Blackpool airport pistol drama
26.07.08
A man who was caught with a gun and ammunition in his luggage on a flight through Blackpool Airport has avoided jail, the Gazette reports. Former bank manager Karl Crookall was branded ‘a victim of his own stupidity’ by a judge at Preston Crown Court on Thursday.
The 40-year-old attempted to bring the F92-self loading replica pistol back into Blackpool on a flight from Girona after buying it from a shop in Spain. But security officers at Blackpool Airport uncovered the gun and 49 rounds of blank cartridges in his hand luggage. Mr Crookall, who was with his wife and young son, was arrested immediately.
In an interview with police, Mr Crookall, who legally held a firearms licence, claimed he did not realise he could not bring the weapon into Britain and did not think he had done anything wrong.
In sentencing him to 28 days in prison, suspended for 12 months, Judge Stuart Baker said: ‘This is a potentially very serious case and had the circumstances been any different you may well be facing an immediate custodial sentence. I'm prepared to sentence you on the basis that, as your defence said, you seem to have been a victim of your own stupidity.’
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