Pensioner admits firearm charge after estate agent videographer threatened
Michael Edwards shot his airgun at an estate agency drone filming near his house before confronting the cameraman.
A man who threatened an estate agent videographer with an air gun after spotting a drone near his home, has appeared in court.
Michael Edwards, aged 72, fired at the drone before confronting cameraman Daine Gooden in the street outside his house in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Edwards is due to be sentenced later this month after admitting possessing an imitation firearm in public, Punchline news website reports.
Illegal
Footage of the confrontation shows Edwards walking up to the drone pilot with a black pistol in his right hand.
The film begins with the drone user saying: “Yes, it was me sir.”
Edwards replies: “I was shooting at it.”
Gooden retorts: “Well, that’s illegal, it’s totally illegal.”
Finally, Edwards replies: “I don’t care. You bring it over my house, I will fire at it. You were right over my garden. If you do it again, I will fire at it again. I took three shots it.”
I don’t care. You bring it over my house, I will fire at it.”
He then appears to hit the drone with the barrel of the gun, and there was then a physical struggle between the two men and Gooden disarmed Edwards.
Edwards, of Shepherds Way, Cirencester, pleaded not guilty at Cirencester Courthouse last week to a charge of possessing an imitation firearm – a Huntington Beach G10 repeater air pistol – with intent, to cause Gooden to believe that unlawful violence would be used against him on August 22, 2022. The charge was then dropped.
However, Edwards pleaded guilty to a less serious charge of having a firearm in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, on August 22, 2022.
Pictures: Gloucestershire Live and Punchline
