I faced jail for shining a torch at police helicopter
WHEN he was woken by a police helicopter hovering over his house, Robert Symons let his annoyance be known by shining a torch up at it.
Believing it was a harmless gesture, he thought no more of it and got ready to go back to bed.
But minutes later police officers arrived at his front door and arrested him.
He was later charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft.
The 56-year- old appeared before magistrates and was due to stand trial for the offence, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.
The case was only dropped when Mr Symons, who initially denied the charge, agreed to admit his guilt and accept a police caution.
Yesterday the retired postal worker admitted he was ‘foolish’ to shine the 45-watt torch at the helicopter but said he felt the police’s reaction was over the top.
‘I do feel I’ve been harshly treated,’ he added. ‘ I was charged with a very serious offence which I don’t think my behaviour merited.
‘I was woken by the noise to find my doors rattling from the vibration. I thought there was a van outside.
‘I went into my conservatory to see what it was and saw it was a helicopter, which I thought was a bit anti- social.
‘I went to get my torch, which is about as powerful as an old car headlight and has a six-inch diameter lens.
‘Originally I started shining it at him because I wanted to read the number on the bottom so I could complain to the RAF. I thought it was theirs.
‘ I kept shining the torch for about seven minutes. How else do you shout at two and a half tonnes of helicopter and tell it to go away?’ On the night of the incident – August 22 – Mr Symons said he had been sleeping badly because he was worried about a seriously ill relative and he had already been woken by a neighbour’s alarm.
Shortly after midnight, he was woken again by the helicopter, which was involved in a search for a missing woman in her thirties.
The three- man crew were using thermal imaging to search for the woman, who was suffering from depression. She was found about 15 minutes later and taken to hospital.
When they saw the torch light being deliberately shone towards them, they contacted officers on the ground and directed them to Mr Symons’s address. Mr Symons, of Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, denied the charge against him when he appeared before magistrates and was committed to Swindon Crown Court for trial. The Crown Prosecution Service agreed to drop the case during a pre- trial hearing when Mr Symons, who claims he has not previously been in trouble with the police, agreed to accept a caution. A caution is not a conviction – despite the admission of guilt – but the details of the case are held on the police database for five years and may be consid ered in court if the offender is charged with any offences in the future.
Mike Evans, of Wiltshire Police’s helicopter unit, said the use of bright lights and lasers was an increasing problem for pilots.
‘ A light destroys the pilot’s night vision and it doesn’t just go in the eyes,’ he added.
‘It reflects off the aircraft and creates a boom of light that fills the whole cockpit.
‘ The shining of lights is an ongoing problem and it’s often done by people who don’t appreciate what we’re engaging in, which is usually a serious incident.
‘We do realise there’s some disruption to people but we do not launch the aircraft lightly.’ Mr Symons said he had learned his lesson from his brush with the law. ‘My advice to anyone who is tempted to shine is, don’t, because you're liable to be charged with endangering an aircraft,’ he added.
‘ I have admitted it and very much regret doing it all.’
j.mills@dailymail.co.uk