I really do like the English. I enjoy London, and have been threre enough to know my way around the “tube.” I’ve spoken at conference in Oxford and Cambridge. I have dated English women. So I am not going out of my way to pick on England. But I despise stupid and/or oppressive government policies, and a bunch of jaw-dropping stories involving England have come to my attention recently, mostly thanks to conventional websites such as the Drudge Report. The latest example is from The Corner at Nationalreview.com, and features a former soldier who got arrested and convicted (and may even go to jail for five years) because he found a gun in his yard and he turned it over to the police. I presume this is in part a reflection of the anti-gun ideology of the UK government, but are prosecutors and judges given no leeway to avoid foolish prosecutions or protect innocent people from absurd charges? Here is the news report:
A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for “doing his duty”. Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year. The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year’s imprisonment for handing in the weapon. In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: “I didn’t think for one moment I would be arrested. …The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden. In his statement, he said: “I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges. “I didn’t know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him. “At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall.” Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells. …Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a “strict liability” charge – therefore Mr Clarke’s allegedly honest intent was irrelevant. Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added. …Judge Christopher Critchlow said: “This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge. “The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant.”
Reblogged this on aurorawatcherak and commented:
Again, total silliness. Maybe he should just have left it in his yard for criminals to reclaim it.
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When I was a boy living in Manchester England there was a travesty of justice committed against and angler. He had been fishing in the Leeds to Liverpool canal when he hooked a very rusty revolver. This was in the 1960’s. Someone must have called the police because they arrived and arrested the man. They did not even give him time to pack up his fishing gear or lock his car.
At the police station the sergeant could see that the gun was falling apart with rust and would be quite impossible to fire. It was no longer a gun it was just a lump of rust that had once been a gun so the man was released.
Unfortunately his fishing tackle and his car had gone.
Don’t rookie cops like that make you sick?
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Over 30 years ago I found some class A drugs hidden behind a drain pipe I lived in the house concerned. And was looking for a block pipe hence I found these drugs. I called the police they told me to leave them where they were I said that is crazy kids are playing around here. I was told if I moved them or touch them I would be charged. I still took them to the police station along with six parents as witnesses.
Nothing ever happen
[…] is the nation, for instance, that arrested a man for the “crime” of turning in a gun found on his property. Yes, you read correctly. I’m not making that […]
Yes, of course it was a sawn off shotgun as opposed to a (titter) “sawed off” one. I keep trying to teach my American aquaintances around here in Northern Nevada how to speak English properly, but I find them to be a most ungrateful lot.
Anyone have any recent stats comparing violent crime in the UK with other countries? 10 years ago The Economist ran this article, “A Nation of Criminals”:
http://www.economist.com/node/513031
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[…] And you will be flabbergasted by this example of anti-gun zealotry in England. […]
[…] And you will be flabbergasted by this example of anti-gun zealotry in England. […]
Joseph de Maistre: “Every country has the government it deserves.”
If the members of the jury did not have the brains or the balls to vote to acquit (jury nullification), then they deserve what they get.
I studied in England 40 years ago, back when the English were still men; how far they have fallen.
[…] And you will be flabbergasted by this example of anti-gun zealotry in England. […]
PS You publish only his story, it is a story the jury did not believe and so convicted him. On sentencing the judge said his story was implausible. However he was not jailed.
There is a great deal more to the case than is reported here.
We dont say “shorn off shotgun” in England. It is one of many errors in the article. I suspect it was a sawn off shotgun.
If intent is not relevant, why were the police not also guilty of possessing this firearm?
A completely irrelevant point: I like that old-world language, the English of our ancestors: “a shorn-off shotgun.”
Of course, here in the U.S. we say “sawed-off” — you never hear “shorn” except maybe in the case of sheep.
But it adds an interesting, exotic note to the story.
[…] o A man got arrested for finding a gun in his yard and turning it over to the police. […]