Speed camera destroyer jailed
PC Akers stands by the broken speed camera
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Wednesday, 06, Sep 2006 03:21
A man who blew up a traffic camera after it flashed him for speeding has been jailed for four months.
Craig Moore, 28, of Grampian Way, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, admitted destroying the Watchman camera in Hyde, Greater Manchester, last month and was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street crown court today.
The court heard how Moore was flashed by the camera when he was driving a Ford Transit van he had been issued with by his employers, Vital Rail.
Apparently fearing that he might lose his job as a result of any speeding conviction, Moore went back to the site later that evening and used an explosive obtained from his welding job to blow up the camera.
Video footage of the van driving towards the camera and then stopping alongside it at about 23:54 BST on Sunday August 14th was shown at court.
After about three minutes, sparks can be seen coming from the camera before it explodes.
Police were able to track the van to an address in Doncaster where Moore lived and then moved to arrest him.
The damage to the camera, which works differently to the more common Gatso type of recording device, was estimated at £12,000 and forensic scientists confirmed that the explosion was caused by thermite, a substance Moore used in his rail repair job.
Speaking after today's sentencing, PC Mark Akers of Greater Manchester police, who led the investigation, said: "Instead of just accepting that he had been caught travelling above the speed limit, Moore decided to blow the camera apart.
"He obviously thought that by destroying the main camera he was destroying all the evidence. But a combination of hard work and the latest technology led to his conviction.
"I hope the punishment and the attention this case has attracted will serve as a strong deterrent to others who think this type of behaviour is acceptable."
But Moore's jail sentence has raised questions among road safety campaigners about the efficiency of speed cameras.
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign, said: "We have got to the point where literally millions of motorists wish they had the 'guts' to destroy speed cameras.
"Some will regard Craig Moore as a hero or a freedom fighter. This is symptomatic of a national road safety policy that ran off the rails years ago. The speed camera programme is now a runaway gravy train, and it must be stopped."