Oresai
12-10-2008, 02:57 PM
Police Machine Gun Sent To Granny
1 hour 54 mins ago
Sky News
A grandmother has told of her terror at opening a parcel she had been expecting - only to find she had been sent a police machine gun.
Catherine Roots had been expecting a horse harness to be delivered to her home in Winfrith, Dorset.
But she got a nasty shock when she saw a black Heckler and Koch weapon staring back at her.
The package was delivered by mistake and should have been sent to firearms officers at a nearby police HQ.
Police later explained a gun supply company made a mistake with the postcode when they sent it to Dorset Police HQ in Winfrith near Dorchester.
Instead of sending it to DT2 8DZ, a clerk wrote down Mrs Roots' postcode, which differs only by a single letter.
Mrs Roots, who is in her 50s and runs a smallholding, said: "I was absolutely and totally shocked, and petrified.
"If it had got into the wrong hands the consequences wouldn't bear thinking about.
"After I contacted the police two armed officers turned up and they were as shocked as I was."
Mrs Roots was later told the weapon was in fact a realistic-looking training gun that fires infra-red beams.
Assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting, of Dorset Police, said: "Because this item isn't actually a firearm it is lawful for the company, the suppliers, to use a courier as they did.
"I hasten to add if it was a real firearm we would transport it by hand, making sure that no such error like this could occur.
"The item is perfectly safe and can't cause anyone any harm but it does look like one of our firearms."
Dorset Police is now seeking assurances from its unnamed supplier that such a mistake could never happen again.
1 hour 54 mins ago
Sky News
A grandmother has told of her terror at opening a parcel she had been expecting - only to find she had been sent a police machine gun.
Catherine Roots had been expecting a horse harness to be delivered to her home in Winfrith, Dorset.
But she got a nasty shock when she saw a black Heckler and Koch weapon staring back at her.
The package was delivered by mistake and should have been sent to firearms officers at a nearby police HQ.
Police later explained a gun supply company made a mistake with the postcode when they sent it to Dorset Police HQ in Winfrith near Dorchester.
Instead of sending it to DT2 8DZ, a clerk wrote down Mrs Roots' postcode, which differs only by a single letter.
Mrs Roots, who is in her 50s and runs a smallholding, said: "I was absolutely and totally shocked, and petrified.
"If it had got into the wrong hands the consequences wouldn't bear thinking about.
"After I contacted the police two armed officers turned up and they were as shocked as I was."
Mrs Roots was later told the weapon was in fact a realistic-looking training gun that fires infra-red beams.
Assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting, of Dorset Police, said: "Because this item isn't actually a firearm it is lawful for the company, the suppliers, to use a courier as they did.
"I hasten to add if it was a real firearm we would transport it by hand, making sure that no such error like this could occur.
"The item is perfectly safe and can't cause anyone any harm but it does look like one of our firearms."
Dorset Police is now seeking assurances from its unnamed supplier that such a mistake could never happen again.