Thomas Briggs

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" to highly rated submissions such as "Space Cave." 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. He had also described himself as a "social recluse."
== Timeline ==
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 firearm, a knife, matches, and a canister of flammable liquid hidden in his schoolbag. The rest of the student body of 1350 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 11===
*Leaves first post in six months. Says "Hey guys :3". Many people attacked him while others tried to ask him questions as to why he did what he did. He doesn't respond to the comments.
===November 18===
*Thomas Briggs declares that he is in a hospital and will be out in March.. This would be the last post that he would ever make.
===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. His sentancing wasn't disclosed publicly.
===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. The newspost was later deleted by staff who then locked his account.
== Reactions ==
Because of the attention he received, Briggs is the subject of several flash submissions on Newgrounds. One game, "How I Buy Petrol?, is part of the Flash Portal History for 2009. Several Dress-Up games also exist, which depict him as a racist. 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.
== 2017 Update ==
On November 28th, 2017, user PDrone posted in BBS "Sirtom93 is doing well" with attached photos of Tom today. This was the only post made by PDrone as he hasn't posted or replied to anyone else since making that one post, which lead users to suspect that this was Tom on an alternate account (which would make sense since his original account is still locked). This was the last time we have been updated on Tom.
I met Thomas last year after he moved to Australia. He told me about his past on here. He wanted me to tell you all he was very sick back then and was living in a fantasy world where he lost touch from reality and he has since grown up and gotten treatment and has started a new life abroad. He wishes to apologize for the trouble he caused you all and to tell you that he has recovered 100%. He no longer has any desire to come onto this website but if you would like me to pass any messages onto him I will.
== Links ==
His Account
The Thread
Rig's Summary
BBC Article
Telegraph Article
2017 Update Post
Category:Users
Category:History