Apparently the baton was a retractable club "like the ones riot cops use", according to The Sun. As I said earlier, those things are restricted by definition, since they are (to quote the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, as amended by the Offensive Weapons Act 1996) an "article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him or by some other person". Owning one without being a police officer in the course of authorised duty is an offence.
Again according to The Sun, police stopped him as he was driving near Kings Cross - for what, they don't say - and then found the thing in the pocket of the driver's door. I'm not sure if the defense could be made that Bassong only kept it in his car, rather than carrying it in public, since again the Act defines a public place as "any highway, or in Scotland any road within the meaning of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise". Yes it was in his car, but the car was on a public highway.
As to the law being stupid (or as Mr Bumble put it, “the law is a ass - a idiot"), I really wouldn't like to comment.
Again according to The Sun, police stopped him as he was driving near Kings Cross - for what, they don't say - and then found the thing in the pocket of the driver's door. I'm not sure if the defense could be made that Bassong only kept it in his car, rather than carrying it in public, since again the Act defines a public place as "any highway, or in Scotland any road within the meaning of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise". Yes it was in his car, but the car was on a public highway.
As to the law being stupid (or as Mr Bumble put it, “the law is a ass - a idiot"), I really wouldn't like to comment.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
