ALI: TEEN JAILED FOR BLINDING POLICE PILOT WITH LASER PEN

A teenager who could have caused a catastrophe when he temporarily blinded a police helicopter captain with a laser pen was locked up for six months today (thurs).

Islam Ali, 19, pointed the beam into Captain John Roberts’ cockpit several times as he made his way to an emergency 1,000ft up in the sky.

Southwark Crown Court heard Ali’s actions could have killed Captain Roberts, his crew and people below.

Ali claimed he had been shining the green laser beam into the sky ‘to see how far it would go’ at the time of the incident in west London at around 10.45pm on March 6 this year.
 
One of Captain Roberts’ colleagues was able to pinpoint Ali’s location using on-board video camera equipment.

Sentencing Ali, now 20, to six months in a young offenders institute Judge Deborah Taylor said: ‘This is an extremely serious offence which could have ended in several fatalities.

‘There’s every chance of the pilot losing control and the helicopter crashing to the ground, with danger to the lives of not only those on board but those underneath.’

Prosecutor Usha Shergill told the court the police helicopter had been called out to a ‘firearm incident’ in the Shepherds Bush area that night.

‘The captain of the helicopter, John Roberts, describes how he was struck in the eye by a bright green laser causing temporary blindness and a disorientating effect.

‘He went on to say this was not the first time he has been struck by laser sand therefore he is well aware of the dangers.

‘However, this light cause Captain Roberts to be temporarily blinded and therefore he was denied a view of the cockpit indicators.

‘The consequences of temporary blindness for a pilot are potentially catastrophic.

‘He was just 1,000ft from ground level and there is also the proximity of departing air traffic from Heathrow.

‘The captain was compelled to move the helicopter out of the beam of the laser causing him to move away from the task in hand.’

She told the court that one of the crew members used the camera to pinpoint Ali’s location and recorded him shining the laser at the helicopter as it flew over Third Avenue, in Maida Vale.

When police arrived at the address Ali was still holding the laser pen in his hands.

He admitted shining the laser into the sky, but denied intentionally targeting the helicopter.

Ali claimed he had not shone the laser along the road ‘because he thought it would affect car drivers’.

Judge Taylor told him: ‘In my judgement only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.

‘I have considered whether it is possible to suspend any sentence and in my judgement it is impossible to do so.’

Ali, of (2) Onslow Close, North Kensington, admitted endangering the safety of an aircraft.
ENDS