El Mamerro

Follow up: Soldier given suspended sentence for handing shotgun to police 'should have been given award instead' By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 4:29 PM on 18th December 2009 A former soldier arrested after handing in a sawn-off shotgun was given a suspended sentence today - but said he should have received an award instead. Paul Clarke, 27, spotted a black binliner in his back garden earlier this year and discovered it contained a 20 gauge double-barrelled gun. When he took it to a police station four days later, he was shocked to be arrested for possessing the firearm. He was found guilty of that offence by a jury last month, but claims his arrest was a 'stitch-up' by police. Clarke said today that he failed to call 999 when he found the gun because he had suffered 'harassment' from Surrey Police over a relationship he was having with a female detective. He told Reading Crown Court: 'I was sleeping with a detective from Reigate and I think another officer got a bit jealous and I'd had a bit of harassment since then.' Clarke admitted he had been in trouble with police before, and added: 'I didn't want to call 999 and get trigger-happy police turning up on my doorstep.' Instead, he contacted a police officer he knew personally and set up a meeting with him, in which he produced the bin liner containing the gun from his trouser pocket. He was arrested and taken to police cells where he was questioned. Lionel Blackman, defending, said it was an 'exceptional case' and quoted Home Office guidance which says: 'No obstacle should be placed in the way of a person who wants to surrender firearms or ammunition to the police.' However, because possession of a firearm is a strict liability offence, Clarke's intent in handing it in was deemed to be irrelevant. Judge Christopher Critchlow told Clarke the minimum sentence for possessing a firearm is normally five years, but admitted it was a 'highly unusual' case. Instead, he gave Clarke a 12-month sentence, suspended for one year, and put him under a one-night curfew from 8pm tonight until 7am tomorrow. He told Clarke: 'I understand you were once a soldier, and you in particular ought to have appreciated the danger posed by such a weapon and should have asked the police to come and collect it right away.' Speaking after the sentencing, Clarke said: 'It's pathetic how Surrey Police have ignored Home Office policy. 'The Crown Prosecution Service has betrayed the public interest, all over a personal grudge. 'I think I should get a good citizen's award. I'm the only victim here.' The judge said he believed the case was unique. He told the court: 'This is the only case, as far as I know, where a person has been charged with such an offence, having surrendered such a weapon at the police station.' But he said that, despite the circumstances, sawn-off shotguns are used by 'serious violent criminals to commit very serious crimes'. The judge added: 'It must be appreciated that it is vital that these weapons are taken out of circulation immediately they are found. 'Otherwise, there is a risk a serious offence might be committed using such a weapon.' Clarke had stored the gun in a wooden chest at his home in Merstham, Redhill, Surrey, for safety after finding it in his garden, which backs on to a playing field, on March 16. He said he thought the gun might be a replica, but also feared it could have been a murder weapon. Clarke said he wanted to meet his contact, Chief Superintendent Adrian Harper, Divisional Commander for East Surrey, sooner, but the policeman was not available. He said he did not want to contact any other officers, and admitted: 'I've had a few run-ins with the police before. I know how the armed unit acts.' Clarke said he did not want to throw away the weapon, so handing it in was his only course of action. He added: 'I was more concerned that I would be done for wasting police time than anything else. It never even crossed my mind that I would be arrested.' When he was indeed arrested, Clarke said he was told the worst he could expect was a caution, which he protested he did not want as he had done 'the right thing'. The judge said there was no evidence suggesting that Clarke came to have the gun in his possession by any other means, but told him: 'Your account seems somewhat implausible but I am not prepared to find, bearing the burden and standard of proof and that I must be sure upon such matters, that it was other than as you have maintained.' Clarke, whose supporters in court included UK Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage, said: 'I hadn't done anything wrong. I wish I had thrown it in the lake, but unfortunately I didn't.' Mr Blackman said his client's actions were 'laudable' and that he should be receiving a reward, not punishment. He said: 'If there is any culpability on his part, it is his failure to act immediately and getting it into the safe custody of police. 'The reality is that many citizens of this country have reasons not to trust all policemen all the time, and this defendant has explained that he has reasons not to trust all policemen all the time.' Clarke was previously convicted of handling stolen goods in 2001, of possessing a stun-gun in 2002 and of affray in 2008. Speaking outside court, Mr Blackman said: 'As a matter of urgency, the Home Office should issue clear public guidelines on what to do when firearms are found. 'The public money spent on this trial could have been better spent publicising an amnesty for those who surrender firearms. 'Parliament should rethink the strict liability for possession of a firearm and the mandatory minimum sentence of five years.' Mr Farage hailed the sentencing as an 'outbreak of common sense' and said he was delighted by the outcome. He added: 'However, I still intend to write to every MP in this Parliament, and the next if necessary, to talk about the concept of strict liability. 'There is still a big question mark in people's minds over what they should do if they find a shotgun in their gardens. 'If you've been in trouble with the police, you're going to think twice.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236976/Soldier-given-suspended-sentence-handing-shotgun-police-given-award-instead.html

The climategate "scandal" was a giant load of hoo hah. In addition to the fact that the findings have been independently supported by many other groups worldwide, as well as the raw data being 100% freely available for anyone to pore over, the emails were evidence of very routine dealings that any scientist who has ever dealt in peer review journals and scientific journalism in general recognizes as part of the selection process. All of my scientist buddies were completely flabbergasted as to how that shit was interpreted. And lets not forget that of 11 years worth of emails, that's the closest "evidence" they found that even remotely suggests some kind of cover up. Wow, great sleuthing guys!

Fact: For any outcome of any given world situation at any given time, there will be a group of people who will benefit and profit from it. Being against climate change because a group of people (who remain much less numerous and influential than the opposition) stand to profit is completely ridiculous to me. It's also ridiculous to me when people keep whining about how much more important it is to be allowed to play freely inside their house when the issue at hand is that the house itself is in danger of collapsing. You have been kindly asked for years to stop fucking around and pick up a hammer and do some work. You have refused to do so willingly, and now you're upset cause someone wants to make you do it. Fuck off. And I won't even get into how infuriating it is for me to witness how science is interpreted by people, especially those who keep insisting that opposing evidence is even remotely close in scale and importance to the supporting one. It is tremendously impressive how the counter-movement has convinced so many people not because of possessing solid and substantial objective evidence, but because they enjoy the advantage of appealing to people's natural inclination towards agreeing with the "everything's gonna be fine" mentality, which heightens the perceived importance of said dissenting evidence.

Avatar 2

Read this elsewhere and thought it was interesting, though maybe irrelevant to what's going on right now on the show. Regarding the white flashes, when Sawyer helped Locke down the well with a rope:

Except I'm not.

I'm saying, it's just a bigger version of a Fleshlight. It doesn't even have a camera.

Yeah but they still shamelessly play it off like it's a direct sequel, happening after the events in Anchorman, which makes it even funnier.

Anchorman is in my top 5 funniest movies of all time, maybe top 3. In related news, Anchorman 2 already exists. It's called Wake Up Ron Burgundy, look it up. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423505/

PUERTO RICO FUCK YEA

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I agree with you, but for argument's sake... If I have a safe in my house, with $50 in it, and you give me $50 for safekeeping so we can share the $100 (plus interest) after a period of time, does that money become mine as soon as it goes in my safe?

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ In my case, I've always been fiending for a Touch for all the apps, but didn't think the tiny size and small capacity (I already have a 60GB iPod) really merited it. Now that this is out, I'm much more likely to cop it cause of the large screen and vastly more awesome apps. But again, there's still issues holding me back, so I'm waiting for the next generation ones and see if they've improved on it. I agree about the eye strain, Kindle has that on lock, but we'll see, people have the ability to adapt when the rest of the experience is pleasant enough. I prob spend the same amount of time reading shit online as I do real books, and eye strain is no longer an issue for me.

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ This is a Kindle killer and a new tablet category starter, not so much a netbook killer, though I'm sure it'll eat a bit into their sales. Did anybody seriously think the Kindle would be as big as it has become? With a similar price? And much more limited capability? Well, it did, and now there's the iPad.

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ This won't be even half as big as the iPhone, but you people are being seriously shortsighted on this thing. I'll bet once you have on your hands and fuck around with a few awesome apps you'll be like "fuck this thing is rad".

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ - no usb // this sucks, but there's an overpriced adapter most people won't mind getting - no cam // fuck this shit. Peeps are seriously overhyping cam on this without stopping to think how silly it is to take pictures with this. Lack of AR is the only drawback for me - no multitasking // dealbreaker for me, not for the vast majority of people - no flash // this is gay as fuck, agreed - outdated display (hello mirasol) // what's the current price point on these screens? - 1024*768 max resolution // that is perfectly fine on a 10" screen - fails at popular formats .avi, .mpg, .wmv, .mkv, .flv, .ogm, .vob and even .mov // this will get solved to watch web video, but dont expect to watch your pirated movies on it - apps only from the apple store // the way Apple likes it, and the way they're still #1 - 500$ + extras // the price point is excellent.

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ It's hilarious to me how all these people are calling it a big fail cause it doesn't fulfill their wildest esoteric desires right out of the box. Let's get some things straight. For one, this is NOT a niche product, this is a mass-market tablet. Tablets are niche because only a niche market needs their particular abilities. So were Blackberrys and smartphones until the iPhone came along. This brings tablet technology to everyone who thought they didn't need one, in a system that Steve Jobs wisely pointed out yesterday 75 million people already know how to use. It would have been stupid to spend time and money working on some fancy new UI for this thing. It is not a product for designers. The ability to use CS4 on this is completely unnecessary, and requires hardware specs too expensive and physically large to meet the aggressive price point and slim form factor. Apple is no longer in the hardware business. They are about content delivery; they create new platforms for delivering new kinds of content, make it as simple, neutral, and easy to use as possible, then step back, let people go nuts, and take a share of the profits. If Illustrator/Photoshop can't work on this in its current ideation, apps that scale to the existing specs will show up if the demand is there for it. I'd like to take one second to show you an illustration my friend made on his freaking non-pressure sensitive tiny ass iPhone: Step up. Amazing shit can be done if you got the skills for it, more so on a 10" screen. Multitouch apps, media, and content, once severely hampered by the iPhone's size, now have nothing to worry about. There will be a lot of awesome shit on the iPad, and it's not Apple's responsibility to develop it (only approve it). You only got the tiiiiiniest glimpse of what's possible contentwise on this platform at yesterday's unveiling. Camera? Fuck a camera. I already have one on my laptop, one on my phone, two extra webcams, and two point and shoots. I'm not gonna be walking around holding this big ass pad with both hands snapping flicks of shit. I barely ever use skype video (only about a third of Skype calls use video) and having a camera on this won't change that. 4:3 screen is the right choice. Movies are about the only thing that doesn't look better on a 4:3 screen that you hold in your hand. It's better for reading, writing, looking at pictures, etc. Movies can get letterboxed, I don't give a fuck. Put books, newspapers, and more importantly, college textbooks on this thing, and shit's a wrap. Apple is sitting back with an evil grin, hearing all this negative feedback, and twiddling their fingers in a "little do they know..." fashion.

Re: Official Jan 27 Apple Announcement Thread Islate?Itablet?Iphone4.0? Thread............ Apple won't put Flash on their shit cause then people will just make website apps you use through the browser and undermine their whole app store business. It's gay. I'm feeling the iPad though, but I don't think I'll hop on it till the 2nd gen.

Again, nothing from the description of that commercial suggests to me it focuses on telling you your choice is wrong or illegal:

I merged the other thread with the existing one. Continue discussion there. http://www.12ozprophet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133523

wat

Those shennanigans you aired out just put him over the "like" edge for me. That's fucking great if it's true.

I am anxiously awaiting to finish a big project I'm working on so I can cop Mass Effect 2 and put life on hold.