Thursday 5 April 2012

How Not To Acquire ‘Stability’…

Jason Martin…brandished a BB gun at armed police before holing up in the cubicle and firing shots at them through the gap in the door, Bristol Crown Court heard.

He was flushed out after officers spoke to him through the toilet door.
Pity they didn’t simply shoot him.

And it all stemmed from a simple traffic stop:
John Penny, prosecuting, said police driving on Temple Way saw a red Ford Focus with a broken back window and they pulled it over.

He said: "The car stopped. Immediately it did so Mr Martin, the front seat passenger, jumped from the car and ran off.

"He crossed six lanes of traffic and ran towards the car park of the Holiday Inn.

"PC Gillard chased after him and, as he got by the Holiday Inn, Mr Martin turned around and pointed something at PC Gillard.

"He saw a reflection from a metallic barrel and saw the outline of a gun. He was nervous and he slowed down and sought cover."
And called armed units:
Armed police converged on a block of flats and, with people's help, tracked Martin via a laundry room to a toilet.

Mr Penny said: "The toilet door was locked and they shouted 'Armed police, open the door'. The door opened two inches and through the gap the barrel of the gun was pointed. It was fired at the officers. It quickly became apparent that this was a BB gun.

"Understandably the officers were extremely alarmed at having a gun pointed at them.

The gun was fired a number of times, the door was shut and the gun was fired in the toilet.

"In due course the door opened, the gun was thrown out, the door was shut and re-locked and after some talking Mr Martin was persuaded to come out of the toilet and was arrested."
Well, mitigation should be good, at least…
Virginia Cornwall, defending, said her client had just acquired the gun, with a view to buying it and using it for target practice.
Oh. Right. Clearly it’s going to be as lame as all the others.

First offence? Nope:
The court was told in July and August last year he was handed three suspended jail terms for battery, causing actual bodily harm and causing criminal damage.
Long history of drug use, alcohol abuse and low-level wuckfittery? Yup:
Miss Cornwall said her client had left home and "sofa hopped", returning to Class A drugs and mostly alcohol use.

She said: "He had no stability. He was associating with those likely to lead him into offending."

The court heard Martin saw keeping drug-free as a priority as well as getting qualified in order to find work.
Personally, I’d see ‘not getting into a standoff with armed police when I’ve only got a BB gun’ as a priority, but each to their own…

12 comments:

A salt and battered said...

"Pity they didn’t simply shoot him."

Patton and Sgt Bales are both credited with these words although any psychopath would readily mouth them.

Anonymous said...

What calibre of person are being employed as police officers theses days? A BB gun!! A paintball stings more than a BB pellet.

Bloody hell, why didn't they just kick the toilet door in and flush the piece of shit down the loo?

Anonymouslemming said...

@Henry

Once you know it's a BB gun, things can (and should) change.

But until you know for absolute certain that a BB gun is the only thing involved, things are moving fast, you see a shiny pistol shaped frame and a barrel. If you stand around long enough to find out what you're up against, the coroner can include it in his findings.

Anonymous said...

I know Melv is going to love me for this but....they should have shot the tosser - that'll have learned him....LARGE!

microdave said...

Jason Martin should have followed this simple advice.

Anonymous said...

@anonymouslemming

He'd already fired it at the police. Once they'd heard it go "phut" instead of "bang", I think they would have been well aware that Martin wasn't packing a Glock 9.

Melv said...

Good afternoon, Ranter.

I compliment a consistency to be found in your standards. The shock which follows a first encounter with them is offset by the guarantee of no future disappointments.

Anonymous said...

Cheers Melv!

DerekP said...

Henry Crun - "He'd already fired it at the police. Once they'd heard it go "phut" instead of "bang", I think they would have been well aware that Martin wasn't packing a Glock 9."

With guns it's not safe to make assumptions such as:
'I know the gun he fired was a pellet gun. That pellet gun has been out of my sight since then, but surely the gun he is now pointing at me must be a pellet gun?'

selsey.steve said...

I was an armed police officer for almost thirty years. As far as I'm concerned, as soon as that barrel came round the edge of the toilet door I would have fired all six rounds through the door, in a box pattern, using rapid fire.
Only then would I have kicked open the toilet door to view the corpse, because that's what would be there.

Anonymous said...

Much as it pains me to allow the Plod to fire, this is a case where they would be justified in shooting. You do not ask if it is "real or memorex" the weapon is drawn and intent has been shown. Publicand their safetly takes priority. Take the shot. Thoughts in this situation will come later... Much later I'm afraid. See you at the Counselling session.

JuliaM said...

"..any psychopath would readily mouth them."

*shrugs* I doubt this guy would be any loss to society, frankly.

"Bloody hell, why didn't they just kick the toilet door in and flush the piece of shit down the loo?"

'elf 'n safety, mate, 'elf 'n safety...

" If you stand around long enough to find out what you're up against, the coroner can include it in his findings."

Quite! Although they would sound different, surely, as
Henry points out later?

"Jason Martin should have followed this simple advice."

That video should be required viewing in ALL inner London schools!

"Only then would I have kicked open the toilet door to view the corpse, because that's what would be there."

And yet curiously, the guy here survived four bullets AND a tasering..