Armed raiders break into Coronation Street star’s home after Twitter security bungle

Helen FlanaganHelen Flanagan, the British soap starlet, who has carved a name out for herself by not wearing very much in gentleman’s magazines, has found herself in the paper’s once again – although she would surely wish that she wasn’t.

22-year-old Ms Flanagan, made famous by the UK’s tabloid newspapers after her appearances in “Coronation Street” and “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”, was confronted by three armed raiders just before midnight at her house in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

According to media reports, the robbers stole items of jewellery and a mobile phone.

Flanagan’s boyfriend, Manchester City footballer Scott Sinclair, was out at the time.

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What’s interesting to me is that Ms Flanagan announced via Twitter, in the hours before the robbery, that her partner wasn’t at home.

Helen Flanagan tweet

So super tired today :( which makes me emotional sensitive and mental ha - can't wait to have my bf home x

The jury is out as to whether the raiders will have been encouraged to target the property after seeing the Actress/Model/Writer/Aspiring Presenter’s message on Twitter. After all, Alderley Edge is famous for having its fair share of expensive homes owned by celebrities and footballers – making it an attractive target for burglars.

Regardless, others could do with learning an important security lesson from this incident. You should be careful what you post on Twitter, as the whole world can potentially see it.

Don’t, for instance, announce on Twitter that you are at Terminal 5 at Heathrow, looking forward to your two week holiday in the sun – as that’s an open invitation to thieves. Instead, wait until you are *back* in the country – and then feel free to tell everyone what a wonderful time you have just had.


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

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