Doofus Of The Day #263

Today's Doofus award goes collectively and severally to the dumbass members of the Parson Cross Crew gang in Sheffield, England.

With sickening bravado, these gang members posed proudly with their weapons, posting the photos on the internet.

But the attempt to boost their street image backfired when police used the pictures to send the violent youths to prison.

The members of Sheffield's notorious Parson Cross Crew gang, named after a council estate in the city, were convicted of firearms offences.

The prosecution was made possible by a community campaigner who also used the power of the internet to hit back at the gangsters blamed for ruining the lives of law-abiding residents.

Using the pseudonym Morag Kendo, she searched social networking websites such as Bebo to find dozens of photos of the gang members.

Her findings were published on a Facebook site called 'Sheffield Against Violent Crime: The Parson Cross Crew Named and Shamed', and police were able to use the pictures as evidence.




Other shocking gang photos were found on the web following the murder of 18-year-old Dale Robertson in September last year by Parson Cross Crew members.

One of his killers, Reece Mendez, 18, posed brazenly with a spiked baton, knife and knuckle duster, but prosecutors decided not to use the images as 'bad character' evidence in his trial.

Mendez and a 16-year-old fellow gang member were jailed for life at Sheffield Crown Court in April after being found guilty of murder.

Superintendent Andy Barrs, who heads South Yorkshire Police's efforts to tackle guns and gangs, said police were 'pushing for legislation around websites', including a specific offence of displaying weapons.

He said: 'The message from us is that anyone who openly parades with weapons on the internet should expect a call, in the form of officers executing an early morning search warrant with forced entry.'

There's more at the link.

Yep. When you're living in a country that bans handguns altogether, and severely restricts ownership and use of long guns, it's the height of Doofidity to publish pictures of yourself on a social networking site, holding the illegal weapons! Fortunately, most criminals are Doofi indeed, so they tend to make law enforcement's job easier with such stunts.

Peter