Thomas Briggs

	sirtom93
	;
Real Name:	Thomas Briggs
Birthdate:	March 2, 1993
Profile:	sirtom93's profile
Alts:
Aura:	Light
Level:	Level 24
	File:Light Aura.png
Whistle:
	Normal
Blam/Protect Rank:
	Pvt. First Class
Flash:	Zombies! Pico gets high
Audio:

Thomas Briggs is the real name of the Newgrounds user "sirtom93." Briggs lived in Norfolk, England, and attended Attleborough High School. At 6:40 AM, on March 17, 2009, he made a thread on the BBS called This is it, in which he stated "Today at 11:30 GMT I will attack my school with arson and other forms of violence. Those bastards will pay." Eighteen minutes later, another user, J. P. Neufeld, aka "Rig," called the British police from his home in Montreal, Canada. deckheadtottie called shortly afterwards, and relayed information from Wade Fulp to the British police. At 11:40, Thomas Briggs was arrested, and was put in custody. He later stated that he never intended to commit arson.

Activities Prior to the Incident

During 2007 and 2008, Briggs submitted twenty movies and games, six of which were collaborative efforts. These submissions ranged from low quality spam such as "Pico gets high[1]" to highly rated submissions such as "Space Cave[2]." He frequently visited the BBS, and has left over 11,000 posts. Briggs was also a major fan of music, especially rock and metal, and reviewed over 600 Audio Portal submissions. However, he did not submit any music himself. His posts suggest that he was a troubled individual, and he admitted to being racist and a pedophile[3]. He had also described himself as a "social recluse[4]."

Timeline

Ngarticle — Most news outlets never mentioned Newgrounds when reporting on the incident.

All times are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

March 17th

10:40 AM - Thomas Briggs, aka sirtom93, claims that he's gonna burn his school down at 11:30 AM.
10:58 AM - Rig calls the Norfolk cops.
11:07 AM - deckheadtottie calls the cops.
11:14 AM - Wade Fulp provides information to deckheadtottie, who relays to cops.
11:30 AM - Thomas Briggs personal info found, relayed to cops via the thread and the school via deckheadtottie. Thomas Briggs is arrested around this time, before damage could be dealt. He is found with a knife, matches, and a canister of flammable liquid hidden in his schoolbag. The rest of the student body of 950 is searched, without result.
2:52 - PM - School phones deckheadtottie and informs him that the matter is being dealt with and the police are involved.
3:40 PM - Detective calls Rig asking for information about other Newgrounds users.
4:10 PM - The school phones deckheadtottie and says the matter has been dealt with, thanks to Newgrounds.
4:40 PM - One of the users in question phones the detective themselves, second user a mystery
7:09 PM - Rig is told that Thomas Briggs will be in custody overnight, evidence still being collected. Tom Briggs is in custody, under the mental health act.

March 18th

Tom was able to make a few phone calls from prison. He said that he never intended to do it, that he brought the knife, matches, and supposedly flammable liquid into school to show off or something.

November 18

Leaves first post in six months. Declares that he is in a hospital and will be out in March[5].

May 30

Even after March, Thomas Briggs never appeared on Newgrounds. On May 30, 2010, Rig announced that he had received a letter. Apparently, Thomas Briggs would have a hearing on June 9 at the Norwich Crown Court. Rig asks Newgrounds users living in the area to attend and report on the case. Thomas Briggs eventually pleaded guilty.[6]

August 1st

Thomas Briggs appears to have left a newspost saying next time he won't fail and the ashes will be in all our hands. He also changed has job description to "serial killer." People soon realized that his account was hacked, and EyeLovePoozy confirmed it on the BBS.[7]

Reactions

Because of the attention he received, Briggs is the subject of several flash submissions on Newgrounds. One game, "How I Buy Petrol?[8], is part of the Flash Portal History for 2009. Several Dress-Up games also exist, which depict him as a racist[9][10]. A collab was submitted only a couple of weeks after the incident, on April 2nd. Meanwhile, a large number of topics have been made on the BBS revolving around him.[11]

Links