ON SOCIAL MEDIA THIEVES

An eight-strong gang of car thieves were so proud of their criminal gains that one posed with a cash sandwich on Facebook.

Others posted selfies with wads of cash fanned out in their hands.

And the gang were caught “bread-handed” thanks to their social media bragging.

A total of nine cars had been stolen in 15 burglaries, including a £100,000 Mercedes, plus jewellery, phones and laptops.

As well as his sandwich photo, burglar Conor Murphy, 19, was shown perched on a Porsche 911. Another gang member posed on the bonnet of a black Range Rover.

And Rory Mason, then 18, was snapped fanning out £50 notes.

The thieves also quaffed champagne and showed off Rolex watches. After their sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court in 2013, burglaries in London’s wealthy Kensington area fell 48 per cent. Hapless thieves Jonathan Dougan, 26, and Matthew Murphy stole a series of luxury cars, motorbikes and champagne from victims across the North West.

But the dim-witted duo, who nicked a Mercedes worth £30,000, went on to post dozens of pictures of themselves on Facebook, sitting astride stolen high-performance bikes.

In one snap, show-off Dougan, then 23, stuck a £50 note to his head. In another he gleefully held up a stolen bottle of champagne.

One of the victims received a tip-off about the posts – and spotted their KTM bike among the photos that had been uploaded.

When police swooped they found a host of evidence and, in 2014, the Salford career criminals were each jailed at Manchester Crown Court for nine years and four months. After that, being tagged is the last thing they’ll want.