Father clears his name after homeowner posted his picture on Facebook

Father clears his name and says he is just a ‘fat gullible dad’ after homeowner posted his picture on Facebook claiming he was loitering suspiciously while walking with his daughter

  • Joey Lennon, from St Helens in Merseyside, was shamed in post on social media
  • Post claimed that Mr Lennon was ‘looking into houses’ and warned residents 
  • Father explained he had been walking with his daughter when he was pictured

A father who was shamed on social media and reported to the police for ‘looking into houses’ while out for a walk with his daughter has cleared his name.

Joey Lennon, from St Helens in Merseyside, was left horrified when a CCTV image of him loitering outside a home in the Cowley Hill Lane area was shared on Facebook by a homeowner.

The post, which has since been deleted, claimed that Mr Lennon was ‘looking into houses’ and went on to warn residents to ‘keep their eyes peeled’.

The message also said the incident had been reported to the police. 

Following the claims, Mr Lennon explained that he had been walking with his daughter at around 8pm when she spotted an old alarm box on a dilapidated house.   

Joey Lennon, from St Helens in Merseyside, was shocked to discover an image of him stood outside a house had bene shared on social media

He told the Liverpool Echo: ‘My daughter said ”there’s birds up there” and I was trying to see the birds nest. Walking away I thought ”there’s no birds in there” and later she told me she was winding me up.

‘I went to bed early because I’m a web designer and it doesn’t do me any good staying up. In the morning I woke up to messages from like 50 people saying ”have you seen this?” I spat my coffee out.

‘I was shocked. I’ve never done anything bad and anyone who knows me knows it’s not something I’d do.’

The father later took to Facebook to tell social media users he was not a thief but simply a ‘gullible dad’.

He wrote: ‘Just gonna put this out there. A lot of people have messaged me over this and were quite shocked someone would post this to be honest.

‘I’m not a thief (neither is my little girl). You’re quite safe lol (sic).

‘My little girl told me she saw a nest in an old alarm box on a house as we were walking home. I don’t know why I fell for it, but I did and so I looked – you got my good side so thank you. (She got me good this time, the little wind up haha).

‘Sincerely, gullible fat dad.’  

Mr Lennon was walking in the Cowley Hill Lane area when he stopped to look at what he thought was a birds nest on a house. Pictured: GV of Cowley Hill Lane

Mr Lennon was walking in the Cowley Hill Lane area when he stopped to look at what he thought was a birds nest on a house. Pictured: GV of Cowley Hill Lane

He added: ‘I’m a parent at the end of the day and you don’t want that type of stuff posted so I thought I’d do that.  

‘I could’ve got a lot more cross about it at that point, but I wanted to make it more of a comedy thing.

‘Never in my life has anything like that happened to me before, that’s why people were messaging me. I was just walking down that road thinking there’s no birds in that nest.

‘A lot of people found it funny, especially when you know I’m not that type of person. They were as shocked as I was.’