It sounds type of weird—like some grotesque police overreach, maybe, or “powerful on crime” gone too far—while you simply learn the headlines. A person in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England was arrested for carrying a six-inch Zelda Grasp Sword reproduction in public. Police noticed him and arrested him and he was sentenced to 4 months jail time and a £154 (or about $195) tremendous. Essential to notice that this wasn’t only a prop. The blade was sharp.
The person in query is Anthony Bray, pictured beneath through the Warwickshire Police. You can even learn the police report right here.
Through the police report:
Bray approached officers with the merchandise in his hand seen, at which level he was arrested as he was carrying a bladed article.
Bray claimed that the sword was a “fidget” – one thing to maintain his palms busy. He had purchased it on-line as a fidget toy.
Officers tried to clarify to Bray that, regardless of its supposed function, it was in actual fact a sharply pointed merchandise which may very well be used as a weapon and would possibly put others in concern of it getting used in opposition to them.
He was additionally carrying it brazenly in Nuneaton city centre.
Sgt Spellman of the Patrol Investigations Unit mentioned “We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this.
“It’s attainable to seek out fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It’s attainable to not stroll down the road holding them out in entrance of you.
“With a bit extra self-awareness, Bray might have averted contact with us utterly.”
Nonetheless, lots of people discover the jail sentence overblown. Right here within the US, you’ll be able to stroll round with assault rifles legally. I personal six or seven swords and whereas I don’t stroll round with them in public typically, I’ve on some events equivalent to Halloween. However this can be a totally different nation with totally different legal guidelines.
What’s lacking from each report about this I might discover, and what’s so essential to understanding this story, nonetheless is that Anthony Bray is a repeat offender with a protracted rap sheet and quite a few jail sentences, a number of of which have been for housebreaking together with serial housebreaking. In 2011, Bray was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in jail after getting “three strikes” for burgling residences. However his run-ins with the regulation return to 1989 and he was in court docket quite a few occasions all through the 90s as effectively.
This has not been reported in IGN, PC Gamer, Eurogamer or The Guardian or every other outlet I might discover, all of which ran fairly related variations of this story with out the related context, although PC Gamer talked about the Midlands area’s knife violence issues (see beneath for extra on that).
These publications and quite a few others describe him as a “Legend of Zelda fan” although there isn’t any proof to help this. There may be, nonetheless, a number of proof that he’s a repeat felony offender chargeable for quite a few acts of petty theft and housebreaking. He’s doubtless well-known by the police given his many years of felony exercise. The police have been most likely not thrilled to see somebody with this historical past and repute strolling round brandishing a knife, even when it’s a Zelda reproduction.
The final wrinkle to this story is the very actual drawback with knife violence within the UK. Warwickshire is within the Midlands the place knife violence is increased than every other area, increased even than in London. There have been 5,234 knife offenses within the area in 2023 alone together with plenty of murders. Maybe it’s via this lens that we must always view the arrest and jail sentence of Anthony Bray.
Should you’re in search of a great TV present that takes place within the area, I’ve two suggestions: The completely fantastic, devastating Glad Valley and the not-as-good-but-still-excellent Line Of Responsibility. Click on these hyperlinks for my opinions of every.