Watson, 37, was taken into custody following the incident and was caught in possession of a lock knife and drugs when he was searched by officers.
He went on to admit charges of possession of a knife blade and or sharp pointed article in a public place and possession of a controlled drug of class B.
But during sentencing this week, Watson was on the receiving end of high praise from Judge Shane Collery.
No, not another barmy judge - for once! The 'incident' referred to was something quite different to what you might think...
Judge Collery said: “It’s an unusual case and in many ways the public should be thanking him for his actions that day.
“I think you deserve that thanks, you didn’t know the guns were fake and you thought there was a real risk to the public.
“It was a brave thing to do.
“You and another man were going past on bikes and saw this man with the firearms and stopped and challenged. At the time, police saw that there was a tussle as you were trying to get the arms off him.”
And were the police grateful for this help from the public, as they always claim? Reader, this is Essex Police, and they were not...
The court was told Watson had been summoned to crown court because he had originally been charged with affray. However, the charge was dropped.
Presumably even the CPS realised their chances of getting a conviction were slim once the jury heard the full details, if the idiot plod low-hanging fruit pickers didn't!
Watson was handed an absolute discharge for the knife possession and a £20 fine for carrying the drugs. He was also ordered to pay a £34 victim surcharge.
We aren't told what the nutter carrying the two fake firearms in public got. I mean, even Essex Police aren't so useless they didn't charge him, surely?
We have long castigated our cowboy Judges but along comes Shane with a soupçon of redemption.
ReplyDeleteJust the usual precipitant stupidity from the likes of WC Jaded's gang.