Burglar jailed after Facebook boast about dropped charges

Burglar jailed after Facebook boast about dropped charges

Liam Cunliffe who bragged online after escaping manslaughter charge over pensioner's death gets two-year sentence

A teenage burglar who boasted on Facebook that he would serve only six months for a raid on a pensioner's home was sentenced to more than two years after his remarks were brought to the judge's attention.

Ahead of his sentencing Liam Cunliffe, 18, wrote on his Facebook that he was "a happy bunni" (sic), adding: "I'm only looking at 6 months (sic) haa bring it on easy!"

Cunliffe and his co-accused, Louis Corbett, also 18, had been facing a manslaughter trial because their victim, 80-year-old Pauline Reddick, died of a stroke after disturbing the pair during the burglary at her home in Bristol.

The manslaughter charge was dropped because the death could not be directly linked to the burglary, prompting Cunliffe's Facebook celebration.

Sentencing Cunliffe, from Weston-super-Mare, to 27 months in a young offenders' institute, judge Neil Ford, the recorder of Bristol, said the Facebook comment was a "dagger into the heart" of Mrs Reddick's family.

The judge told Cunliffe: "What is most distressing in your case is your perceived attitude that you have done nothing wrong. I cannot sentence you for a lack of moral fibre and decency but I am of the view you have shown no remorse.

"What you posted on Facebook would have borne a dagger into the heart of the family of the bereaved."

Corbett, of Penzance, Cornwall, wrote on Facebook that he "refused" to be imprisoned. "I'm not goin prison (sic). I refuse," he posted. However, he was sent to a young offenders' institute for two years.

Neither teenager showed any emotion as they were led from the dock at Bristol crown court.