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SAS man pleads guilty to illegal possession of Glock - gets 18 months

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  • SAS man pleads guilty to illegal possession of Glock - gets 18 months

    He had the illegal pistol for three years - not like he was caught at the airport in 2007 with it. He fell into the coma two years after bringing the gun in country and kept it for another year.

    SAS war hero jailed after 'betrayal'
    An SAS soldier has been jailed for possessing a “war trophy” pistol presented to him by the Iraqi Army for outstanding service.
    SAS war hero jailed after 'betrayal' - Telegraph

    By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

    9:00PM GMT 10 Nov 2012

    Comments138 Comments

    Sgt Danny Nightingale, a special forces sniper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 18 months in military detention by a court martial last week.

    His sentence was described last night as the “betrayal of a war hero”, made worse because it was handed down in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

    Sgt Nightingale had planned to fight the charge of illegally possessing the 9mm Glock.

    But his lawyer said he pleaded guilty after being warned that he could otherwise face a five-year sentence.

    The soldier had hoped for leniency given the circumstances. At the court martial, even the prosecution described him as a serviceman of exemplary character, who had served his country for 17 years, 11 in the special forces.
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    The court was told that he returned to Britain in a hurry after two friends were killed in Iraq, leaving his equipment — including the pistol — to be packed up by colleagues.

    It accepted evidence from expert witnesses that he suffered severe memory loss due to a brain injury.

    Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor, presiding over the court martial, could have spared the soldier prison by passing a suspended sentence. Instead he handed down the custodial term.

    Sgt Nightingale and his family chose to waive the anonymity usually given to members of the special forces.

    His wife, Sally, said her husband’s sentence was a “disgrace”. She called him a “hero who had been betrayed”. She said she and the couple’s two daughters, aged two and five, faced losing their home after his Army pay was stopped.

    The soldier’s former commanding officer and politicians have called for the sentence to be overturned.

    Lt Col Richard Williams, who won a Military Cross in Afghanistan in 2001 and was Sgt Nightingale’s commanding officer in Iraq, said the sentence “clearly needed to be overturned immediately”.

    He said: “His military career has been ruined and his wife and children face being evicted from their home — this is a total betrayal of a man who dedicated his life to the service of his country.”

    Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP for Newark and a former infantry officer, said he planned to take up the case with the Defence Secretary. Simon McKay, Sgt Nightingale’s lawyer, said: “On Remembrance Sunday, when the nation remembers its war heroes, my client — one of their number — is in a prison cell.

    "I consider the sentence to be excessive and the basis of the guilty plea unsafe. It is a gross miscarriage of justice and grounds of appeal are already being prepared.”

    In 2007, Sgt Nightingale was serving in Iraq as a member of Task Force Black, a covert counter-terrorist unit that conducted operations under orders to capture and kill members of al-Qaeda.

    He also helped train members of a secret counter-terrorist force called the Apostles. At the end of the training he was presented with the Glock, which he planned to donate to his regiment as a war trophy.

    But in November 2007, two of Sgt Nightingale’s closest friends, Sgt John

    Battersby and Cpl Lee Fitzsimmons, were killed in a helicopter crash. He accompanied both bodies back to Britain and helped arrange the funerals.

    In Iraq, his equipment was packed by colleagues, one of whom placed the pistol inside a container that was sent first to the SAS regimental headquarters in Hereford, then to his home where it remained unopened until 2010.

    In 2009, Sgt Nightingale, now a member of the SAS selection staff, took part in a 200-mile fund-raising trek in Brazil. He collapsed after 30 miles and fell into a coma for three days.

    He recovered but his memory was severely damaged, according to two expert witnesses, including Prof Michael Kopleman of King’s College, London, an authority on memory loss.

    In May, 2010, Sgt Nightingale was living in a house with another soldier close to the regiment’s headquarters when he was posted to Afghanistan at short notice.

    During the tour, his housemate’s estranged wife claimed her husband had assaulted her and kept a stash of ammunition in the house. West Mercia Police raided the house and found the Glock, still in its container.

    Sgt Nightingale’s court martial did not dispute that the pistol had been a gift. It accepted statements from expert witnesses, including Dr Susan Young, a forensic psychologist also from King’s College, London. She said that he probably had no recollection that he had the gun.

    The court also accepted that Sgt Nightingale had suffered severe memory loss. But the judge did not believe that he had no recollection of being in possession of the weapon.
    Last edited by troung; 13 Nov 12,, 03:13.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
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    Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

    Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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    • #3
      Fucking stupid, its sad to think that the Britannia that once rules the waves is now managed (as opposed to governed) by namby pambys that are afraid of a pistol in the hands of a war hero.
      "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

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      • #4
        Tankie and Mr. Lukin are gonna be pissed.....

        Wtf is wrong with some of these morons???

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        • #5
          I see they won't even mention the names of the cowardly judge.
          sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
          If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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          • #6
            Originally posted by USSWisconsin View Post
            I see they won't even mention the names of the cowardly judge.
            Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor is infact the Judge and is well known in military circles for his 'obscure' sentences.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by YellowFever View Post
              Tankie and Mr. Lukin are gonna be pissed.....

              Wtf is wrong with some of these morons???
              Oh yes indeed. I have a suspicion they are not telling us the whole story here for reasons best known to themselves. It states in the report that in 2009 he was in a coma for three days and when recovered his ''memory severely damaged'' then in 2010 he was posted to A'fstan. I would be very surprised if the SAS/Navy Seals/ USSF would have a man ''severely damaged memory'' in their unit.

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              • #8
                This isn't justice. It's a lynching.
                sigpic

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                • #9
                  FFS , his life screwed up , his pension gone , won't be surprised if he goes renegade .
                  Last edited by tankie; 13 Nov 12,, 11:32.

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                  • #10
                    Why the hell do we excuse Ninjas for such wreckless behaviours. If anything, we demand more of them. Ammunition in the house? Weapons in the house? A veteran SAS man and a Sgt to boot? He maybe the best warrior on the battlefield but that does not excuse him of wife abuse and regulation violations, especially from a leader of men. I can overlook a drunken brawl here and there but beating your wife?

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
                      Why the hell do we excuse Ninjas for such wreckless behaviours. If anything, we demand more of them. Ammunition in the house? Weapons in the house? A veteran SAS man and a Sgt to boot? He maybe the best warrior on the battlefield but that does not excuse him of wife abuse and regulation violations, especially from a leader of men. I can overlook a drunken brawl here and there but beating your wife?
                      Colonel, he's not the one that beat his wife, it was the soldier he shared a house with, at least that's the way I read it. After all, he was on tour...

                      In May, 2010, Sgt Nightingale was living in a house with another soldier close to the regiment’s headquarters when he was posted to Afghanistan at short notice.

                      During the tour, his housemate’s estranged wife claimed her husband had assaulted her and kept a stash of ammunition in the house. West Mercia Police raided the house and found the Glock, still in its container
                      Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                      Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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                      • #12
                        Your right nuts , more then meets the eye .

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
                          Colonel, he's not the one that beat his wife, it was the soldier he shared a house with, at least that's the way I read it. After all, he was on tour...
                          I so stand corrected and apologize for my error and false accusation

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                          • #14
                            I'd be with you Colonel if the soldier was a bad citizen. We honor veterans, but that obviously doesn't give them an excuse to break domestic law.

                            It makes me think... our own boys are damn near strip-searched for contraband. I wonder what our own military courts would do if a soldier was caught with a semi-automatic handgun, a trophy from Iraq? Would he get 18 months? I doubt it. But it wouldn't be a simple note in his file.

                            I am into militaria, and collect machine guns. These are legal, but heavily regulated, and you've got to jump through some severe hoops to own one. Interestingly, from WW2 to Vietnam, our boys were allowed to bring back live war trophies, and there are thousands and thousands of legal weapons in the USA , everything from MP-40 Machine Pistols, to MG-34 and 42 variants, and much in-between. As these gentlemen leave this world, relatives are finding Nazi machine guns in crates, with bring-back paperwork, and are striking it rich, as an MG-42 bring-back sells for $40,000+. A Schmeisser with capture papers is worth $15,000. But today? Can't even bring back a hand gun.

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                            • #15
                              This isn't justice. It's a lynching.
                              He had the gun for three years, two of which were before he went into the coma. Doesn't deny the gun is his. And he plead guilty, getting a reduced sentence.
                              Last edited by troung; 14 Nov 12,, 04:16.
                              To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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