The Caged Bird

Prison may cost you your freedom, prison may cost you your dignity, but prison needn’t cost you your Twitter followers. It seems you can be as despicable as you like IRL, it doesn’t seem to harm your #numbers. Here’s how some of the worst offenders are faring…

Fred Talbot

When he was on This Morning, many millions of people used to check in with Fred Talbot every single day to see what the weather was going to be like. For those without access to a television (or a window) it is entirely possible that his Twitter account was an essential follow for finding out what the weather was like.

His updates have been in scant supply since he was arrested and imprisoned for the sexual assault of two teenagers in his teaching days, but 13,600 people still follow him – despite his extremely limited access to a computer while he completes his five year jail sentence.

It can’t just be the case that they don’t trust anyone else to tell them the temperature highs for the day, can it? Because, if so, may we recommend the wonderfully named Sara Blizzard to tell you the weather instead?

Ian Watkins

a.k.a The Bad Ian Watkins

Despite the former frontman of Lostprophets being sentenced to 29 years in prison, having pleaded guilty to 13 charges of the most horrendous sexual offences (including conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year old), he still enjoys a very healthy following on Twitter.

Of the 38,305 people who haven’t yet got round to unfollowing a man who was described by one of his investigating officers as “potentially… the most dangerous sex offender I have ever seen” there appear to be three blue-tick verified accounts.

And they are?

Dear Childcare and the BBC. You might want to have a little word with your social teams…

Max Clifford

Widely regarded as being a cunt of the highest order long before he was ever accused of being a sex offender, Max Clifford has always been that most interesting of paradoxes: an expert in public relations, whom the public despises.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. There are still 30,966 people who still think it’s worth following Max Clifford on Twitter, even though they aren’t going to hear anything from him for another six years – if not longer.

And if you think that maybe these people are just failing to keep on top of their Twitter lists, consider this: Kerry Katona (a woman who named one of her children Max after Mr Clifford, and arguably owes her entire career to him) managed to find the time to unfollow – and she follows in excess of 32,000 people, so it’s not as if she’s particularly fussy.

Bill Cosby

While technically still a free man, the latest depositions to come out of the Bill Cosby case are incredibly damning. By his own admission, Cosby has had sex with underage girls and offered up prescription drugs to women.

Yet 4 million people are still hoping that he might have some funny 140-character observations to make about fatherhood, or some tour-dates to shill soon and still haven’t reached for that unfollow button.