Alan Tissington (St. Albans) criminal case

[Falcon]

This BBC article was posted today.

Some of you may remember this case when it happened a few years ago. The CPS now says that there is no possibility of conviction on some of the charges as the evidence was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Was there any proof that the items were live at all? It reads like it was automatically assumed that everything was live.

Det Insp Pete Frost said: "The munitions discovered that day were determined to be potentially very dangerous by Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal experts, who recommended that they were immediately destroyed."

If I remember correctly, he was investigated as he was illegally metal detecting on MOD land. While he had obviously bought the attention of the authorities on himself this way, it seems like this could happen to any collector.

For example, if a friend or relative carelessly said something about your collection to the wrong person, and they decide to alert the authorities. This could result in everything being removed and destroyed without any recourse.

As an aside the rifles and machine guns shown in the photo were probably deactivated as it doesn't appear that he was prosecuted for those. Would they have also blown those up with the ordnance?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37439184

 

[LCplCombat]

This BBC article was posted today.

As an aside the rifles and machine guns shown in the photo were probably deactivated as it doesn't appear that he was prosecuted for those. Would they have also blown those up with the ordnance?

If they are held legaly the police can't touch them, Bill of Rights 1689, "promises of fines or forfeitures before conviction are void;"
If they were illegal you would they would go through a separate destruction process. They need evidence to prove they were illegal so they would need to be identified by an "expert"

 

[Falcon]

Thanks for the reply.

The article suggests that the ordnance was destroyed without any proper identification, it reads as though they assumed everything was live by default.

 

[BMG50]

What I heard was they took away some 303 ammo and a smoke two inch and blew them up, the huge explosion seen on TV was actual the PE charge that they used to destroy these bits. I believe they were more concerned about the aircraft dials that had radium paint in them which I have been told they did take away.

 

[Falcon]

Thanks for the reply.

I know there are still a lot of civilian clocks and watches out there with radium dials. Are they technically illegal to own?

 

[BMG50]

I think the powers to be were exercising their authority, that they hope nobody would question. No law to own a clock or dial with radium, they most probably used the terrorism act in case someone might scrape enough radium to make an atomic bomb. I think the whole exercise was to scare the crap out of the accused and as an example to others reading between the lines.