Craig Moore, a 28-year-old engineer
Posted on 08/11/2006 5:31:14 AM PDT by PDR
A desperate motorist tried to escape a speeding fine by blowing up the roadside camera which snapped him, a court heard on Wednesday.
Engineer Craig Moore, 28, took the drastic action because he feared he would lose his job as a result of the ticket.
He returned to the roadside camera in the Manchester area and used explosive material, once used to make bombs and now common in the welding industry, to destroy the device.
But the motorist didn't realise his actions were recorded by the camera itself.
It is understood that pictures recovered from the camera hard disk show Moore's van pulling up and later 'sparks flying' as it burns.
Moore himself is not seen on camera.
Yesterday Moore, of Grampian Way, Doncaster, appeared at Manchester Crown Court and pleaded guilty to destroying the £8,700 traffic management camera belonging to Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council on 14 August last year.
He destroyed the device using Thermite, a mixture of powdered aluminium metal and iron oxide which reacts explosively and causes intense heat when ignited. The material is commonly used in welding metal.
Moore, who has no previous convictions in the last 10 years, was released on bail. The case was adjourned for reports and he will be sentenced for the offence next month.
Details of the offence were not revealed in court and Moore left without commenting.
Nationally speed cameras are expected to earn £130 million in £60 fines this year.
Last month a driver was jailed for 56 days and ordered to pay almost £3,000 costs at Manchester Crown Court for trying to dodge a £60 fine by moving a road sign.
Care assistant John Hopwood, 42, was caught on camera in Rochdale doing 41mph in a 30mph zone.
He took a 40mph sign from another street, put it on a lamp post in the area where he was caught then sent a picture of it to the fixed penalty office to argue that he was obeying the sign.
haha...
Craig Moore, a 28-year-old engineer
Thank you, Daily Mail, for letting every raghead in Londonistan know how to get past airport security with non liquid explosives.....................
Craig Moore, a 28-year-old UNEMPLOYED engineer.............
This is Bush's fault, right?
What kind of engineer is he? A very poor one, obviously.........
Did he keep the job?
No, this one's Microsoft's fault...........
Probably the kind of engineer used on the "big dig" in Boston
Speed cameras should be banned. I know in Arizona, they are using them on the AZ101 loop, the first to use the cameras on freeways and unfortunately, a start of a trend to use them elsewhere on interstate highways. Illinois uses them only in construction zones but language in their law can be changed to expand their use.
Did he not realize that the camera would snap his mug doing the crime? If this is an engineer, he must have skipped the classes that pertained to cause and effect...........
They are already talking of them in Florida. It's inevitable that they will be all over the USA and the civilized world soon. $$$$$ in gov coffers that taxpayers can't grumble about. But they do have their uses in tracking criminals and evidence in courts...........Security at the price of liberty..........
As we used to say in the USMC, Every piece of gear and equipment that you use was built by the LOWEST bidder........
Seriously, it really requires the use of the heavy mold to contain this as it flashes for it to be of any use. If you just dump a pile of this out and ignite it, it will go up in a big flash, like a pile of black powder, but then it's done. It doesn't really "explode", but the media loves words like that.
Stupid? This is beyond stupid. He didn't destroy the camera, as was his objective. Incompetent...........
The Thermite reaction uses a mixture of rust, aluminium and a high temp fuse. It wouldn't get past a metal detector. And - despite the article - it's not remotely "explosive". Enough of it would burn a hole in the bottom of a plane leading to cabin decompression, but this is hardly fatal.
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