24 Hours In Police Custody: GoFundMe set up in support of Adam White from Eggington tops £87k in one day

A fundraiser set up in support of a man jailed after giving chase to two would-be burglars has topped £87,000 in just one day.

Adam White, from Eggington near Leighton Buzzard, was jailed after chasing attempted burglars Taylor Benford and Ryan Paul in his car as they fled on a stolen motorbike.

All three were involved in a collision – and the aftermath of the 2019 incident was featured in a return to 24 Hours In Police Custody on Channel 4 on Monday.

But while Adam was sentenced to 22 months behind bars, Benford and Paul received a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service.

The GoFundMe was set up by outraged viewer Scott Tulloch who says he was shocked by the ‘injustice’.

He had hoped to help the couple recover the cash they had spent on legal fees – but is stunned to have almost doubled his target of £50k in just a day.

Scott, from Kent who runs Larry’s Mobile Bar, told the LBO: “It’s blown my mind. When I set it up I said a target of £50k for what they spent on legal fees – I never thought it would near enough double that.

"Like everyone else watching the programme on Monday I just thought it was such an injustice and an outrage that Adam and Lindsay lost all that money, that Lindsay had to have an abortion and had their lives turned upside down, and the two other guys pretty much got a slap on the wrists. It was bang out of order.”

Unable to sleep after watching the show, and scrolling through the outraged reactions on Twitter, Scott decided to set up a fundraiser to help the couple, despite having never met them.

And so far almost 5,000 people have donated more than £87k – with the total steadily rising.

Adam and Lindsay took to social media to thank people for the outpouring of support.

Adam said: “We were a little bit worried about the backlash of that programme being aired but I think it's gone absolutely crazy. We just want to say thankyou to everyone, the public, friends and family, for the support. It has been absolutely overwhelming so thank you, thank you so much.”

He said the cash would help pay off some of the couple’s debts and help rebuild some of their life savings.

Wife Lindsay added: “We're just blown away in a cost of living crisis that people would be willing to help so much so thank you, we're just... wow.”

Bedfordshire Police issued a statement after the social media backlash surrounding the episode Two Wrongs.

They said: “Our officers work incredibly hard to put criminals before the courts and disrupt their activities, but we know that the outcomes received do not always tell the full story. In this case, there were no winners.

“This episode is an important reminder that people must not take the law into their own hands. Such actions can have enormous consequences.”

A spokesman for GoFundMe said: "We've been working with Scott, the organiser, to ensure that Adam's wife Lindsay is set up as the beneficiary so he can receive the funds. In cases like this where a fundraiser is created to support another individual, we safely hold the funds and only release once we have verified the intended recipient of the fundraiser."