The Brits always claimed moral superiority because they banned guns so they would not become the "Wild West" like in America.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003232817807441&rtmo=fqasYYls&atmo=ooo oo0Qb&pg=/et/00/8/4/npris04.html
Gang fires shots in court to free prisoners
By Michael Fleet
TWO prisoners escaped from a magistrates' courtroom yesterday when two gunmen burst in and fired shots into the roof.
One man had a shotgun and the other a pistol when they entered the courtroom in Slough, Berkshire, where three men faced burglary charges. Four shots were fired as court officials and members of the public ducked for cover. Two of the prisoners, Ricky Loveridge, 22, from Feltham, south-west London, and Richard Hurley, 19, from Wraysbury, Berkshire, pushed past private security guards and ran from the court with the gunmen.
A plain clothes detective who tried to stop the getaway was pistol-whipped by one gunman and was treated at the scene for cuts. The incident lasted less than a minute and the men escaped in a silver Subaru Impreza. Both men have gipsy connections and local camps were being searched by police yesterday.
Last night, police arrested a 22-year-old man near Maidenhead, Berkshire. He was being interviewed by detectives on suspicion of being unlawfully at large. It is thought the men burst into the wrong courtroom first and then went into the correct one seconds after Loveridge and Hurley had been brought up from the cells.
The gunmen were wearing police-style fluorescent jackets and caps, and pulled balaclava masks over their faces. An accomplice in the getaway vehicle wore similar clothing. Supt Brian Langston, of Thames Valley Police, said the armed breakout was "completely disproportionate" to the scale of the offences.
The charges are believed to relate to burglaries of commercial premises in Berkshire. Both the escaped defendants were on remand, Loveridge at Bullingdon jail, Oxford, and Hurley at Reading Young Offenders' Institute. The third man in the dock, Terry Downs, made no effort to escape.
The vehicle, with the registration plate M817 GGT, headed for Windsor and is thought to have been driven on to the M4. There were reports that as it joined the motorway shots were fired into the air. A police helicopter crew helped the search for the vehicle and police appealed to the public and criminals for assistance to trace the gang.
An uncle of Ricky Loveridge pleaded with his nephew to give himself up. The man, who did not want to be named, said: "I wish he would come back and get himself sorted out. I think he will because he was just probably pumped up from the situation. He's not really that way inclined. As a guess, I would say he's been pulled along in the heat of the moment." "
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said lawyers had been preparing to apply for the men to be further remanded in custody at the hearing, but there had been no concern about security at the court.
Bill Miles, the assistant clerk to the justices at the court, said: "One police officer was hit with a gun butt, but thankfully no one else in the building, whether they be staff, magistrates, other court users or members of the public, was injured." A full investigation and security review will be held.
Richard Wareham, who was sitting outside the courtroom, said he saw the gang burst out. "It was all over in seconds," he said, but he was "still very shaken". Majinda Singh, 21, who was due to appear before magistrates after Hurley and Loveridge, said there was chaos as the gunmen charged into the room. "It was absolute madness. It reminded me of the film Heat. Me and my mate ducked for cover."
There were no police in uniform in the court room, but a private firm, Premier Prison Security, had two men in the dock and two more in the court. The company said: "The defendants were not handcuffed. It is not normal for prisoners to be handcuffed in court unless the magistrates or ourselves specifically request it."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000.
-- 30 --
For a really interesting site, check out http://www.gun.demon.co.uk/blairsafe3.htm
It lists on a day by day basis, with links, all incidents involving firearms use/abuse in the UK from Jan. 1 to date. fascinating insight into the mess over there.
Here's just a sample:
JULY
2nd - Double shooting in Toxteth , Liverpool
5th - Those nasty handguns again , this time in a robbery (beats me where they're all coming from , after all weren't they banned !)- Armed robbery in Ruislip
6th - "Neighbour arrested after man shot dead"
8th - Air guns in the North-East
10th - Two women shot dead in greater Manchester - Killer hangs himself
14th - One man shot dead and one injured and under armed guard in hospital
17th - Dunbar, Scotland, A teenager has been accidentally shot in head by his stepbrother. Police have confiscated a .22 cal rifle while they investigate.
20th - London, N16 - Handguns used in armed robbery
20th - Toxteth, Liverpool. Two men shot in double shooting in same street as earlier in the month (see 2nd July)
22nd - Wembley , NW London. Jeweller shot and killed by robber
24th - Armed police shoot gunman
24th - A man has been arrested after shots were fired in Speyside , Scotland. It has been alleged he was in possession of a .22 handgun and a .22 rifle.
(source: Aberdeen Press & Journal)
26th - Teenager dies after shooting accident - (see 17th July)
27th - Reports of shots from a handgun being fired at police near Croydon
29th - Shooting in Birmingham
31st - Mass shooting outside Peckham nightclub with automatic weapons, 8 injured
31st - Shot fired at Luton Court
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited August 03, 2000).]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003232817807441&rtmo=fqasYYls&atmo=ooo oo0Qb&pg=/et/00/8/4/npris04.html
Gang fires shots in court to free prisoners
By Michael Fleet
TWO prisoners escaped from a magistrates' courtroom yesterday when two gunmen burst in and fired shots into the roof.
One man had a shotgun and the other a pistol when they entered the courtroom in Slough, Berkshire, where three men faced burglary charges. Four shots were fired as court officials and members of the public ducked for cover. Two of the prisoners, Ricky Loveridge, 22, from Feltham, south-west London, and Richard Hurley, 19, from Wraysbury, Berkshire, pushed past private security guards and ran from the court with the gunmen.
A plain clothes detective who tried to stop the getaway was pistol-whipped by one gunman and was treated at the scene for cuts. The incident lasted less than a minute and the men escaped in a silver Subaru Impreza. Both men have gipsy connections and local camps were being searched by police yesterday.
Last night, police arrested a 22-year-old man near Maidenhead, Berkshire. He was being interviewed by detectives on suspicion of being unlawfully at large. It is thought the men burst into the wrong courtroom first and then went into the correct one seconds after Loveridge and Hurley had been brought up from the cells.
The gunmen were wearing police-style fluorescent jackets and caps, and pulled balaclava masks over their faces. An accomplice in the getaway vehicle wore similar clothing. Supt Brian Langston, of Thames Valley Police, said the armed breakout was "completely disproportionate" to the scale of the offences.
The charges are believed to relate to burglaries of commercial premises in Berkshire. Both the escaped defendants were on remand, Loveridge at Bullingdon jail, Oxford, and Hurley at Reading Young Offenders' Institute. The third man in the dock, Terry Downs, made no effort to escape.
The vehicle, with the registration plate M817 GGT, headed for Windsor and is thought to have been driven on to the M4. There were reports that as it joined the motorway shots were fired into the air. A police helicopter crew helped the search for the vehicle and police appealed to the public and criminals for assistance to trace the gang.
An uncle of Ricky Loveridge pleaded with his nephew to give himself up. The man, who did not want to be named, said: "I wish he would come back and get himself sorted out. I think he will because he was just probably pumped up from the situation. He's not really that way inclined. As a guess, I would say he's been pulled along in the heat of the moment." "
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said lawyers had been preparing to apply for the men to be further remanded in custody at the hearing, but there had been no concern about security at the court.
Bill Miles, the assistant clerk to the justices at the court, said: "One police officer was hit with a gun butt, but thankfully no one else in the building, whether they be staff, magistrates, other court users or members of the public, was injured." A full investigation and security review will be held.
Richard Wareham, who was sitting outside the courtroom, said he saw the gang burst out. "It was all over in seconds," he said, but he was "still very shaken". Majinda Singh, 21, who was due to appear before magistrates after Hurley and Loveridge, said there was chaos as the gunmen charged into the room. "It was absolute madness. It reminded me of the film Heat. Me and my mate ducked for cover."
There were no police in uniform in the court room, but a private firm, Premier Prison Security, had two men in the dock and two more in the court. The company said: "The defendants were not handcuffed. It is not normal for prisoners to be handcuffed in court unless the magistrates or ourselves specifically request it."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000.
-- 30 --
For a really interesting site, check out http://www.gun.demon.co.uk/blairsafe3.htm
It lists on a day by day basis, with links, all incidents involving firearms use/abuse in the UK from Jan. 1 to date. fascinating insight into the mess over there.
Here's just a sample:
JULY
2nd - Double shooting in Toxteth , Liverpool
5th - Those nasty handguns again , this time in a robbery (beats me where they're all coming from , after all weren't they banned !)- Armed robbery in Ruislip
6th - "Neighbour arrested after man shot dead"
8th - Air guns in the North-East
10th - Two women shot dead in greater Manchester - Killer hangs himself
14th - One man shot dead and one injured and under armed guard in hospital
17th - Dunbar, Scotland, A teenager has been accidentally shot in head by his stepbrother. Police have confiscated a .22 cal rifle while they investigate.
20th - London, N16 - Handguns used in armed robbery
20th - Toxteth, Liverpool. Two men shot in double shooting in same street as earlier in the month (see 2nd July)
22nd - Wembley , NW London. Jeweller shot and killed by robber
24th - Armed police shoot gunman
24th - A man has been arrested after shots were fired in Speyside , Scotland. It has been alleged he was in possession of a .22 handgun and a .22 rifle.
(source: Aberdeen Press & Journal)
26th - Teenager dies after shooting accident - (see 17th July)
27th - Reports of shots from a handgun being fired at police near Croydon
29th - Shooting in Birmingham
31st - Mass shooting outside Peckham nightclub with automatic weapons, 8 injured
31st - Shot fired at Luton Court
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited August 03, 2000).]
