If i had a websited and say it got hacked and somebody put a folder on the website that carried out phising (spelling?) without my knowing how liable would the website owner be to prosecution?
One factor which I'd hope which would be taken into account is that the user who created that folder and uploaded the dodgy files to it would have a different IP address from you. The server would register each of them.
With my website(s) - I always use the same PC with the same IP address so it'd be immediately clear that it wasn't me. Further investigation on the rogue IP may show it to be in Cuba. Or Uzbekistan.