The Secret Barrister live tweets every law broken in Home Alone 2 and reveals Macaulay Culkin's character could face up to four years behind bars

Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 2
Ella Wills24 December 2018

A lawyer has revealed every law broken in iconic Christmas movie Home Alone 2 in a hilarious running commentary while watching the film.

Anonymous Twitter account The Secret Barrister broke down the crimes carried out in the festive classic, according to English and Welsh law.

The sequel to the original holiday film sees Macaulay Culkin's character Kevin McCallister mistakenly board a flight to New York City, landing him alone in the run up to Christmas again.

Kevin then finds himself pursued by the 'Sticky Bandits', Marv and Harry, for the second time - leading to his laying another series of booby traps for the crooks.

Tweeting about the film over the weekend, the Secret Barrister claimed Kevin could face up to four years in a young offenders institution for his actions, while Marv and Harry could be jailed for life.

And Kevin's parents would apparently face up to eight months' immediate custody for child neglect after losing their son for the second time.

The legal expert began the thread by explaining that all analysis would be conducted through the lens of English and Welsh law, despite the film taking place in the United States.

The analysis also assumes that Kevin "is over the age of criminal responsibility".

The first offence takes place within minutes of the start of the film, with Kevin committing voyeurism by filming his Uncle Frank in the shower.

"Frank is fully entitled to be livid," the lawyer said.

From there offences including battery, neglect, sexual assault, fraud and corruption follow.

For impersonating his father to secure a suite at the famed Plaza hotel, Kevin commits "fraud by false representation", the lawyer said.

While for the main heist of the film, the Sticky Bandits' planned burglary of a children's store on Christmas Eve, the pair face a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The barrister tweeted: "The Sticky Bandits are conspiring to commit a commercial burglary.

"Max sentence 10 years. That’s right. Even £millions from a children’s toy store on Christmas Eve. If you’re going to commit an acquisitive offence, this is the one. On an early guilty plea, that’s 6.66 yrs."

The anonymous account added: "Let me be clear, for any children watching: I am *not* suggesting you should actually go and commit a commercial burglary. Just that it’s better, for you, than a domestic burglary (14 years) or robbery (life).

"Glad that’s clear."

Other offences include child abduction, GBH, and arson with intent to endanger life.

The barrister closed the thread by adding up a total sentence for each character.

They wrote: "For conspiracy to murder a child, both Joe Pesci and Marv are looking at best at life with a min 30 yrs, maybe a whole life term. Abduction of a child with sadistic intent.

"For two counts of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent, Kevin, with the heavy mitigation of youth and the fact that he was, after all, being threatened by madmen, will nevertheless be found dangerous. Extended sentence of detention of 4 years plus 4.

"Negligent Mom and Skinflint Dad are both getting 8 months’ immediate custody for child neglect. Given that their child could have been brutally killed, this is not a bad result for their barrister."

The thread gained hundreds of retweets and likes as people on Twitter joined the analysis and suggested other festive films to study.

Gareth Morgan wrote: "Distracted reading these while watching Die Hard...wondering if there's an opportunity for a follow up...#Yippeekiyay"

While Stephen Rading-Stanford wrote: "I never knew I needed this, but now I want more! How about Jingle All The Way?"

The Secret Barrister is the author of The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken, which was published earlier this year.

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