Low-flying paraglider put Stonehenge pupils in danger

♦ A paraglider pilot who flew low over children at Stonehenge has been fined £600 with £400 costs.

Timothy Dunham, 26, broke rules against low flying and flying over the World Heritage Site in Wiltshire in a friend’s machine with a Union flag canopy. The Civil Aviation Authority said he could have crashed and injured himself or 176 visitors, including 66 school pupils.

Dunham circled the site two or three times on January 30, “getting closer on each occasion”, then flew directly over the stones, the court heard. A witness told the CAA: “It looked like he could have kicked them.”

Police found Dunham and a friend after they had landed in a nearby field.

Dunham, of Mere, Wiltshire, said he was an experienced paramotor pilot. He told Swindon magistrates he had not known he was breaking the law and was “very sorry”.

The court accepted he meant no harm and imposed a £60 victim surcharge.