A cheeky crook is taunting police by posting jeering Facebook comments – on his own wanted poster.
Fugitive Harry Avis is wanted on recall to prison after breaching the terms of his license.
Avis is described as white, around 5 ft 10 and thin with brown hair and blue eyes.
Sussex Police put out an appeal offering £1,000 for any information that leads to his arrest on November 29.
But Avis, who has links to the Brighton area, took just 45 minutes to comment on the post saying “I’m not hiding! You just ain’t looking good enough”.
He also added some laughing emojis to the sneering remark.
Officers engaged in a back-and-forth with Avis and replied to the criminal.
They said: “Hi Harry. So good to hear from you. Hope you are well.
“We’re good at hide and seek.
“We’ve played this game before.
“Fear not, we have the eyes and ears of our lovely Facebook followers who I’m sure will step in to help us.”
Avis commented: “Don’t look like they will or you would have me in your custody wouldn’t you.”
The 20-year-old appeared popular with social media users with one person calling him the “hide and seek champion” and another saying “legend is all I have to say”.
Some people even said that he had “made my year”.
One commenter said: “Well give me a clue I could do with a thousand pounds” to which Avis replied: “Well it’s sunny with sun loungers”.
And some users started up a guessing game with suggestions from Tenerife to Blackpool.
After a comment that it was “not sunny in Whitehawk” – a suburb on the outskirts of Brighton near the Marina – Avis said it had “got boring there”.
Detective Inspector Ian Still said: “We are offering the reward for information which leads to the arrest of Harry Avis.
“We want to hear from anyone who knows where he is or has any information about his whereabouts.”
By Adela Whittingham