No good deed goes unpunished, U.K. edition

From the formerly Great Britain:

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".

Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.

The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: "I didn't think for one moment I would be arrested.

"I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets."

The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.

In his statement, he said: "I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.

"I didn't know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.

"At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall."

Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells. ...

Read the rest of this injustice here. Mr. Clarke was convicted of this "offense" because

Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.

Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.

...

Judge Christopher Critchlow said: "This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.

"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant." [emphasis added]

Now why in the world would anyone in that Godforsaken country ever turn in any gun in the future, given this result? In addition to having an insanely stupid "strict liability" law, there apparently is also neither intelligence nor decency among the crown prosecutors service. In addition, the timid jury evidently hadn't heard of jury nullification. Or were too gutless to do the right thing and acquit. If they will not stand up for their fellow peaceable countrymen, what good are they? Perhaps they don't realize that the next time, they may be the ones sitting in the defendant's dock, the subject of their government's oppression.

Unfortunately the Brits have allowed themselves to become disarmed and seemingly thoroughly emasculated, and so are unable to resist such tyranny and oppression with any modicum of effectiveness. Their fate at this point appears pretty much sealed, consigned to servitude to tyrannical and oppressive government, barring violent intervention by better men than themselves.