Shropshire Star

Market Drayton petrol bombs man avoids prison sentence

A Shropshire man who was involved in a police stand-off after making petrol bombs "to keep them at bay" has been given a community order.

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Anthony Orwell admitted a single charge of making almost a dozen explosives found at his then home in Victoria Wharf, Market Drayton.

The 64-year-old, who was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday, sparked a dramatic stand-off with armed police officers and a police negotiator when the explosives were discovered.

At the time, on September 8, 2014, police said Orwell had threatened to ignite petrol.

The court heard it happened after Orwell had an argument with a friend who called the police.

Mr Adam Western, prosecuting, said during the police stand-off Orwell had lit and smoked a cigarette while the petrol bombs had been around him.

Orwell, who now lives in Cheswardine, had previously admitted a single charge of making explosive substances involving petrol bombs, made with wine bottles and filled with petrol and two-stroke oil, with wicks fixed with adhesive tape.

He had been charged with making an explosive substance for unlawful purpose and had initially denied the offence.

Mr Paul Smith, representing Orwell, said he had already spent more than two-and-a-half years in custody since the offence and had received help for mental health issues.

He said: "This is overwhelmingly a sad case. The progress he has made, I would ask the court to build on."

Judge Jim Tindal said Orwell had no previous convictions but a few years before the police stand-off in 2014 there had been an incident involving him and the police.

He said: "At the end of 2014 when you had your argument with your two friends, the prospect of the police attending was something that sent you into a very dark place indeed – so dark, you thought at the time that you needed to protect yourself from the police by making petrol bombs to keep them at bay, and smoking, and doing other things that must have scared the police officers."

Judge Tindal said it had been a "potentially, incredibly dangerous stand-off" in which he could have blown himself and the police officers up.

He told Orwell that he accepted he acted as he did because he was ill at the time, but added: "You exposed them to a very significant risk indeed."

Judge Tindal said Orwell needed to be sentenced based on the risk he posed now, and accepted he had received treatment for his mental health issues. He said Orwell could be managed in the community and handed him a three-year community order, with a two-year supervision requirement.

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