Friday, March 29, 2024
In BriefFormer Hibs casual reunited with iPhone after CCTV images showed man taking...

Former Hibs casual reunited with iPhone after CCTV images showed man taking device

A NOTORIOUS former football thug got his “stolen” iPhone back by getting CCTV images from a shop and posting them online.

Bradley Welsh went on social media to appeal for the return of his iPhone and posted images of a man filmed picking up the device in the Poundland where he was shopping.

The former Hibs casual’s post was shared more than 1,000 times, including by Scots author Irvine Welsh.

Referring to Bradley Welsh’s chequered past, Welsh tweeted: “I feel sorry for him if he’s nicked your phone. I once walked off with some wraps and had to move to Chicago.”

 

Another Twitter user, Paul Whittle said: “Was just gonna say, wouldn’t fancy being him when you get a grip of him.”

And Kirstie Ogilvie wrote on Facebook: “Hope he got a skelp for his trouble, the d**k.”

Eventually, Welsh’s post was spotted by a member of the family of the mystery man in the CCTV and the mobile was returned today just a day after it disappeared.

Mr Welsh, 44, who owns Holyrood Boxing Gym in Edinburgh, lost his phone at the Poundland store in Meadowbank, Edinburgh.

He claimed that a member of staff at Poundland gave him stills from the CCTV but not the video footage itself.

Mr Welsh insisted today he was happy to get his phone back insisted there would be no retribution.

“People would think because of the nature of my past I’d want to dig someone up but I don’t want that,” he said.

“Whether I had put my phone down or had it taken, it was left in the shop. With the power of social media the person’s family seen it and contacted the guy who handed it back in.

“I’m not condoning anyone, I’m willing to accept what the man said as that’s the right thing to do. I spoke to him and he said he picked it up.”

He added: “If I hadn’t put it on Facebook, I would never have got it back. It shows that there are good people out there, it’s refreshing.”

In the 1980’s Welsh was part of notorious Hibs casuals, the Capital City Service.

His story was later featured in an episode of TV series Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men.

In November last year, he posted a video challenging Rangers fans to send their ‘best men’ to meet him in Bridgeton, Glasgow.

However, putting his past behind him, he landed a starring role of gangland boss and Edinburgh sauna owner, Doyle in Trainspotting 2 – released in January.

He currently lives in Edinburgh with his fiancée Emma and six-year-old daughter Tiger and owns Holyrood Boxing Gym.

Related Stories