Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Bluetooth conviction

A vandal who ran on top of a £120,000 Lamborghini car was caught by police after video of him was sent to the vehicle's owner. Frankie Hulme, 23, trampled on the bright yellow car as it was parked in Dereham, Norfolk.

But he was caught after footage of his actions was inadvertently sent via bluetooth to an acquaintance of the car's owner.

Hulme, 23, later admitted in court to a charge of criminal damage. Businessman Neil Greentree, 38, said he had only parked the car outside a pub for 15 minutes and had driven it home without noticing the damage.

However, several days later his friend phoned to tell him about footage he and a number of other people had received on their phones via a bluetooth link.

They had all been sitting in a pub watching football when some of their phones picked up the video of Hulme on bluetooth - which allows video clips and pictures to be given to other mobile phones in the immediate vicinity.

Mr Greentree was then sent the film by his friend in the pub.

He explained: "It had the guy running over my car. I stayed calm. The roof is made of aluminium so it left a foot indentation."

He forwarded the clip to the police.

Mr Greentree, of Greentrees Adventurestore - which sells caravans and motor homes - said he had received a lot of support from people who had seen the images on the internet. "Everyone has said they are disgusted by it," he said.

"I think this has been done by just one idiot whose friends goaded him into doing it and he was stupid enough to do it." He said the damage would cost £15,000 to £20,000 to repair.

Hulme, of Scarning, was later sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and a four-month weekend curfew. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation.

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