Fugitive on the run outs himself on Facebook

Our regular readers will know that we do like a good story about criminals who get caught because they just don’t understand how to use social media properly.

Like the man who robbed a woman and then was snapped on a photo uploaded to Facebook later the same day wearing the same clothes. Or the man who posted his plans to rob a Tesco store on Facebook. Or the fugitive who taunted police on their own Facebook Page only to be later apprehended.

The latest case of inexplicably stupid criminals comes in the form of Steven Allison, a man formerly from near Bradford in the UK. Allison assaulted two women in a pub in Leeds back in 2013. After failing to appear in court, it was clear that Allison had opted to go on the run.

In fact he fled Down Under and was living in Sydney as a handyman.

Now there may be no official instruction manual outlining the do’s and don’ts of being a criminal fugitive, but if there were, we imagine not making boastful posts on Facebook would be pretty high up on the list of don’ts.

Yes, Steve Allison made a series of posts and photos showing him tanned and happy with his new life, and unsurprisingly this information soon found its way to the British authorities.

Working with the Australian police they soon managed to track down the bumbling criminal who was soon arrested and bought back to the UK last week, but not before trying one last failed attempt at escaping justice by feigning an arm injury.

We always advise our readers to be extremely wary of the awesome power social media now harnesses. This advice does not apply to criminals, however, who are welcome to be as irresponsible and stupid as they like.