From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] BOOBY-TRAP MAN CLEARED OF MAKING EXPLOSIVE 201745 JUL 00 By Jenny Eagle, PA News An agricultural contractor who was wounded by a booby-trap he had made to deter burglars was today found not guilty of making a home-made explosive. The jury at Derby Crown Court also cleared Leonard Fountain, 68, of Ivy Cottage, Twisses Bank, Boylestone, Derbyshire, of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Fountain had admitted six charges of having a gun without a certificate and one charge of possessing ammunition without a certificate. He was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years and fined �2,500 for the seven charges he admitted. An order was also made for the destruction of all the weapons. Six guns and ammunition were found at his home when police and paramedics were called there on September 10 last year after he was accidentally wounded by the booby-trap, the court had heard. Passing sentence Judge John Wait said: "Any one of those guns is capable of killing people and there is a terrible danger that such guns could fall into the wrong hands. "You were not permitted to hold any of those guns. You were conscious of the risk of burglars in your area that is why you took the extraordinary steps that you did in manufacturing that device. What your own home provided was almost an arsenal for criminals if they were to break into your own home." The Judge said he had given Fountain a suspended prison sentence because of his personal circumstances. He said he took into account his age, the good character comments made by witnesses in the trial and the fact that Mr Fountain and his wife were not in good health. Fountain had denied possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and denied making an explosive substance between December 1998 and September last year. Earlier in the trial, Edward Barr, prosecuting, said a firearms officer was called to Fountain's home on September 10. He said the officer found six guns including a pump-action shotgun in a cabinet locked with a padlock but none of the weapons had certificates and the padlock was not sufficient. John Burgess, defending, said Fountain realised what he had done was foolish. He said: "These were not weapons he was using. He was a man that tended to collect things, he also had a number of air-guns that his son had collected over the years. There is no suggestion he used the weapons in any unlawful way." He added: "A number of those items were stored in a cabinet with a lock on it. Even though the firearms officer considered it was insufficient at least there was a degree of protection from others taking them." Mr Barr had told the court that Fountain said he had made a home-made device to deter burglars. "It was a home-made shotgun lined up and angled towards the entrance of the shed door. Connected to that was some string and the firearm was detonated by a battery circuit. When the door was opened the spring activated the firearm," he said. "Mr Fountain was in a hurry that day and was under pressure from a farmer. The booby-trap was there because he was annoyed because burglars had previously been to his home and taken tools from his shed and his daughter who lived up the road had also been burgled." Mr Burgess had told the court the firearm was packed with a home-made substance which would make a bang to alert Fountain if anyone was on his property. Kenneth Pantling Nock's Grim Truth - In proportion as you give the State power to do things for you, you give it power to do things to you; and the State invariably makes as little as it can of the one power and as much as it can of the other. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
