We’ve discussed incompetent criminals and their social media-themed disasters a number of times before on this site, but every so often, another comes along and – in terms of sheer mind-numbing stupidity – blows everyone else out of the water.
And this is such a time.
Meet Robert Darragh, 21 from Belfast. Darragh was one of many rioters causing trouble in Belfast last July during a violent protest after a Parades Commission determination not to allow a loyalist flute band to pass by the nationalist Ardoyne shop fronts area on July 13.
When participating in the riots – including throwing items at police lines – Darragh took the time, like many of the protestors, to cover his face so he could not be identified.
As is the norm in these types of situations, the police scoured photos and videos on social media as well as their own video of the protests to see if they could identify any of the people involved.
Identification this way can be difficult, since even if police can find photos of people without their faces covered, they may not be clear, and they won’t necessarily know who they are anyway.
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Darragh, however, eliminated any potential problems police may have had identifying him. By tagging himself in Facebook photos showing many of the rioters. Yes. He – after seeing himself in the photos – he tagged himself. In the process of committing a serious crime.
In fact he tagged himself in two photos. One where his face was uncovered, sitting on a wall, allowing the police to easily see that it was indeed him, and another with his face covered standing with other rioters.
It didn’t take police long to get the arrest, since the tags lead straight back to his personal Facebook profile. Darragh’s legal defence of being so drunk he couldn’t remember what he did during the days of the riots didn’t hold much water since he obviously could remember enough to tag himself in photos of the riots, and as such Darragh was given a two year sentence.
A total of 29 police officers were injured during the riots as many items including bricks and bottles were thrown as police lines in the Woodvale/Twaddel area of Belfast.
Why anyone would tag themselves in photos depicting them during riots is anyone’s guess, but Darragh will have plenty of time to rethink his approach to social media as he sits in his jail cell.