Latest news with #RoyalElectricalandMechanicalEngineers
The Courier
11-05-2025
- The Courier
Angus laird sentenced for building makeshift shotgun crow-scarer
An Angus laird who fashioned a makeshift shotgun in a bid to deter crows from munching on his pig feed has been sentenced. Stephen Mellor's 40-acre Gagiewell Estate in Kellas was scoured by police who uncovered faulty air rifles and a German pistol dating back to the early 1900s. The 44-year-old was also caught with a military-issue knife outside a Spar shop. He was fined and ordered to complete unpaid work by a sheriff who warned him of needing 'organisation and discipline'. Dundee Sheriff Court previously heard a friend of Mellor's flagged to the authorities the laird's 'rambling' and 'goading' WhatsApp messages. Mellor – who keeps pigs and sheep on the estate, runs a firewood business and lets others shoot on his land – sent a video of himself using the smooth bore 'slam fire' shotgun he'd crafted. Like Mellor, the friend served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, which maintains the equipment of the British Army. Gagie Castle, where he lives, was combed by police and the 'slam' gun was found in an underground chamber in a rifle bag with a rope tied to the drain. Tests were carried out and ballistics experts ruled it 'could prove hazardous' to anyone firing it. Two recovered air rifles were found to be 'corrosive' and the search also uncovered pellets and an antique German pistol. In February, Mellor pled guilty to three charges of possessing the smooth bore slam fire shotgun without holding a shotgun certificate, possessing three air weapons without a certificate and having a knife between August 25 and October 2 2023. He returned to the dock to be sentenced and solicitor Jim Caird explained his client often welds together farming implements, having constructed a snow plough, a grubbing tool and a trenching device. 'Mr Mellor's initial idea was to make a bird scarer. 'He's extremely embarrassed and anxious about the matter. 'This has all taken place on quite a large estate. 'He's actually been on a curfew for a year and a half. 'He's got an engineering background.' Mr Caird added: 'One of the reasons he was so upset and he was fixated upon the crows was because the price of feed went up and he was losing a lot of feed to the crows. 'I'm not trying to suggest what Mr Mellor did was reasonable or even sensible but there's a context to it.' Regarding the knife charge, he said: 'He was working with animals on his nearby farm when he had this knife about him. It's a knife which is a sheepsfoot style. 'It was designed for trimming hooves. 'These knives are issued by NATO or something. They're very popular in maritime navy. 'He simply had it about his person. When he's on the estate, it's something he carries about all the time.' 'I must admit he's not thought very clearly about all these things.' Sheriff Paul Brown ordered Mellor to complete 300 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to imprisonment. The sheriff also granted forfeiture of a slew of seized items and fined Mellor £1,000 plus a £40 victim surcharge. Mellor's sentence was imposed as a direct alternative to imprisonment. The sheriff was shown the makeshift device in court and watched a video of Mellor discharging it. Sheriff Brown also warned Mellor that working with knives 'requires organisation and discipline.'
Times
01-05-2025
- General
- Times
My father liberated Guernsey from Nazis. This is what it meant to him
The first act of liberation on the Channel island of Guernsey was carried out by Sergeant Major Robert Shaw, who told a young boy on a bicycle to 'cycle on the British side of the road'. Shaw, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, was the first British soldier to set foot on Nazi-occupied British soil during the liberation of the Channel Islands on May 9, 1945, the day after VE Day. His son Robert Shaw, 78, recalled: 'My father rode off the landing craft on his motorcycle at L'Ancresse Bay, leading the way for the armoured vehicles that followed.' Speaking from his home in the village of Burrelton, near Perth, central Scotland, he added: 'He was concerned the boy would be hit by the
BBC News
07-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Tribute to WW2 Catterick Bridge station blast victims to be unveiled
A memorial dedicated to 12 people who died and 102 who were injured in a World War Two munitions explosion in North Yorkshire is due to be unveiled. The 1944 blast at Catterick Bridge railway station happened as explosives were being transferred ahead of the D-Day serviceman and seven civilians were killed, with the blast scattering debris across miles and causing significant damage to the surrounding Stephen Irvine, who spearheaded a campaign for the memorial, said he wanted a place for people to "tip their hat" to those who lost their lives to "give us our freedom". Houses, a cafe and the railway hotel were obliterated and a lorry driver who was in a hut more than 30ft (9.1m) away was reportedly blown off his feet in the explosion on 4 the victims were five soldiers from the the Royal Pioneer Corps and Royal Army Ordnance of those killed are commemorated at the Brompton-on-Swale War Memorial, but this is the first time 12 will be remembered together. Mr Irvine said most residents were not even aware the station had existed and had it had happened today it would be "international news". "I hope it will be a lasting memory for the Brompton-on-Swale community and for future generations to remember the fallen", he said. Mr Irvine, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, said he felt compelled to organise the tribute because he "put himself in the soldiers' shoes and fully immersed himself into what was going through their minds". "There was nothing left of them, just pieces of clothes with their names on the innocent staff and passers-by caught up in it," he said."It really hit home what the lasting effect of losing loved ones is." Martin Reynolds, from the Brompton-on-Swale parish council, said: "What happened is a very much unknown part of the history of the village, so it's very important to bring it into focus and remember it for the people that are still alive, who had had relatives who were affected by that explosion as well." Richmond and Northallerton MP and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to attend the event alongside senior personnel from Catterick Garrison and to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
The Guardian
30-01-2025
- The Guardian
Army quartermaster jailed for stealing almost £500,000 of supplies from MoD
A British army quartermaster defrauded the UK government out of almost £500,000 worth of supplies after feeling under pressure from his girlfriend to prove he was rich. Jed Charlot, 45, who was married, placed more than 600 fraudulent orders and sold the items on eBay, using the proceeds to buy designer gear including watches. Charlot was jailed for three years for using taxpayers' money to place more than 600 fraudulent orders for printers and toner. He joined the army in 2007 having previously been a police officer and worked his way through the ranks to become quartermaster sergeant (QMS) with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Tidworth, Wiltshire. A QMS is responsible for supplies and stores in the military and earns on average £38,000. Charlot began an affair in June 2021, Salisbury crown court heard. His fraudulent behaviour commenced when his girlfriend started to 'pressure' him over holidays. He used his own Ministry of Defence email to order printers and toner from an army contractor before selling them on to companies in the UK and US. In total he took £487,919.80 in equipment and made £349,120.68 from selling it on before being caught when an MoD administrator found they were short of printers and toner. Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, said: 'Between late 2021 and the end of 2022 the defendant ordered printers and toner cartridges from a company in Nottingham. The fraud was discovered by a civilian administrator preparing for an operation in Germany, they were short of printers. She saw the defendant's unit had spent grossly in excess of the procurement budget.' Wilkins said the fraud was traced back to Charlot and he was confronted by a senior officer. 'The defendant claimed he had been hacked. He was arrested following further enquiries, his home was searched and police found a Louis Vuitton handbag, two Tag Heuer watches, a Garmin exercise watch and a Mont Blanc pen,' the prosecutor said. 'To keep the orders below the threshold at which a red flag would have been raised the defendant made 676 orders over about a year.' In a message to an undisclosed recipient in October 2022 Charlot said he could obtain more money to freeze his own sperm in case he was jailed. Mary Cowe, defending, said the offence was 'inexplicable' given Charlot's previous 'exemplary conduct'. She said: 'He has done therapy ... he is realising that is how he should have dealt with this rather than creating this Walter Mitty-style existence.' Judge Taylor told Charlot: 'You began having an affair, you told your mistress you were rich, which was not true. 'In November 2021 she was pressuring you and asking: 'If you have got all of this money, why aren't we going on holiday? You used some of the money to buy clothes and gifts for family. Charlot, of Andover in Hampshire, left the army in June 2024. He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.
BBC News
30-01-2025
- General
- BBC News
RAF Lyneham veteran holds memorial for 10 men shot down over Iraq
An RAF veteran has organised a memorial service for 10 military personnel who died when their plane was shot down over Iraq 20 years Bridgman, a former senior aircraftman, has also arranged a flypast in honour of the crew of Hercules plane, which was based at the former RAF Lyneham near Chippenham in Wiltshire, was hit by enemy fire on 30 January 2005 on its way from Baghdad to Balad, killing all 10 men on Bridgman was at the base when he heard the news. "We all felt the loss and we all felt the sadness," he said. The tragedy left the "whole station in mourning", he added. Not forgotten Mr Bridgman has worked hard to ensure that the men are not forgotten. Every year since 2017, the 71-year-old has laid a wreath in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers remembrance garden at Lyneham to honour them. He spread the word to his friends in the Chippenham Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club and some of them began joining the annual tradition. But for the 20th anniversary, Mr Bridgman wanted to do something more special. On Thursday morning, a flypast and a memorial service will be held at the remembrance garden "in respect of those who lost their lives and respect for the memory of those who are left". Veterans, serving personnel and their loved ones will attend."They say to me, 'why are you doing this, Geoff?'," Mr Bridgman said. "I'm not after an OBE, I'm not after any sort of recognition – I'm doing this because it needs to be done."He added that "it seems like yesterday" when the news broke."Whether they're army, navy or air force, we are one," he said."When one hurts, we all hurt; when one grieves, we all grieve."
