Travellers smash up £5million EC135 Police Helicopter

AircraftTechie

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181534/Gypsies-smash-5million-police-helicopter-axes-revenge-spy-flights.html

Gypsies smash £5million police helicopter with axes in revenge for 'spy' flightsBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:41 PM on 14th May 2009
Comments (48) Add to My Stories A group of travellers wrecked a multi-million pound police helicopter which was being used to spy on their site.
The gang used axes to smash the £5million aircraft, after they leapt over a 4ft wall surrounding Surrey Police force’s helipad at Fairoaks airport, near Woking in Surrey.
After threatening staff working in the operations room, they set about wrecking the helicopter, smashing six of its windows and causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Vandalism: A group of travellers wrecked Surrey's only police helicopter (pictured). Worth £5million, it was being used to spy on their site
The incident happened at 10pm yesterday after weeks of aerial surveillance on the travellers’ site, where detectives believe stolen goods have been hidden.

Officers were getting ready to raid the site after collecting evidence they had filmed from the air.
A police source said last night: 'The gipsies were furious because they kept getting buzzed by the helicopter.

'But no one expected this level of violence.
'Before a raid is conducted we will observe the criminals from the air. That way we get an idea what we are likely to find, identify suspects and locate entrances and exits. Maybe we got too low.'
The aircraft is the only police helicopter in Surrey and is used mainly for chasing crime suspects in their cars, finding missing people and pre-planned surveillance operations.

The helicopter, which has a camera fitted under its nose that beams broadcast-quality footage to the control room, was airborne 214 times during April, an average of seven flights per day.

It is expected to be out of action for another two weeks while repairs are made.

Security at Fairoaks has been stepped up following the attack and neighbouring Metropolitan and Sussex forces are providing air cover for Surrey’s one million residents.
A Surrey Police spokesman said the identity of the mob members was 'unknown'.

He added: 'The incident is part of an ongoing investigation and security measures are being reviewed as part of this.

'We are working with a maintenance contractor to ensure the aircraft is back on line as soon as possible.'

Captain-America

They should have stole it and sold it on.

Obviously a mistake, travelling people wouldnt do that sort of thing would they?

wudangclan

i dont blame them,the noise of those things

SoupyNorman

They were probably bored, they've no amenities provided for them sure.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Fair play to them. I've always wanted to do that when those bastards have woken half the neighbourhood up at 4am.

Riamfada

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Fair play to them. I've always wanted to do that when those bastards have woken half the neighbourhood up at 4am.

Why didnt it just fly away?

wudangclan

Grimes wrote: »

Why didnt it just fly away?

they clipped its' wings?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Grimes wrote: »

Why didnt it just fly away?

We didn't have axes.

RoundyMooney

Some bleedin' heart do gooder will be on shortly to defend those poor members of the itinerant community.

They seem to guard their privacy (on someone elses property) very jealously.

I'm not sure if it made the media or not, but a colleague of mine was recently accosted and pulled from his vehicle by caravan dwelling individuals. His life was threatened and his vehicle damaged.

His crime? Using a rangefinder to gauge dimensions on a piece of electricity network. A span of network that was adjacent to a travellers encampment.

How long more are we going to be intimidated and pushed around?

Steyr

Infact an EC135 is the type our Gardai use and is rated as one of the quietest helicopters in the business.

Ronan|Raven

Whattayagoinonabou? didndonathinboss....

Ah those Caravan Utilising Nomadic travellers up to ther usual tricks.:)

jester77

Shur it wasn't us boss, we were out walkin the dags!

Riamfada

You people are obviously inconsiderate of the travelling culture and I find it highly offensive. For your information they believed it was a flying demon and as traveller culture I demand you respect their rights to practice what they believe.

SoupyNorman

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Whattayagoinonabou? didndonathinboss....

Said with the biggest, stupidest doe eyed expression possible.

Borneo Fnctn

I love hearing stories like this about itinerants. It does nothing but confirm my suspicions that they are generally dirty, dishonest, lazy and stupid people.

mike65

The readers of the Mail are surprisingly sympathetic to the gypsies.

SEPT 23 1989

Grimes wrote: »

You people are obviously inconsiderate of the travelling culture and I find it highly offensive. For your information they believed it was a flying demon and as traveller culture I demand you respect their rights to practice what they believe.

they believe that taking a picture of them steals their souls

WeirdKen

Is there no limit to what these loveable rouges will do

MoominPapa

So have the gypsies and the travellers joined forces? :eek: Who will save us?

Victor

AircraftTechie wrote: »

The gang ... leapt over a 4ft wall

Whoa!

galwayrush

Sigh, in the good old days, they would have managed to sell the helicopter bits off as scrap metal.

do the english police actually call them gypsies?

zuroph

rumours are emerging that they were chopping it up because they misunderstood when told it was a "copper helicopter".

easyeason3

They don't put the effort in anymore.
There was a time when they would have been able to strap it onto a Hiace & sell it off at a car boot sale along with a few fireplaces/ couches/ your tv that went walkies in the middle of the night.

tony1kenobi

Nothing in the report about where they robbed the axes from?

galwayrush

tony1kenobi wrote: »

Nothing in the report about where they robbed the axes from?

They were obviously hand me downs, or fell off the back of a caravan;)

O'Coonassa

200 years ago we were all like them lol

Diabhal Beag

Well they could hardly be law abiding could they

galwayrush

O'Coonassa wrote: »

200 years ago we were all like them lol

No, they were like us.:rolleyes: