Jail for speed camera attack motorist

Blew up device with thermite

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 6th September 2006 14:27 GMT

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A man caught speeding by a Watchman camera in Hyde, Greater Manchester, decided he'd attempt to destroy the evidence by blowing up the offending device with thermite, the BBC reports.

Craig Moore, 28, of Thorne, Doncaster, was caught on camera in Mottram Road on 14 August last year while driving a work vehicle. Later that night, he returned with a quantity of thermite (a powdered mixture of aluminium and iron oxide) which he used in his job as a welder. A recording later recovered from the Watchman's hard disk drive showed a Ford Transit approach and stop, then leave just before a shower of sparks heralded the camera's demise.

Unfortunately for the perp, police were able tap into the Transit's tracker device, which showed it had "arrived in Hyde, stopped on Mottram Road and then returned to the Doncaster area, where it was parked outside Moore's home address".

Pc Mark Akers, of Tameside Police, said: "Instead of just accepting that he had been caught travelling above the speed limit, Moore decided to blow the camera apart. He obviously thought that by destroying the main camera he was destroying all the evidence. But a combination of hard work and the latest technology led to his conviction."

Moore's pyrotechnic display eventually led to an appearance before the beak this week at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, where he was jailed for four months. He had previously admitted damaging property.

Speaking in his defence, Andrew Bailey said Moore feared that since he already had 10 points on his licence, he would lose it and therefore his livelihood and the means to support his family. ®

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