Owned - speed camera

From:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dri...222231857.html

September 7, 2006 - 8:45AM

His driving was too swift, but his thinking wasn't.

A 28-year-old man who blew up a speed camera, hoping to destroy evidence of his speeding, was sentenced to prison for four months today.

Craig Moore, 28, from Doncaster, said he had seen a flash of light from the camera, indicating that it had detected him speeding on August 14, 2005.

He claimed he feared his drivers licence would be suspended, making him unable to work to support his family.

So, he employed thermite, used in his work as a welder, to destroy the camera.

That backfired because images of his speeding survived the explosion, and so did images of him returning to attack the camera.

Moore earlier had pleaded guilty to a charge of damaging property.

"The defendant accepts that he has created a mountain out of a molehill by behaving stupidly. He finds himself in a great deal of trouble rather than the little deal of trouble he would have been in," said defence lawyer Andrew Bailey.

In fact, he would have been in no trouble.

Tameside Council confirmed that the Watchman camera was designed to deter speeders, not catch them, and that it flashed only as a warning.

However, the Watchman does contain cameras which monitor the area, and that's what caught Moore.