£600 fine over stun gun find
08.04.09
An IT worker who bought a stun gun during a holiday in Thailand as a ‘novelty’ has been fined £600. Gary Bell, 44, from Methil in Fife, pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to being in possession of the prohibited weapon on 10 September last year when he was stopped at Edinburgh Airport.
Mr Bell arrived at the airport from Thailand via Amsterdam. The item was a torch that could be converted into a stun gun using a pin. Fiscal Depute, Sally Clark, said he told customs officers he had bought it as a novelty item, but was aware it could be used as a weapon.
Defence agent, Duncan Hughes, told Sheriff Derrick McIntyre: ‘It's a torch that can be converted into a stun gun with the insertion of a pin. He was having a meal in a restaurant in Thailand and there was a boy going round the tables selling the items. He thought it was funny. Obviously it's not.’
Mr Hughes said the gun, which cost around £11, was capable of immobilising a person and leaving them dazed for a few minutes. Sheriff McIntyre ordered the confiscation of the gun and fined Mr Bell, currently working as a minicab driver, £600.
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