Lonan3 Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2205886,00.html The macabre tale of a Suffolk craftsman who sold handcarved gallows to despotic regimes such as those in Zimbabwe and Libya gripped the world’s media. David Lucas, 45, a businessman, told an undercover reporter that he sold his “mobile execution units” for up to £12,000 each. More than 30 top newspapers, including The Guardian, the Daily Mail, and the Sydney Morning Herald followed the story. Commentators condemned his shocking opportunism and Jeremy Vine debated the issue on Radio 2. BBC and Sky News sent crews to the village of Mildenhall to film him inside his pet-food shop. Amnesty International accused him of making “a mockery of the UK’s efforts to oppose the death penalty around the world”. But now it is the veracity of Mr Lucas that hangs in the balance. His business partner has come forward to claim that the story is an elaborate hoax. Brian Rutterford, who owns the land where Mr Lucas has his shop, said yesterday that his partner had been fooling everyone. “It is a hoax that has got completely out of hand. I know David well, work closely with him and I know he has built one set of gallows — the one that remains outside his shop on my land. The rest is rubbish,” he said. Don't you just love it when all those collective public consciences turn out to have been chasing wild geese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 I remember seing that in the news, and was wondering who would pay 12k for a bit of wood and a piece of string... Foreign governments said to have bought Mr Lucas’s equipment denied last week ever doing so. A spokesman for the Zimbabwe High Commission said: “We have never done any international trade in buying gallows. We do use gallows but have our own.” Er..ok then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Ayres Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Surely the idea of "hand carved gallows" should have rung bells aplenty. They have trees in all countries in the world, why bother buying some gallows from england. I do despair of the media at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posters Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Some people just love to believe the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.