MySpace kills convicted murderer's Web page

By Steve McMorran

updated 1:00 p.m. ET Aug. 4, 2008

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - The social networking Web site MySpace has removed the Web page of a maximum security prisoner in New Zealand convicted of murder and of cutting off a woman's hand with a Samurai sword.

Antonie Dixon, who was convicted Friday at a retrial for the 2003 killing of a stranger and a sword attack on two women, had described himself on his Web page as "complicated" and "a down-to-earth guy."

His page included cell phone pictures of himself in prison — his chest tattooed with the words "gangster killer club" — and an admission that he "cut the gals."

Officials of New Zealand's Corrections Department first learned of the page when contacted Friday by a television network. MySpace replaced the page Saturday with a notice that the account had been closed.

The Corrections Department issued a statement Sunday saying that Dixon did not have access to the Internet and had maintained the page through an associate outside prison. It also said prison authorities had recently discovered he had a cell phone, banned in New Zealand prisons.

Dixon was imprisoned in 2005 for a minimum of 20 years, but his conviction was later overturned on appeal. He was convicted for a second time at a retrial on Friday. He has yet to be sentenced.

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