It's bad enough being caught for a crime by showing off your ill-gotten gains on Snapchat, but things got even worse for one bungling criminal when police posted a tweet roasting them online. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Samuel Walmsley, 20, was sentenced today (9 August). But it was after he was jailed, police posted a tweet using the meme 'how it started vs how it's going', which is certainly one way to get people's attention.
The meme was made with a screenshot of Walmsley holding a fistful of banknotes and smile, which was then followed by his custody photo.
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The thread goes on to detail how Walmsley and other members, Kevin Docherty, Noah Mulligan, and Jordan Whittam, were caught using videos gathered from their smartphones, which included them showing off their crimes.
The thread drew a huge 9.9 million views and many people piled into the comments to respond.
One wrote: "All I see is good police work. Good job."
Another posted: "Lmfao no way bro got caught and being mocked on X now."
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A third wrote: "Tweet of the year! You guys Rock".
However, others criticised the thread, calling it 'unprofessional' and 'disgraceful'.
Legal Style Blog tweeted: "This sort of mocking, joking tweets is disgraceful. It condescends to and insults the victims of crime, is unseemly, celebratory, and acts like policing is all one big jolly jape."
One user wrote: "Sassy posts like this are unprofessional, crass, and pretty childish imho. Not what you’d expect from a 184 year old police force."
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While another wrote: "Removing someone's liberty is an incredibly sad and serious decision that should only be done to protect the public.
"Making a meme about it on social media is like laughing at the gallows. NO."
Walmsley was part of a group who went on a spree of burglaries and car thefts. They would then record their joy rides in the stolen vehicles and post it onto Snapchat.
Recorder Daniel Prowse, sentencing, remarked that the four men were 'celebrating and revelling in your criminality'.
Walmsley was one of fourteen men to be sentenced for criminal conspiracies, including drug importation, burglary and vehicle theft rings, committed in Great Harwood, according to a press release from Lancashire Police.
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The group were jailed for a total of nearly 10 years, with Walmsley himself being handed a sentence of two years and four months for his involvement, the Lancashire Telegraph reports.
They were all charged with conspiracy to commit theft of a motor vehicle, and were arrested when an Audi they'd had stolen was located by police.
Prosecutor Ben Berkson told the court at their sentencing: “The police located the Audi, but it failed to stop, and a short pursuit ensued which ended when the car crashed into a traffic island.”
Lancashire Police told LADbible: "The reaction to this post has been overwhelmingly positive both online - with more than 71k likes - and in the local community who were directly affected by this criminal activity.
"We will continue to engage with people in this way to let them know about the work we are doing to tackle serious and organised crime and to keep our communities safe.
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"The public can also help inform the way we engage with our communities online by completing our social media survey to tell us what they want to see on our channels."
Kit Roberts