Friday - February 04, 2011

should this prank be made a court case?  I have doubts, you may differ but it’s a fun read

Funny unless you were one of the teens in the car. Actually, it is funny but sadly the times have changed. In another world a long time ago, even the cops would have ignored this after seeing that there was no crime involved. But wait. In 2011, this is a crime of sorts because people have actually been killed on the city street in broad daylight, by an axe wielding madman. And not just the one off. But still, I think the authorities should cut a bit of slack here.  Don’t you?

See for yourself.

THE AXEMAN COMETH, CHASING KETCHUP COVERED FIANCEE

The Westmorland Gazette

By Kate Proctor

A MAN and his fiancee acted out a spoof axe attack to scare away three teenagers who regularly sat in a parked car near their home.

Smeared in blood red ketchup, John Powell’s fiancee pretended to be chased down a moonlit farm track as he ran behind her wielding a four feet long axe.

A court was told how Powell, 28, of Hagg End Farm, Crook, hatched the plan with Lucy Walton, 27, to spook the men parked in a lay-by at Cleabarrows Lane.

Magistrates were told Miss Walton arrived at the car and banged on the window with a terrified look, screaming: ‘Let me in, let me in’.

One of the teenagers in the car, Simon Jackson, 19, told South Lakeland Magistrates’ Court that the incident had left he and his friends petrified.

Presiding magistrate Mary Goldie adjourned the hearing for reports and said custody was an option.

Mr Jackson told the court: “We were parked in the lay-by playing cards when we saw a woman come from down the lane.

“She got to the car and was asking us to help her saying: ‘Let me in, let me in’. She was banging on the window in terror.

“Then he came with an axe and was tapping on the window.

“We were scared because we thought he was going to smash through it.”

He said the event left them ‘absolutely terrified’ and they drove back down the lane to Crook Road and called police.

The court was told the couple were later pulled over by officers in their car near to Windermere Golf Club.

Police cautioned Miss Walton and arrested Mr Powell, who works at Hawkshead Brewery.

Weeping as she gave evidence to the court, Miss Walton said the spoof attack had been her idea and a split-second decision.

She said they had wanted to scare the men, who she believed regularly parked in the lay-by next to their farmland.

“We’ve had problems with youths on the lane. We’d seen that car in the past and called police but thought this time we’d scare them ourselves,” she said.

“There’s litter and my horse had recently been injured because of people driving across the fields.”

“I waved to them and I was laughing, I don’t understand how they didn’t realise it was a joke.”

Mr Powell pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of possessing an axe in a public place and using behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress on October 20 2010.

He denied tapping on the window of the car with the axe and trying to get into the vehicle.

But magistrates said they believed he had done both, which made the sentencing options more severe.

Speaking to the Westmorland Gazette after the hearing, Mr Powell said he deeply regretted the incident but had felt forced to take matters into this own hands after years of problems with people parking in the lay-by.

“My fiancee’s family have been blighted by people parking up in that lay-by for the past 20 years.

“We spend hours every week clearing up litter and there’s been tyre marks all over our fields.

“We’ve phoned police countless times to get them to help us but we’ve had no support,” he said.

The couple have now had to cancel their wedding in Jamaica and a planned move to Australia as the court case prevents him travelling.

“This whole incident has ruined my life and I could be facing prison.

“I deeply regret everything but our family are the real victims in all of this.

“I can’t believe something this stupid has come to court,” he said.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 02/04/2011 at 11:48 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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