Escaped prisoner taunts police on Facebook
An escaped prisoner, Craig Lynch, has set up a Facebook page and is using it to taunt police by posting messages about his whereabouts.
Craig "Lazie" Lynch vanished from Hollesley Bay Prison in Suffolk in September this year close to the end of a seven-year sentence for aggravated burglary.
Instead of hiding away from police Lynch has set up a Facebook account complete with a photograph sticking his middle finger up and boasts about eating 12lb steaks and his home being so warm it feels like the Caribbean.
The burglar has become prolific Facebooker with 199 friends and has even posted when he is going round to friend's homes and attending parties and events.
In a status update via mobile phone on Monday, Lynch said: "Craig 'Lazie' Lynch just had bundles of fun on the ice in me motor. Pure a--- out action, but well controlled."
In another at the weekend he said: "Craig 'Lazie' Lynch just nearly wrote my motor off again. Ice everywhere I went round the corner and ended up halfway on someone's driveway!!"
While Lynch should be doing porridge he boasted about tucking into extravagant meals: "Craig 'Lazie' Lynch mmm I just had a 12lb venison steak. Roasted veg and chips, bangin meal."
And instead of languishing in a prison cell he taunted police by saying his home is so warm it is tropical.
He said: "That's on already if it gets any colder durin xmas we'll have to stick the sun bed on as an extra heater we did it the other night it felt like the Caribbean in the bedroom ha ha."
The 28-year-old, who has links to Edgware and north east London, escaped from the open prison on September 23 and has not been seen since although, according to his Facebook page, police could find him at a New Year's Eve party in Lowestoft or another event in Norwich in February.
In a section with information about him Lynch states: "Life is what you make it, live fast, die young!!!" The criminal is also thought to have posted messages on local newspaper websites asking if there is a reward for his recapture.
John Gummer, MP for Suffolk Coastal, criticised the Government for using the open prison as a dumping ground.
He added: "I think it's very dangerous to assume the police could easily locate someone through a social networking site. We all know that one of the problems of a virtual world is that people can be very difficult to track down in the real world.
"However once again it does show that Hollesley Bay is being used for detaining people who should not be in an open prison because of a shortness of prison places that the Government seems unwilling to admit."
A Prison Service spokesman said the search for Lynch is a police matter and added that only prisoners who are assessed to be a low risk to the public are given places in an open prison. He added that 96 per cent of prisoners who escape are recaptured.
The Metropolitan Police refused to comment about Lynch's Facebook account but a spokeswoman for Suffolk Constabulary said routine checks are carried out on addresses he is linked to and his details have been circulated on the Police National Computer.
She added: "Because he has no links to Suffolk, other than the fact that he was in prison here, then these checks may be carried out by colleagues in other parts of the country."
Anyone with information about Lynch's whereabouts can contact Suffolk Police on 01473 613500.