Former Army captain ‘stole MoD rifles worth thousands’

A FORMER Army captain stole automatic and sniper rifles worth tens of thousands of pounds from the Ministry of Defence, a court heard yesterday.

Peter Laidler, 71, passed the weapons on to other veterans and firearms enthusiasts, Winchester Crown Court was told.

Laidler, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, who is also a former police officer, is accused of 13 counts of theft and one of handling stolen goods between 1998 and 2016.

Roger Smith, 60, of Emsworth, Hampshire, an officer with the MoD police, faces six counts of handling stolen goods.

Firearms dealer Adrian Bull, 64, of Devizes, Wiltshire, faces three counts of handling stolen goods. Former soldier Stuart Pemberton, 51, of Warminster, Wiltshire, is accused of one count of handling stolen goods. The defendants deny the charges.

Matthew Jewell QC, prosecuting, said Laidler had worked as the armourer for the MoD’s Small Arms School Collection at Warminster, where most of the weapons were stolen.

Among them were SA80s, the Army’s standard-issue automatic rifle, Lee Enfields and Mausers, the court heard.

Mr Jewell said: “Some were sold on to firearms enthusiasts, others were kept at Laidler’s address where they were found by the police. Some were passed on to the defendant Roger Smith, who was trained in firearms in his time with the MoD police.”

Mr Jewell said Pemberton received one sniper rifle that was valued at £50,000 which he exchanged with another enthusiast, who sold it for £30,000.

He said: “It is inconceivable that the Army would have permitted Peter Laidler to take such a weapon and treat it as his own, and equally inconceivable Stuart Pemberton should receive it and subsequently dispose of it without knowing it was stolen.”

Mr Jewell said Bull received two SA80s, but it was not known when or where they had been stolen.

The trial continues.