UK flood vandal caught after making Facebook boasts

by Steven Mostyn - Apr 26 2011, 05:48

A young miscreant in the UK—who cannot be named for legal reasons—has been charged after the pursuing legal system used comments he made on Facebook to help scupper his initial ‘not guilty’ plea.

Despite insisting that he had not caused 150,000 GBP of flood damage to Portsmouth Central Library, the 16-year-old’s apparent innocence was thrown into question when the court revealed related boasts submitted to the world’s most popular social network.

Once presented with a transcript of his online conversation with a friend, the boy swiftly changed his plea to ‘guilty’, admitting that he plugged sinks in the library’s third-floor toilets before turning on all the taps and leaving the premises.

When asked if he had caused the damage, the boy said: “Kind of, yeah. I’ve kept it to myself, a few mates know.”

Unable to drain and left to run unchecked throughout the library for an entire night, the floodwater subsequently destroyed the library’s carpets, its on-site computer system, and a number of reportedly irreplaceable books.

“I filled the plugs with toilet paper while my friend was in the cubicle,” the boy explained to the court. “Then he left a couple of seconds before me and I turned the taps on.”

Before bailing the boy ahead of sentencing on May 11, the attending judge told the young vandal that he had committed “a major crime” and is now facing the distinct possibility of incarceration.

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