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Fake bomb detector seller James McCormick jailed | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Fraudster James McCormick has been jailed for 10 years for selling fake bomb detectors. | |
McCormick, 57, of Langport, Somerset perpetrated a "callous confidence trick", said the Old Bailey judge. | |
He is thought to have made £50m from sales of the fake devices to countries including Iraq. | |
The fraud "promoted a false sense of security" and contributed to death and injury, the judge said. He also described the profit as "outrageous". | |
Police earlier said the ADE-651 devices, modelled on a novelty golf ball finder, are still in use at some checkpoints. | |
Sentencing McCormick, Judge Richard Hone said: "You are the driving force and sole director behind [the fraud]." | |
He added: "The device was useless, the profit outrageous, and your culpability as a fraudster has to be considered to be of the highest order." | |
One invoice showed sales of £38m over three years to Iraq, the judge said. | |
Truck bombs | |
Prosecuting QC Richard Whittam said that the justice and foreign affairs ministries in Baghdad were hit by truck bombs - which drove through the checkpoints where the useless devices were operated. | |
The prosecution said the "inescapable conclusion" was that Iraqis died because of their use. | |
A statement from Robert Lambourne, a former policeman who was seconded to Iraq, was read to the hearing on Thursday. | |
He said: "I have a firm opinion that the officers believed it was an effective tool... and they took its readings very seriously". | |
During McCormick's trial, the court was told the detectors, which cost up to $40,000 (£27,000) each, were completely ineffectual and lacked any grounding in science. | |
They were based on a $20 (£13) golf ball finders which had no working electronics. | |
McCormick had claimed the devices could bypass "all forms of concealment", detecting drugs and people, as well as explosives, the court had heard. |