A number of offenders who used the social media app to break the law came before the courts this year
Left to right: Shaun Ventre, Katherine Greenall, Marc Noonan(Image: Merseyside Police)
TikTok may be one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, but for some, it’s become a tool for more sinister purposes. From witness intimidation to grooming vulnerable teenagers and even running criminal operations from behind bars, a string of offenders have used the app to break the law and several are now behind bars as a result.
In one case, a convicted gun offender serving a lengthy prison sentence posted rap videos online from his cell. In another, a paedophile used TikTok to prey on young girls and now faces a life sentence. Others have used the platform to harass, defraud, or manipulate, often with devastating consequences.
Here, we take a look at five people who used TikTok as a platform for their criminal activity, landing themselves in serious trouble with the law.
Mark Crickson
Mark Crickson, of Rothbury Road, West Derby, outside Liverpool Crown Court
Mark Crickson, a 44-year-old man from West Derby, used TikTok to intimidate his girlfriend’s ex-partner after being reported for vandalising the man’s front doorbell. Following an incident in December last year, where Crickson was seen on a Ring doorbell camera and later arrested carrying a kitchen knife, he posted threatening messages on social media, including the victim’s new partner’s address. The victim described these messages as distressing and said he felt unsafe, even moving in with his partner to avoid Crickson.
Crickson’s online threats included warnings like “snitches get stitches” and direct messages aimed at intimidating the victim and his family. He was arrested again in January for breaching bail conditions by contacting the victim. Prosecutors emphasised the impact of Crickson’s actions on the victim’s sense of safety and wellbeing.
At Liverpool Crown Court, Crickson pleaded guilty to criminal damage, witness intimidation, and possession of a bladed article. His defence highlighted his ongoing mental health treatment for emotionally unstable personality disorder, describing him as “unrecognisable” from when the offences took place.
Judge Stuart Driver KC sentenced Crickson to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, alongside 15 rehabilitation days. A five-year restraining order was also imposed, banning him from contacting the victim to ensure ongoing protection.
Jack Spencer
Jack Spencer, of Alexandra Road in Southport, aged 31(Image: Merseyside Police)
A mum was “furious” after discovering a pervert had been messaging her teenage daughter on TikTok. Jack Spencer used the social media platform to offer the girl £500 for sex.
However, his plan was stopped in its tracks only the following day when her mum performed a routine check of her daughter’s account. This led to police discovering that the pervert had been sending similar messages to scores of other children, having also downloaded a vile collection of indecent images.
Spencer admitted sexual communications with a child, arranging a child sex offence, three counts of making indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornographic images. Appearing in the dock in a wheelchair, he was jailed for three years and four months.
Katherine Greenall
Katherine Greenall(Image: Merseyside Police)
A mum’s “addiction to TikTok” left her in tears as she was sent to prison. Katherine Greenall stole nearly half a million pounds from her employer while working as an accounts manager for the car company.
The single mother to two young children went on to spend the vast majority of this sum on TikTok tokens, which were gifted to content creators on the social media platform for her own “amusement and entertainment”. She also treated herself to holidays, hotel stays and purchases from Amazon during her more than year-long “voyage of fraud and misadventure” but was ultimately left behind bars with only a few hundred pounds left in her bank account.
Greenall admitted one count of fraud by abuse of position. Appearing in the dock wearing a black coat with a pair of glasses perched on top of her head, she wiped her tears away with a tissue as she was jailed for 28 months.
She appeared to make a remark towards the public gallery as she was led to the cells, although this comment was inaudible due to her emotional state. One of her supporters, meanwhile, blew kisses towards Greenall and told her: “I love you.”
Marc Noonan
Marc Noonan(Image: Merseyside Police)
A paedophile who violently raped and sexually assaulted three teenage girls after befriending them on social media has been jailed for life. Marc Noonan, who was already a previously convicted sex offender, groomed his “young and naïve” victims online via platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat.
He then went on to rape two of the teenagers while physically assaulting them and telling the third “I don’t care, I’ll do what I want” as she begged him to stop his abuse. A judge labelled him “every parent’s worst nightmare” and a “predator lurking online”, who would have continued to exploit further victims had he not been caught.
Noonan admitted three offences of sexual activity with a child, four counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, meeting a child after grooming and two charges of engaging in sexual communications with a child against his first victim. However, he was found guilty of a further 10 offences of rape, six counts of sexual assault, three charges of assault by penetration, three of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two of engaging in sexual communications with a child and engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour concerning the other two girls by a jury.
Five of the jurors returned to court in order to attend this morning’s hearing. He also pleaded guilty to disclosing a private sexual image of his second victim, breaching a suspended sentence order and breaching a sexual harm prevention order in relation to a PlayStation console which he failed to disclose to Merseyside Police.
Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey fleece and sporting a shaved head and beard, Noonan showed no reaction at any stage as he was handed a life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years behind bars. Gasps were meanwhile heard amongst his victims and their family members as he learned his fate.
Shaun Ventre
Shaun Ventre, 21, of no fixed abode, Liverpool, was sentenced to four years(Image: Cheshire Police)
A gun thug who was jailed two years ago has amassed a following on social media as he attempts to build a music career. Shaun Ventre is currently serving a 16-year sentence after he was jailed in February 2023 for his involvement in a crack cocaine and heroin supply plot as well as possession of a 9mm firearm, silencer and ammunition.
However, videos have begun circulating of the prisoner rapping on Instagram and TikTok from a cell under the name “Lil S” just months after his original TikTok account was shut down. Ventre often appears on camera in sportswear rapping about crime and his life.
Ventre, whose most recent listed address before his incarceration was on Cable Street in Formby, posted a number of the videos, filmed on illegally smuggled-in smartphones, on his TikTok and Instagram pages.
In one video posted on social media, Ventre is heard rapping about a “Glock with all the features” while referencing growing up in Huyton. An investigation has since been launched into Ventre and his social media activity by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with disciplinary action to be taken if necessary.
The MoJ explained the HMPPS Digital Media Investigation Unit (DMIU) has located the relevant social media accounts and submitted takedown requests, with all reported incidents of social media misuse being investigated by the DMIU, who identify and work with social media companies to take down such material.
By the time the MoJ began investigating, TikTok had already removed the account without the need for a takedown request.
Ventre has managed to gain more than 100,000 views on several of his videos on Instagram, with a prison spokesperson telling the ECHO: “We have launched an investigation into these videos and have requested their removal.
“Any prisoner found with contraband, such as a mobile phone or recording equipment, is breaking the law and could face extra time in prison.”