Remember this incident...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6840622.ece
An improperly trained police firearms instructor shot and nearly killed a civilian during a gun training exercise, a court was told.
PC David Micklethwaite mistakenly loaded a Magnum .44 revolver with a live round and pulled the trigger while pointing it at a colleague during a half-day course at Thames Valley police headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, on May 30, 2007.
Keith Tilbury, 51, a police telephone operator who used to shoot for Britain as a member of the Berkshire county rifle team, was shot through the body and was unlikely to be able to work again, Southwark Crown Court was told.
The court was told how PC Micklethwaite had been asked to cover at short notice and, the night before, had gone to the armoury, picked up a Quality Street tin, one of a number of containers used to hold ammunition, thinking that it contained blanks. In fact it contained 22 live rounds, which he took with him to the course venue the next day.
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“Towards the end of the afternoon course he was demonstrating the difference between a revolver and a pistol. He took a round out of the tin and loaded it in a Magnum .44 revolver,” said Richard Matthews, for the prosecution.
“He told the class it was a dummy round. He held it close to his chest and repeatedly pulled the trigger to show how the barrel revolved.”
The students were arranged around Pc Micklethwaite in a horseshoe shape, and the barrel of the gun ended up pointing at Mr Tilbury, who said later that he had been involved in shooting since the age of 13 and knew it was a breach of basic safety procedure. As soon as Mr Tilbury realised that he was looking down the barrel he had decided to move.
He later told police: “I remember thinking I was not happy with him pointing the gun at me, but I didn’t say anything because he was an instructor and this was a disciplinary lecture. It was drilled into us during training you never, ever point a gun at someone.
"I believe I was in the process of getting up out of my chair to move when I heard two clicks and then a loud bang. I was forced back into the chair and then on one knee.”
The bullet passed though his body and lodged in the arm of the chair behind him. Mr Tilbury spent five hours in surgery for serious damage to his bowel, kidney, lung and liver. He was unconscious for 12 days and remained in hospital for a further ten.
The court was told that PC Micklethwaite, 52, had failed a Metropolitan Police firearms instruction course, but the Thames Valley force had decided that this was due to differences between the two forces’ handling and safety drills, and that he would still receive his certificate provided that he underwent a “development programme”.
But although the certificate was issued, the extra training was never provided, Mr Matthews said.
Although the instructors should have used expertly prepared and audited cases of demonstration ammunition, some bullets were kept in makeshift containers including a Quality Street tin, a Tupperware box and a baby-food tin, the court heard.
Katerina McAteer, for Thames Valley police, said PC Micklethwaite had undergone an “extremely detailed” period of training and assessment. “As far as Thames Valley were concerned he was bona fide and safe and there was nothing to indicate otherwise.”
The officer, who originally denied any wrongdoing, admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. Thames Valley Constabulary pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching the regulations.
Nicholas Pardoe, representing PC Micklethwaite, said his client wished to “take this opportunity to issue a heartfelt apology to all those affected by this incident”.
PC Micklethwaite and Thames Valley Constabulary will be sentenced later, when both are likely to be fined.