BA 767 Stowaway Thief of £1.5m on trial
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BA 767 Stowaway Thief of £1.5m on trial
'Clumsy cargo handlers thwarted stowaway thief'
Rebecca Allison
Tuesday June 3, 2003
The Guardian
A stowaway thief's "cunning" plan to steal £1.5m from the hold of a plane was thwarted by clumsy cargo handlers, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. The workers at Heathrow apparently dropped the box the alleged thief was hiding in, causing the lid to fall off and the stowaway to tumble out and flee empty-handed.
Christopher Hehir, prosecuting, claimed that 37-year-old Rawson Watson of Gillingham, Kent, was smuggled into the hold of a British Airways Boeing 767 armed with two flat-pack express handling boxes, some tools and bags of ballast. Mr Watson allegedly then drilled into the hold's lining, climbed inside through the tear and then taped it closed to hide himself before the flight departed for Madrid.
After landing in the Spanish capital, six red plastic containers with a total of £1.5m in pesetas inside were loaded into the special valuables hold for the return journey, Mr Hehir said. After take-off, the stowaway climbed out and, using a torch held in his mouth, built the flat-pack boxes, the court heard. The plan was to conceal himself and the cash in the new containers which would be unloaded at Heathrow and spirited away by his accomplices, Mr Hehir claimed.
Mr Watson denies attempting to steal bank notes from BA and damaging an aircraft in a manner likely to endanger its safety in flight. Mr Hehir said that DNA found in the plane and in the boxes, matched Mr Watson's after his arrest in October. Mr Watson later claimed he had been back-packing in west Africa at the time of the alleged offence in January 2000, a claim disputed by the prosecution which said he did not hold a valid passport for the period.
The Boeing 767 had continued flying for a further four days before the safety implications of the damage were discovered, Mr Hehir said. Experts agreed that the damage to the cargo hold could have greatly increased the fire risk and could have endangered the plane's fire protection system, the court heard.
Mr Hehir said the plan might have succeeded if the handlers had not dropped the box. "Something absolutely amazing happened," he said. "The lid of the box fell off and a man fell out. The loaders were absolutely flabbergasted. One thought it was a dead body. He ran off telling one of the loaders: 'Don't worry about me, I'll be all right'."
Mr Hehir added: "This was a bold and daring attempt to steal money ... a cunning plan. A thief, no matter how much his activities may smack of a James Bond adventure, is still just a thief. In this case, our would-be thief did rather more than steal money. He also endangered the passengers and crew, not to mention his own safety. It is not the prosecution case that he deliberately set out to endanger safety. The likelihood is that he had no idea."
The trial continues.
Link to report
Rebecca Allison
Tuesday June 3, 2003
The Guardian
A stowaway thief's "cunning" plan to steal £1.5m from the hold of a plane was thwarted by clumsy cargo handlers, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. The workers at Heathrow apparently dropped the box the alleged thief was hiding in, causing the lid to fall off and the stowaway to tumble out and flee empty-handed.
Christopher Hehir, prosecuting, claimed that 37-year-old Rawson Watson of Gillingham, Kent, was smuggled into the hold of a British Airways Boeing 767 armed with two flat-pack express handling boxes, some tools and bags of ballast. Mr Watson allegedly then drilled into the hold's lining, climbed inside through the tear and then taped it closed to hide himself before the flight departed for Madrid.
After landing in the Spanish capital, six red plastic containers with a total of £1.5m in pesetas inside were loaded into the special valuables hold for the return journey, Mr Hehir said. After take-off, the stowaway climbed out and, using a torch held in his mouth, built the flat-pack boxes, the court heard. The plan was to conceal himself and the cash in the new containers which would be unloaded at Heathrow and spirited away by his accomplices, Mr Hehir claimed.
Mr Watson denies attempting to steal bank notes from BA and damaging an aircraft in a manner likely to endanger its safety in flight. Mr Hehir said that DNA found in the plane and in the boxes, matched Mr Watson's after his arrest in October. Mr Watson later claimed he had been back-packing in west Africa at the time of the alleged offence in January 2000, a claim disputed by the prosecution which said he did not hold a valid passport for the period.
The Boeing 767 had continued flying for a further four days before the safety implications of the damage were discovered, Mr Hehir said. Experts agreed that the damage to the cargo hold could have greatly increased the fire risk and could have endangered the plane's fire protection system, the court heard.
Mr Hehir said the plan might have succeeded if the handlers had not dropped the box. "Something absolutely amazing happened," he said. "The lid of the box fell off and a man fell out. The loaders were absolutely flabbergasted. One thought it was a dead body. He ran off telling one of the loaders: 'Don't worry about me, I'll be all right'."
Mr Hehir added: "This was a bold and daring attempt to steal money ... a cunning plan. A thief, no matter how much his activities may smack of a James Bond adventure, is still just a thief. In this case, our would-be thief did rather more than steal money. He also endangered the passengers and crew, not to mention his own safety. It is not the prosecution case that he deliberately set out to endanger safety. The likelihood is that he had no idea."
The trial continues.
Link to report
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Steamc....., missing from this account, was the fact that the thief cut himself badly during the attempted heist, and there was a reasonable amount of blood on the boxes and elsewhere in the hold. 
This was the source of the aforementioned forensic evidence!
This was the source of the aforementioned forensic evidence!
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Perhaps our crazy legal system will now allow him to sue for making him do this in a unsafe environment and cutting his poor little hands ,
I mean , after the Afghan farce , surely he has a case ?
I mean , after the Afghan farce , surely he has a case ?
