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Machine Gun Arrives In Post For Gran

Catherine Roots, a Dorchester grandmother, accepted delivery of a machine gun which was intended for a police station.  It arrived through the post after a mix-up.

She had been expecting a horse harness, but when she opened her package she found a Heckler & Koch black sub-machine gun.  Thankfully having no immediate need for the weapon, she immediately called the nearby police station - whereupon she was surrounded by an elite troop of SAS maestros, half a dozen tanks and two police officers. Actually, it was only two armed officers who turned up and removed the offending weapon.  The SAS and tanks would no doubt have been deployed if a young male had had the courtesy to call in, I'd guess.

A police spokesman later explained, "A gun supply company made a mistake with the postcode when they sent it to Winfrith."

Mrs Roots, in her 50s, and who runs a smallholding in Winfrith said, "I was petrified and I didn't touch it - I didn't know if it would go off.  If it had got into the wrong hands the consequences wouldn't bear thinking about. After I contacted the police two armed officers turned up and they were as shocked as I was."

Mrs Roots was informed later that the weapon was a training gun that fires infra-red beams, not bullets. It would've made no difference to me at that point if it had fired pear drops. It had arrived.

Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Whiting of Dorset Police commented,  "Because this item isn't actually a firearm it is lawful for the company, the suppliers, to use a courier as they did. I hasten to add if it was a real firearm we would transport it by hand, making sure that no such error like this could occur."

Buzz

Trivia Throwaway

Norway stages an annual grandmothers' festival.  Grandmothers' ride racehorses, motorbikes, sky-dive and scuba dive.  The winner of the inaugural event in 1992 was Elida Anderson, 79 years young, who in turn became the world's oldest bungee jumper.  Yes, they bounce too. 


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