Thief who bragged about stealing tools is bombarded with hundreds of abusive phone calls

A thief who boasted online about stealing £40,000 worth of tools was wishing he kept his mouth shut yesterday  – after he was bombarded by hundreds of abusive phone calls.

Jason Griffiths, 25, received the unwanted calls after angry internet users tracked down his details following the arrogant post.

The thief, from Bristol, was jailed for two months for his part in the theft which saw the side of a van ripped open and dozens of tools stolen from the back.

Griffiths posted a response to a thread started by the victim of the crime in October who revealed pictures of the side of the van, which looked as if it had been cut with a tin opener.

But instead of apologising for the theft Griffiths instead boasted about how he had committed the crime and how easy the prison sentence had been.

He said: “well it wont a giant tin opener used it was a recking bar dissconected battery wot a **** alarm system well might of got caught 3 in the morning by the feds but if i dint see the fedi would of been the new snap on tool man in town worth the 2 months prison sentance did it standing on my head best bit about it when the police open up my van doors the tools fell on ther feet.”

The post prompted an angry response from readers who quickly traced Griffiths and published his full name, address, mobile phone number, email address, Facebook profile and pictures of his family.

One user labelled Griffiths a “****ing tool”, while another blasted the prison system: “Just goes to show how ineffective our prison system is when scumbags come gloating on here how they did the job and then say how easy the sentence was.

“We need much tougher prisons so it is more of a deterrent, I’m sure Jason has not changed his ways and is probably still out nicking other people’s property.”

Griffiths said he had been receiving a large number of calls from people who had been swearing and verbally abusing him.

He added that he had not meant the post to come across as boastful but had been trying to offer van owners security advice to prevent them from becoming victims of crime.