A story making waves on Twitter at the moment is about an ex-soldier who has ended up facing 5 years in prison when he is sentenced in the near future. His crime? Handing in a discarded shotgun to the police.

Yes, this sounds a bit nutty doesn’t it? Well, it all boils down to the fact that possession of an illegal firearm comes under what is known as  ‘Strict Liability’ – essentially meaning that no matter what your excuse, you’re still at fault and have no defence. Kind of like speeding in a vehicle, except the minimum sentence (if found guilty, of course) for this crime is 5 years in prison.

This isn’t the entire story though. The man, Paul Clarke, originally saw a bin liner in his garden, near a fence which borders public parkland. Going to get rid of it, he found it had a sawn-off shotgun along with some ammunition inside. He took it into his house and the next day rang the police to make an appointment to come in to the station. He took in the weapon, took it out of the bag in the interview room and was promptly arrested for possession of an illegal firearm.

Jump forward to the court case, and even with the judge, prosecution and nearly everyone else realising that Mr Clarke was trying to help the police, the jury took 20 minutes to agree with the judge in the ‘Strict Liability’ corner and return a guilty verdict. Sentencing has not taken place yet.

BUT – there’s always a but, isn’t there? Well, this time is no exception. Here are some points as to why he is now getting done for this:

  • Flyers posted around the town Clarke lives in specifically noted that civilians should report any weapons they find, and explicitly to not touch them, move them or bring them in to the station themselves (although other police forces have asked people to bring in the weapons on occasion).
  • Clarke did not tell the police over the phone that he had a weapon of any description. Leaving it kind of ambiguous, he just said that he needed to speak with them in the station.
  • Clarke not only touched the weapon, but moved it into his house. This means he is, in theory, guilty of possession of an illegal weapon. If he had left it in the garden where he found it, he would have had no problems.
  • Clarke waited until the next day to report it. He could well have been waiting for day time to arrange an appointment but I doubt the police would have minded the call in this circumstance.
  • Clarke was bloody stupid to touch the thing anyway, aside from any criminal law dictating what he should have done. Leaving your prints on a weapon which has been discarded for whatever reason is seldom a good idea.

So, cue the world-wide storm raging as we speak. Everything and everyone from the police service, legal system handling the case, jury and law itself being blamed for this weird scenario are only making matters worse.

The only thing that matters, in my eyes, about this case is that here is a man who tried to do the right thing, albeit in an absent-minded way, and may well end up in prison for his trouble. This cannot, and should not, stand.

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