As a man who posted video online of himself speeding at 130mph has been handed a four-month suspended prison term, police are increasingly relying on YouTube as a crime fighting weapon. When an anonymous e-mail dropped in the inbox of Suffolk Police last autumn the fate of Danny Hyde was sealed.

It drew to the attention of officers a video posted on YouTube of Hyde, 18, driving his Astra one-handed at 130mph along the A14 near Ipswich.

He filmed it himself on his mobile phone and the footage included shots of the speedometer and the road ahead as he sped past other vehicles.

It’s good evidence as long as you can get some proof that it’s the person in the picture Solicitor Julian Young Youth admits 130mph speed charge

Police managed to identify Hyde and he admitted the offence to magistrates, earning a four-month suspended prison term. It is another instance where police have used video-sharing sites like YouTube to track down bragging criminals.

In Herefordshire, an 18-year-old was fined and banned from keeping animals for five years after picking up a cat and hurling it 20 feet, while friends filmed the act. The footage was put on the same website and reported to police.

But it’s not just low-level crimes that are being pursued this way. Two gangs who allegedly raped a girl in Croydon, south London, and posted a video on YouTube are being hunted by police.

Officers in Merseyside are particularly vigilant. They arrested two 14-year-old boys last summer after they were spotted on YouTube damaging car wing mirrors.