LOAN SHARK CAUGHT USING PHONE IN JAIL
VICIOUS THUG FACES UP TO TWO MORE YEARS BEHIND BARS FOR SENDING SOPPY LOVE MESSAGES TO HIS WIFE
Thomas Johnson sent a series of messages, far right, to his wife from inside prison ... and even a picture of an inmate on the jail roof, bottom right. Right: With a mop on his head in a video filmed in prison A LOVELORN prisoner faces more time behind bars after the M.E.N. caught him romancing his wife in a series of updates on Facebook.
Loan shark Thomas Johnson, 42, from Stockport, is believed to have used a smuggled smartphone to post pictures of himself in his cell and of a rooftop protest by another inmate. He was due out of prison on licence by the end of the month but now prison bosses are urgently investigating after he was rumbled by the M.E.N.
Last year the father-of-four from Stockport was jailed for two years and nine months after he admitted illegal money lending and money laundering offences.
Known as TJ, Johnson charged 100 per cent interest for every £1 borrowed during a five-year racket that brought misery and fear to vulnerable families in Brinnington, Stockport.
Johnson, of Bank Road, Bredbury, told one debtor that he would ‘break his legs’ and ‘bury his dead body’ if he didn’t make a repayment.
The judge who jailed Johnson, who has a string of previous convictions, branded him a ‘dishonest and a violent man.’
The convicted loan shark has spent the last few months incarcerated at the category C Lancaster Farm prison in Lancashire for inmates nearing the end of their sentences.
But Johnson’s many victims in Brinnington will struggle to recognise the picture he paints of a loving husband.
He appears to have been using a smuggled smartphone to post images of himself and a series of romantic updates to his partner’s Facebook account.
On Saturday, when she posted ‘I love you hubby,’ he replied on the same account: “Love you 2 wifey im ok xx.”
In response to comments about his family, Johnson also appeared to suggest he will settle any differences when he comes out of jail.
“The only problem some people have got is in 14 days I’m out so if there is something f***ing funny we see about that,” he threatened.
On Friday love-sick Johnson posted a sequence of heart emojis with arrows through them and wrote to his partner: “Missing my wifey be lost without you wifey xxx I love you so much xxxxx.”
A week ago he updated his wife’s Facebook profile picture with a moody black and white shot of himself from his cell.
It is a criminal offence to bring a mobile phone into prison, or transmit sounds or images from within a prison using a mobile phone with a maximum penalty of two more years behind bars.
Last year the Government announced a crackdown on the widespread use of mobiles in jail as well as the problem of drugs and violence inside.
The Government has urged mobile network operators to provide technological solutions to the problem.
A Prison Service Spokesperson said: “We are investigating this issue as a matter of urgency. Offenders found with mobile phones in custody can be referred to the police for investigation and face extra time behind bars.
“The use of mobile phones in prison is unacceptable and we have put in place a number of measures to help tackle this issue, including a £2m investment in detection wands and legislation to block phones being used.”