. The site, however, is still online. Dutch ISP Xs4all, known for hosting the Scientology papers, sees little harm in Martin K's blog. ®