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'Copter torch yob spared jail
A MAN who shone a high-powered rabbiting lamp at a police helicopter has narrowly avoided being sent to prison.
Michael Renney, 25, risked the safety of the Cleveland Police helicopter when he directed the beam of the lamp at the cockpit twice from a moving vehicle.
The air crew had to avert their eyes to avoid being dazzled by the light and losing control.
Renney had been warned to expect a prison term for the dangerous stunt after being convicted of endangering the safety of an aircraft.
But he was given a suspended sentence when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.
The judge said the only reasons he did not jail Renney immediately was because the light was only shone for a couple of seconds, and it was not a laser.
Renney aimed the lamp at the helicopter as it hovered 600 feet above Marina Way, Hartlepool, at around 2.45am on Saturday, August 15 last year.
On the second occasion, air crew saw Renney holding the lamp outside the van window.
Pilot Malcolm Gardener said he could have crashed into Christ Church spire, in Church Square, if he had lost control.
Renney claimed the lamp came on accidentally when he tried to move it to the back of the van he was a passenger in.
But he was found guilty by a jury following a trial earlier this month.
Renney, who runs his own electrical contract business, was returning from a trip rabbiting at a farm in North Yorkshire with friends.
Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said: "There is no suggestion at all he had gone out to cause such a nuisance.
"He will put his back into the punishment imposed and Your Lordship can be confident he will not trouble the court again."
Renney, of Kipling Road, Hartlepool, was given three months prison, suspended for two years with 18 months supervision and 100 hours unpaid work.
The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, said: "I send people to prison when they use a laser or a light like yours for any length of time.
"It is highly dangerous. Pilots get damaged, people get killed or are at high risk of being killed in an air crash.
"It is a very stupid thing to do."
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Weather for Hartlepool
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
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Sunny spells
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