A lawyer and community council chairman has been cleared of sabotaging the Etape Caledonia race last year after charges against him were dropped by the Crown.
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Several hundred cyclists had their tyres punctured by the tacks in the race, the only one of its kind in the UK where all the roads are closed to other traffic during the event.According to the BBC, the Crown offered no explanation of why the case was dropped and police have no plans to charge anyone else.
WTF?? Wasn't the guy caught with a receipt for a bag of 500 tacks or something?
How can the Crown just drop the case without explanation?
Hmmm, thats not really on is it?
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/caley-etape-all-charges-dropped
Wasn't the guy caught with a receipt for a bag of 500 tacks or something?
Source?
masons!
masons!
I was going to blame the joiners myself. 😉
Sorry didn't see the other post - I don't read the Bike Forum 😳
Source?
Sorry, none just hearsay.
I just remember it being discussed at the time of his arrest that the polis had popped along to the nearest B&Q (or whatever) and asked if anyone had bought a big bag of tacks.
Still
Lawyer, church elder, chairman of Rannoch and Tummel Community Council, former member of Pitlochry Rotary Club.
Not hard to see what connections he might (allegedly) have 🙄
Tosspot!
My little bro was the first guy to puncture in the race (well... sportif).
Even if there's no criminal case civil proceedings for damages can still be brought.
namastebuzz - MemberEven if there's no criminal case civil proceedings for damages can still be brought.
If anyone can provide more evidence than the police already have, why has it not been forthcoming?
You can only assume that all the evidence is circumstantial. Having a receipt for 500 tacks doesn't mean that he was guilty of spreading them all over the road. IIRC there was talk of some CCTV footage of him buying the tacks as well - again, he may have had a load of roofing felt to fix in place. 😕
Another rumour was that one of the head plods is/was a keen roadie and so was particularly interested in seeing the case through.
Wouldn't surprise me if it was simply a case of incompetence from Tayside Police though. 🙁
If anyone can provide more evidence than the police already have, why has it not been forthcoming?
You don't need more evidence - the standard of proof for a civil case is lower.