At the end of the day , you are dealing with the police (I am one) This chap came in talking the talk and apparently convincingly walking the walk and conned whoever it is that does recruitment . The police service is absolutely stackfull of idiots with rank on their shoulders who do just that that . They have little experience little ability and are invariably crap at their jobs , thus making the police service a laughing stock . Now if the police cannot root out pillochs in their own ranks how are they ever going to suss out that a chap claiming to hold licences to do something they have no idea about , actually doesnt . Our vetting depts for gods sake are a waste of time , Ive lost track of how many , football hooligans , disqualified drivers , ex prison inmates etc etc we have allowed into our ranks due to this ridiculous process . This comes as no surprise to me from the police side. I am quite surprised though that he managed to fox the pilots . You guys (Helis) all seem to know one another or have at least heard of each other. With the quals that this guy allegedly had I would have thought someone would have known him , but these people are sent to try us .
On a policey side of things FL does infer that the CID officers investigating might be getting an interview without coffee from the chief. In case like this the CID ,if indeed they dealt with it would have put all the evidence to the CPS who would have made the decision on which charge was appropriate not the Police . They would have then formulated their case on the evidence they had , which would probably have been very comprehensive . This is not the fault of the police but as per usual the CPS , prosecutions dont fail generally because of the police , as we dont prosecute the CPS do .
My last drink drive case that went to court was prosecuted by a very well paid gentleman who had months to prepare .He was faced with a very worthy adversary , a 24 year old solicitior with a years experience who got the file that morning , The laws an ass.
But at least we know that there are people like FL who can us pilot types if we should need it .
N.B any probationary police officer could have told you that defence to obtaining pecuniary advantage it aint rocket science
