Emma Brady discovered that her husband Neil was planning to divorce her when she heard that he had posted his intention on the social networking site Facebook. 

 

Emma, 35 had been married to Neil, 39, for six years when a friend overseas contacted her to ask what Neil’s message meant.

Neil had changed his status from ‘married’ to ‘single’ on the website. For the avoidance of doubt, he added the comment:  "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady."

Emma described herself as having been ‘shell-shocked’ by the announcement, adding that she was aware that they had been experiencing difficulties in their marriage, but had not realised that Neil had given up on it. Friends that she had not seen for years were calling to offer their sympathy and she felt embarrassed by this.

She was particularly upset by a message to her husband posted by a woman in Canada saying, "You are better off out of it".

The facts emerged at a magistrates’ court hearing in Blackburn, as a result of which Mr Brady was convicted of an assault on his wife, fined and ordered to pay compensation and costs.

The Facebook website has 150 million users all over the world. You couldn’t think of a more public way to advertise your unhappiness with a partner. Nor could you imagine a greater humiliation and hurt than to be the unfortunate recipient of a message like that.

If the couple have any children, the consequence of their father’s action will inevitably be that they will be mercilessly teased - perhaps even bullied - by other children.

Even if they have no children, Neil’s chosen method of informing Emma that he considered his marriage to her to be at an end seems particularly hurtful and inexcusable.

More are more people are entering into new relationships through the channel of internet communication and this in itself has wrecked many marriages.  

 

There has actually been at least one case where a wife, whose husband had entered into a virtual relationship with a woman who was nothing more than a figment of his own imagination, was granted a divorce on the ground of his unreasonable behaviour.

Let’s hope we don’t get to the stage where the entire divorce procedure can take place on the internet. That would be a step too far towards dehumanisation.