A FUGITIVE who bragged to police “Catch Me If You Can” on Facebook was caught napping by the officers he taunted.

Body-builder Oliver Hargreaves, 25, was arrested in bed by police – who guessed he was at home because he had left the washing machine on.

The wanted man pleaded guilty at York Magistrates Court to harassment and taking without consent.

His guilty plea was taken into consideration and he was jailed for ten weeks.

Hargreaves had tagged North Yorkshire Police on Facebook earlier in the summer in a post stating: “catch me if you can.”

Police went to his home in Paper Mill Road, Rawcliffe Bridge, near Goole, the same day but he was not in.

A few days later, police received a report of an incident at the home of his estranged girlfriend Lisa Fanning, in Larth Close, Whitby.

When the officers got there they were directed to a nearby street where a man had been seen running off to.

They searched the area but did not find anyone. An eye-witness later told them the suspect had been seen being driven away in a BMW.

Police returned to Hargreaves’s house. He did not answer the door but police knew someone was in because they could hear the washing machine.

The forced their way in and found Hargreaves in his bedroom.

The officers celebrated the arrest by posting on Twitter: “Can you guess what happened next when a wanted man posted this message on his Facebook page? We could.”

Hargreaves appeared in handcuffs flanked by two security staff in the dock at York Magistrates Court.

He denied harassing mother of two Ms Fanning between June 12-16.

He also denied an offence of taking current partner Danielle Whitney’s Vauxhall Tigra without consent, and driving without a licence on June 15.

Prosecutor Katie Varlow objected to bail. Willem Louw, defending, argued for bail “with stringent conditions”.

He was also banned from driving for two years, ordered to pay £200 court costs, and made the subject of a restraining order.