Originally Posted by
Mark in CA
Maybe semantics? Your fellow pleaded guilty, while the other went to trial where the prosecution won a conviction.
It's a conviction whether it follows a guilty plea or a guilty verdict.
I think the distinction being made here is that the Leamington Spa miscreant was the first to be convicted under the provisions of the UK Air Navigation Order that relate to flying in proximity to people and to an airfield, whereas the Cambridgeshire conviction was the first (as the article states) involving proximity to another aircraft.
Neither of those was the first drone-related conviction in the UK, which was in April 2014.