Teens caught in Snapchat gaffe after breaking into Southsea Model Village

22/3/2016 (EB) real life

Brothers Dean and Mark Wilson from Portsmouth, have bought the model village in Southsea from Mark's mother-in-law. She and business partner Mike Armet owned it for 15 years and Mark always loved going down and helping out. It was his dream to own it one day.

Pictured is: (l-r) Mark Wilson (41) and his brother Dean Wilson (34).

Picture: Sarah Standing (160534-8908) PPP-160323-222246001 — 22/3/2016 (EB) real life Brothers Dean and Mark Wilson from Portsmouth, have bought the model village in Southsea from Mark's mother-in-law. She and business partner Mike Armet owned it for 15 years and Mark always loved going down and helping out. It was his dream to own it one day. Pictured is: (l-r) Mark Wilson (41) and his brother Dean Wilson (34). Picture: Sarah Standing (160534-8908) PPP-160323-222246001

Mark Wilson, owner of the seafront tourist attraction, said that the two boys, believed to be about 16, broke in to the site by climbing over the railings by the nearby beach huts. They then kicked over figurines.

But then one of them made the mistake of posting images of them on social network Snapchat.

And, unluckily for them, they were spotted by Mr Wilson’s daughter, who was friends with one of the youngsters, who alerted her dad.

A Snapchat message sent by one of the boys who have apologised for breaking into Southsea Model Village

Mr Wilson, 42, already knew about the break-in as the vandals were picked up on the village’s CCTV system. After speaking to his daughter, he got in touch with one of the boys.

Mr Wilson said: ‘The fact that they were bragging about it on social media really made me angry.

‘He told me that he didn’t know you had to pay to get in. It’s ridiculous. I’m trying to run a business here and kids think this kind of thing is funny.

‘They were very apologetic about the whole thing but it still does my head in that people think they can just break in to the site.

‘It’s an ongoing problem for us and we thought that after installing CCTV we would be able to put a stop to it but it doesn’t appear to have done the job.’

The boys broke into the site at about 6.30pm and ran off shortly afterwards.

A message from one of the duo to Mr Wilson read: ‘I’m very sorry about this, I was only curious what was there. I didn’t think my actions would cause much harm.

‘I am honestly extremely sorry, I won’t go there again.

‘I didn’t even know you could pay to get in, if I knew it would cause this much trouble, I would 100 per cent never have done it,’

Mr Wilson has decided not to pursue the matters with the police and has issued the boys with a warning not to do it again.

He added: ‘I don’t want to mess their lives up for a silly mistake and they were only young. But if it happens again then we will get the police involved.’