TEENAGE Loner Liam Lyburd was found guilty today of plotting a mass murder at a North-East college and he faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced next month.

But this is a story which could so easily have had a very different – and tragic – ending.

Had it not been for police being tipped off by a woman, who lives in Australia, who knows how many lives might have been lost at Newcastle College?

And the question has to be asked: How could a disturbed teenager, who lived as a recluse in his bedroom, have been able to amass an arsenal of destruction, including a Glock handgun, nearly 100 rounds of ammunition, and and array of pipe bombs?

Northumbria Police have declined to comment until after sentencing, although there is no real reason for a response to wait. Lyburd's guilt has been established – there is no longer a danger of prejudicing a jury.

Perhaps it is a case of there being no satisfactory answer, other than that Lyburd slipped through the net of the police whose resources can never realistically reach every corner of the worldwide web.

It is an extremely disturbing case, with huge implications about the way the internet is policed.

But the consolation is that Lyburd was caught, albeit in the nick of time, due to a tip-off from a concerned member of the public. And that is how many other terrorist plots have been thwarted – through the intelligence of the most powerful grapevine the world has ever known.

The fight against crime has always been a partnership between the police and the public – but never more than it is now.

In the age of social media, millions of ordinary people have become the most effective weapon against those who are plotting horrific crimes. We are all potential life-savers.