UK man admits sending hoax tsunami emails

C Pierson pleaded guilty to sending more than 30 mails to worried relatives, saying their loved ones had been confirmed dead.

A British man admitted on Monday to sending hoax emails to friends and relatives of people missing since the Asian tsunami.

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Christopher Pierson pleaded guilty to sending more than 30 emails to worried relatives, saying their loved ones had been confirmed dead, after they posted their details on the website of TV station Sky News.

Pierson, 37, from Ruskington in Lincolnshire, eastern England, was to be detained until January 24, an official at London's Horseferry Road Magistrates Court said.

Pierson pleaded guilty to charges of malicious communication and causing a public nuisance after police seized computer equipment at the weekend.

Pierson is accused of posing as a British official from the "Foreign Office Bureau" in Thailand in his emails. All the messages came from one bogus email address, ukgovfoffice@aol.com.

Sky News said it was "disgusted" that its website had been abused and contacted police as soon as it found out.

The death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off western Indonesia a week ago, stood at almost 144,000 on Monday, including at least 40 Britons.