It’s safe to say that as far as dates arranged through Facebook go, most pass by without major incident.
The same can not be said of the
encounter between Leah Gibbs and Adam Minton. Gibbs, 23, met Minton
through the popular social networking site and the pair appeared to get
on so well that they decided to meet. According to a Daily Mail report, the plan had been for Gibbs to spend the evening watching a DVD at Minton’s home in south Wales.
But when Gibbs arrived at Minton’s
home, he told her he needed to pop round to a friend’s place. He asked
if she could drive him. Gibbs, no doubt wanting to make a good
impression, obliged.
Minton directed Gibbs to some nearby shops, where he told her to wait
for him. A few minutes later, she saw Minton running back to her car.
When he jumped inside, he shouted: “Go, go, go!”It can be said with a fair degree of certainty that such words are rarely spoken following a meeting with a friend. They’re far more likely to be uttered in moments of great stress, when one needs to leave a location in a hurry – like when you’ve just robbed a shop at knifepoint, for example.
According to Gibbs, Minton was a
different man following his “meeting with a friend.” As they drove back
to his home, Minton’s rudeness was enough to convince the disappointed
23-year-old that the date was over.
As Minton tried to persuade her to
come into his house, the police turned up. It was then that Gibbs got
the shock of her life. They accused Minton of robbing a shop at
knifepoint and Gibbs of being his accomplice.
She told the Daily Mail: “I thought
I would be ending the night in Adam’s arms. Instead, he had landed in
the long arms of the law and I was facing jail.”
She spent a night in police custody
before investigators finally believed her story that it was merely a
Facebook date gone wrong and that she had nothing to do with the crime.
Minton has been jailed for
four-and-a-half years for the robbery. It’s likely that should Gibbs
ever arrange another date through Facebook, she’ll be leaving her car at home.