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Original poster

Found out my childhood friend / First crush is doing life for attempted robbery and it's messed me up.

119 replies

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:18

Met him when I was 11 and he was 15. He was the "tough kid" at school but always nice to me and stood up for younger kids. This experience was so formative that I based a lot of my personality around him. My dad was abusive so he was the first masculine figure my brain tagged as being safe. I'd been bullied most of my life, and he was my first protector.

Tried contacting him again in December but he deleted his FB account before reading it. Later found out he got arrested for trying to rob his neighbour’s house and people were calling him a “smackhead” / heroin addict. That was 5 months ago, so it adds up.

I always knew he was kind of a rebel but I never thought he’d end up like that and it's made me feel shocked, sad and a bit empty.

I literally found out about this earlier today.

OP posts:
Chocaholick · 18/04/2026 13:20

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 18/04/2026 13:03

I think you’re being really unfair to OP. A childhood hero has turned out to have turned bad. Very much a fallen angel, exactly that.

It’s not unreasonable to be sad that someone you thought was one of the good guys actually turned criminal.

Childhood hero?!

CornishPorsche · 18/04/2026 13:20

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:20

Under the Theft Act 1968 attempted robbery and assault with intent to rob are serious offences in England and Wales that carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The person who caught him clarified that he intended on robbing the house.

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Yes, but to get that level of sentence says it's an exceptionally terrible set of facts.

House "robbery" is actually burglary which is a totally different set of offences and sentencing guidelines - have you seen the actual offences he's been convicted of ie reported in the paper?

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 18/04/2026 13:19

Jollyjupiter · 18/04/2026 13:18

@PrizedPickledPopcorn yep but he does not make him a fluffy fallen angel...FFS

Lucifer, satan, is a fallen angel. Do you not know what the fallen bit means?

Balloonhearts · 18/04/2026 13:19

People change OP. My best friend from that age contacted me a few years ago. Told me he had lost both his children into care. He'd hit, burnt and bitten his 3 year old. God knows what else.

His partner had allowed it so both girls were removed, the 3 year old and the new baby. I haven't been in touch with him since as I just can't reconcile it. I'm sure life has been hard on him because that is not the boy I knew at school.

He was naughty, always misbehaving and we were forever being separated as we'd be up to no good but never anything malicious, just mischief.

ShanghaiDiva · 18/04/2026 13:18

ClearFruit · 18/04/2026 11:25

I have never read a more bollocks sentence in my life.

A rough around the edges angel? 🤣 He's a criminal.

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Precisely!
wonder how the victims of his crimes view him?

OhWise1 · 18/04/2026 13:18

Kindly. you are making this all about you. What about his victims? You don't really figure in this story at all!

Jollyjupiter · 18/04/2026 13:18

@PrizedPickledPopcorn yep but he does not make him a fluffy fallen angel...FFS

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 18/04/2026 13:13

Jollyjupiter · 18/04/2026 13:06

No one turns into a criminal for fecks safe...it's very much a life choice!

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It’s not OP’s fault though. Someone she’s remembered fondly is actually a criminal now- indeed as a result of their own life choices. It’s still shocking and saddening.

Megifer · 18/04/2026 13:11

Absolutely no way he got life for this 🙄

SpellItOutBecauseTheDogIsListening · 18/04/2026 13:08

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:24

Yeah it's sad. Feels like a rough around the edges angel losing his wings almost.

Edited
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WTF?

It doesn’t sound like you have seen him for years and you’re just finding a way to make this about you.

TFImBackIn · 18/04/2026 13:06

You sound as though you're one of those women who gets in touch with someone in prison with the goal of starting a relationship with him, OP. The man he is today bears absolutely no resemblance to the boy he was. In fact you only saw one small aspect of how he was then. You have literally no idea who this man is now.

Jollyjupiter · 18/04/2026 13:06

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 18/04/2026 13:03

I think you’re being really unfair to OP. A childhood hero has turned out to have turned bad. Very much a fallen angel, exactly that.

It’s not unreasonable to be sad that someone you thought was one of the good guys actually turned criminal.

No one turns into a criminal for fecks safe...it's very much a life choice!

Jollyjupiter · 18/04/2026 13:04

ClearFruit · 18/04/2026 11:25

I have never read a more bollocks sentence in my life.

A rough around the edges angel? 🤣 He's a criminal.

Show quote history

Nailed it 🤣

PrizedPickledPopcorn · 18/04/2026 13:03

I think you’re being really unfair to OP. A childhood hero has turned out to have turned bad. Very much a fallen angel, exactly that.

It’s not unreasonable to be sad that someone you thought was one of the good guys actually turned criminal.

Butteredtoast55 · 18/04/2026 13:02

He got a life sentence just for a first attempted robbery? Sure.
As my husband says, of all the things that never happened, this never happened the most.

SisterMidnight77 · 18/04/2026 12:58

He didn’t get life for this. He’s done some other stuff. Or it’s a total exaggeration.

NoSoupForU · 18/04/2026 11:42

Nobody gets a life sentence for attempting to burgle someone's house so he's clearly got an extensive history of committing crime. And clearly enacted some violence on this occasion too.

Someone who's violent to other people and breaks into peoples homes is not a fucking angel.

Grow up and stop romanticising him for drama.

aquestionforya · 18/04/2026 11:42

Yeeeeaaaaa I’m with the others. Are you 100% sure he got life? If so, are you 100% sure it was just for attempted robbery???

CitizenZ · 18/04/2026 11:40

There is no way on Gods good earth, that he got life for 'Attempted Robbery' If he is serving a life sentance, then he has done some terrible things. Stop worshipping a criminal.

PeopleLikeColdplayYouCantTrustPeopleJez · 18/04/2026 11:40

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:24

Yeah it's sad. Feels like a rough around the edges angel losing his wings almost.

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Hmm
ERthree · 18/04/2026 11:39

He is not part of your life so i cannot grasp why on earth this news has "messed you up" i can understand a bit of sadness but come on. There really is no need for the dramatics.

ARKane · 18/04/2026 11:33

Sorry, but this is all very Main Character Syndrome.

Chocaholick · 18/04/2026 11:28

ClearFruit · 18/04/2026 11:25

I have never read a more bollocks sentence in my life.

A rough around the edges angel? 🤣 He's a criminal.

Show quote history

I know I laughed too

Swiftie1878 · 18/04/2026 11:27

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:20

Under the Theft Act 1968 attempted robbery and assault with intent to rob are serious offences in England and Wales that carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The person who caught him clarified that he intended on robbing the house.

Show quote history

You don’t get life for that these days. There must be more to it.

ClearFruit · 18/04/2026 11:25

Flynn99 · 18/04/2026 01:24

Yeah it's sad. Feels like a rough around the edges angel losing his wings almost.

Edited
Show quote history

I have never read a more bollocks sentence in my life.

A rough around the edges angel? 🤣 He's a criminal.

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