Suspended sentence for man with 'small arsenal' of weapon at Cardiff Airport
17.10.06
A man found in possession of a 'small arsenal of weapons' when stopped by customs officers at Cardiff Airport was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence yesterday.
Officers at the airport discovered two push daggers, a knuckle-duster and three asps (police-style batons) during a random search of 59-year-old Malcolm Lloyd's luggage in March. Cardiff Crown Court heard that Lloyd, who had been returning home from a trip to Thailand, told officers the knuckle-duster and asps were for self protection, while the daggers were for gutting fish.
Lloyd, from Pontllanfraith, south Wales, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing dangerous articles at an airport. Anthony Vine, defending, said Lloyd had only brought the weapons through the airport in order to take them home.
He said: 'I don't believe there is any suggestion these weapons were intended at any stage to be used by him while in the airplane or while in the aerodrome. They were in his hold luggage, not his hand luggage.'
Sentencing Lloyd, Judge Stephen Hopkins QC told him: 'I consider you to be more stupid than dangerous. I have no doubt you are not the first and won't be the last stupid person to have bought such items as souvenirs.'
'But what is worrying is that your reason for buying them was for self protection because of trouble you had with local youths. What precisely you were going to use the asps (batons) and knuckle-duster for, bearing in mind you were dealing with troublesome children, and the amount of damage you could case with these articles, is something I find very worrying indeed.'
He said that Lloyd's explanation that the 'vicious-looking' push daggers were for gutting fish was 'most unlikely'. The judge added: 'Worryingly, when your home was searched following your being stopped at Cardiff airport, local police recovered further items - three replica guns, a flick knife, a police baton and another knuckle-duster.'
'And, in January, when you had been arrested for common assault - albeit those proceedings were subsequently abandoned by the prosecution - and police searched your home, they found a police baton and a knuckle duster.'
He sentenced Lloyd to eight months imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently and suspended for two years. The judge also made a Prohibited Activity Requirement Order against him. This banned Lloyd from possessing, carrying or using anything more dangerous than kitchen cutlery.
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