Pupils' £2.4bn bill in revenge on teacher

Published on 21/06/2007 00:37

TWO German schoolboys face prosecution after ordering £2.4 billion of goods from online companies to get revenge on a teacher.

Michael Frentzen and Rolf Berger, both 17, from the Heinrich Metzendorf school in Bensheim, said they "had only wanted to get back" at the teacher after a string of bad grades. They admit searching the internet for almost anything they could think.

Their orders included tens of thousands of computers, including servers costing almost 10,000 each, technical equipment for science labs, including state-of-the-art astronomical and geographical observation tools.

They also ordered rare sets of first edition books, valuable artefacts for the history department, hundreds of goalposts and 100,000 footballs as well as more than 10,000 tonnes of office stationery.

The pair ordered the items under the name of their least favourite teacher and gave the school's address. They were caught when the school started to receive requests from various firms asking it to confirm the orders. Police were called in and they swiftly identified the two pupils, following their electronic footprints on a school computer.

A police spokesman said: "We know that they didn't like their teacher, but there does not seem to have been any particular incident that would serve as clear reason for them to get back at him other than they were upset at some poor marks they received recently. The revenge certainly seems out of all proportion."

The teenagers face being indicted on charges of breaking trade laws and providing false identities for business purposes, which could result in a one-year jail term. However, a suspended sentence and fine is more likely.