This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23195542
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 2 | Version 3 |
---|---|
Danny Nightingale trial: SAS sniper 'apologised over gun' | Danny Nightingale trial: SAS sniper 'apologised over gun' |
(about 3 hours later) | |
An SAS sniper apologised to police for having a pistol in his bedroom, a trial over his possession of a gun has heard. | An SAS sniper apologised to police for having a pistol in his bedroom, a trial over his possession of a gun has heard. |
Sgt Danny Nightingale, 38, of Crewe, Cheshire, denies illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. | Sgt Danny Nightingale, 38, of Crewe, Cheshire, denies illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. |
In his police interview videos, played to the court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, Sgt Nightingale said he had intended to get the gun decommissioned. | |
He told the court he had no memory of receiving the weapon in 2007. | |
In the videos shown to the court, Sgt Nightingale said: "I have for no excuse, it's just something I didn't do." | |
The father-of-two told the court martial he had not been given the pistol by an Iraqi national while on operations in the country. | |
He said he had no memory of receiving it due to a brain injury he suffered in 2009. | |
Sgt Nightingale also told the court he had not stored 338 rounds of ammunition left over from training sessions under his bed. | |
William Clegg QC, defending, asked Sgt Nightingale to explain the account he gave to police in 2011 following a search of a house he shared with another SAS man, known as Soldier N. | |
'Very diligent individual' | |
"I have physical or tangible memory, I have no recollection of receiving the gun." Sgt Nightingale told the court martial. | |
"However, hindsight of seeing statements etc, I now know that Soldier N had told me that he had been given a pistol and that he had ammunition there. | |
"I have seen (my superior) and been told what is in the house and Soldier N said everything else in the house was his bar what was in the bedroom. | |
"I have always maintained that I am a very diligent individual and did not understand how it could be there." | |
Sgt Nightingale also said he appreciated he had a memory issue and it was feasible he "had received something". | |
He said: "The only time I had been in Iraq was 2007. The only way it could have come back, as I have no memory of it, would be in a box. | |
"That's the best I can explain for the gun." | |
Sgt Nightingale told the court he also had no memory of how the ammunition came to be found in a plastic box under his bed. | |
"It was my admin box where I would keep books, pencils. Therefore, I really assumed it must have been put there when I moved out of my mess in a great rush." | |
He admitted any ammunition should have been handed in. | |
Sgt Nightingale, of Crewe, Cheshire, whose regiment was listed as The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border), has pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of a prohibited firearm - a Glock 9mm pistol - between November 26 2007 and September 16 2011. | |
He also denies possessing a range of different types of ammunition on or about 16 September 2011. |