Facebook Fugitive Craig Lynch Gets Clothing Line, Theme Song, While UK Cops Hunt in Vain

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

(Facebook)

LONDON (CBS/AP) Escaped British prisoner Craig "Lazie" Lynch is taunting police and attracting a growing Internet fan base from his Facebook profile where he is mocking authorities for failing to find him and openly musing about moving across the Atlantic.

Facebook Photo: Craig Lynch.

At almost 4,000 fans, Lynch is likely the most popular fugitive on Facebook. And his Internet stardom has spawned a T-shirt line and even a song in the fleet-footed convict's honor.

Fans have flooded his page with praise for his daring, but Suffolk Constabulary spokeswoman Anne-Marie Breach said there was nothing spectacular about the 28-year-old's escape from the prison where he was held — a converted college on the English coast that she said had only minimal security.

"Basically it's an open prison," she said, calling it a prison that inmates "can virtually walk out of."

The convicted burglar's antics on the popular social networking site haven't gone unnoticed by police who have appealed to his Facebook friends to help track him down.

Photo: Facebook screen grab of Craig Lynch's profile.

Lynch escaped from the minimum-security Hollesley Bay Prison near the village of Woodbridge in southern England three months ago. Since then, he's been regularly updating his Facebook page with ungrammatical digs at police, as well as pictures showing him holding a "wanted" sign or making obscene gestures at the camera.

"i aint handin myself in," Lynch wrote in one post Tuesday. "why am i going to do their job for them. What do they get payed for. And does anyone have a cannon, i need firing over the atlantic."

Facebook Photo: Craig Lynch.

Lynch's Facebook page is clogged with hundreds of messages from well-wishers, although a few occasionally write in to remind fans that they're cheering for a criminal. Police said that Lynch had been serving a seven-year sentence for committing a burglary with a weapon, but did not go into detail.

For his part, Lynch's updates typically center on what he's eating — pizza was recently on the menu — as well as complaints about the number of messages he gets from all over the world.

His profile pictures show him shirtless while holding a well-roasted turkey.

"if any of you was doubtin my freedom. Here's proof," he explains. "How the (expletive) could i get my hands on a bird like this in jail. ha ha."

Despite the reference to going abroad, Breach said police believed that Lynch was still in Britain. She added that police were keeping close tabs on Lynch's updates.

"Everyone else is," she said.

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December 24, 2009 - Facebook Fugitive Craig Lynch Updates Facebook Status While British Cops Search in Vain

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by charstackpole December 30, 2009 8:39 PM EST: There would be no fans if the media hadn't printed this story all over the place and the more the media talks about it the more his fan base grows.; Reply to this comment


by formrusmcsgt December 30, 2009 6:59 PM EST: Fans have flooded his page with praise for his daring...
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What makes people encourage criminals?

Sheer stupidity.; Reply to this comment

by taxpayingvoter December 30, 2009 5:54 PM EST

this statement goes out to stillunbanable and to kobbleur. It is not the amout that voted for Bush, it was the amount the voted for Gore that never got counted. The only thing I can say to you two is this. Go suck Sh*t through a straw.

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by askagain December 30, 2009 7:54 PM EST: How many times do you count hanging chads? The Gore people were so desperate that they insisted on counting the votes over and over and interpreting hanging chads or leaving votes blank as votes for Gore. Then they tried to convince us that old people in Florida didn't know how to mark their ballots properly. How feeble. Bottom line. Gore didn't have enough votes to win and finally the Supreme Court put an end to the insanity. There will always be people who deny reality.


by ffoulkes-2009 December 31, 2009 1:16 AM EST: When the network news organizations finally got around to counting the votes in Florida, guess what...Bush won. Give it up already.

by rwsmith29456 December 30, 2009 5:05 PM EST

FANS of a prison escapee??? And people wonder why the police have such a hard time? Clyde Barrow and Al Capone had people singing their praises also. Wonder how many 'fans' Charles Manson has?

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by kobbleur December 30, 2009 5:32 PM EST: RW, that's a bit over the top. Charles Manson did a bit more than steal... look at the "Barefoot Bandit" up in Washington state. He seems to have stirred quite a bit of excitement and following. Property is not people. If you do not believe that, then be a patsy for Washington politicians who protect the Oligarchy.


by ffoulkes-2009 December 31, 2009 1:14 AM EST: kobbleur,

The guy used a WEAPON to steal from someone. That means he was willing to hurt or kill someone for their property. That takes it up a notch or two, don't you think?

by JustYourAverageReader December 30, 2009 4:45 PM EST

4,000 Craig Lynch Fans + 1 Craig Lynch = 4,001 idiots.

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by stillunbanable December 30, 2009 5:09 PM EST: Let's count the total number of stupid americans who elected bush...TWICE! Oh yeah, please include bush.


by kobbleur December 30, 2009 5:33 PM EST: Let's count the number of stupid Americans who did not vote.


by askagain December 30, 2009 4:14 PM EST: This illustrates how we have strange people in society. A criminal with 4000 fans who laud his escape from prison. It is ironic how monsters like Charles Manson have women willing to swoon over him and marry him while he is in prison. Where do these values come from?; Reply to this comment


by aubfmet December 30, 2009 3:51 PM EST: Maybe later his site will feature photos taken thru the bars of a prison cell.; Reply to this comment


by rykatspop December 30, 2009 3:51 PM EST: I'm more outraged about the crap financiers, bankers, have done to wreck the world economy than this small-time miscreant. Ah, the soft hand of justice proves its ineptness once again. A lot of local yokels rooted for Jesse James, too, back in the day. Like OJ, these guys get their due, eventually. Like them, we shouldn't care; leave it to the police.; Reply to this comment

by nowhiningallowed December 30, 2009 2:21 PM EST

Apprehend this punk, and use whatever means necessary to wipe the smirk off of his puny little face for good.

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by kobbleur December 30, 2009 5:37 PM EST: "use whatever means necessary" and damn the torpedos! Whatever you do and think, do NOT think of any action as commensurate with the cause! Arrest Everyone! Criminalize each citizen!

Regulate yourself, for your own sake at least.

by voice-o-reason December 30, 2009 11:54 AM EST

What is the greater evil; Facebook allowing Craig Lynch, a known criminal to publish his vulgar antics, or CBSNEWS' attempt to romanticize this pinhead? It's one thing to report the news and a much different thing to attempt to shape it.

Reply to this comment


by kobbleur December 30, 2009 5:36 PM EST: Neither. Americans need to findout what the REAL evil is in their country and in this world. There is hardly evil in this story. It is a farce.