Interestingly the consensus on the ARRSE forum seems to be that he should be careful what he wishes for as a retrial will almost definitely include the theft of 338 rounds of ammunition over a long period of time. There is a strong undercurrent of "typical Special Forces thinking the rules don't apply to them" and an almost as strong undercurrent offering to "comfort" Mrs Nightingale in the eventuality of her being without a husband for anywhere between 18 months and 5 years. Squaddies eh? Always quick to identify the important opportunities :biggrin:
It's not just the rounds of ammo either. The retrial could expose some other practices that could get the Regiment in a bit of poo!
Indeed. Last November N's mitigation for the charge of possessing the Glock was essentially that he forgot he had it, and could not be expected to remember because of his memory loss for medical reasons. [Statements in mitigation by the defence are not subject to cross-examination, and the prosecution does not seek to prove them wrong.] If N runs the same argument as a defence next time (instead of just as mitigation) it will no doubt be challenged by the prosecution, which is a different ball- game. As far as the ammo is concerned, N can hardly say that he "forgot" having stolen it on so many occasions over a period of years, so it will be interesting to see what his defence might be. Maybe he will claim that his regiment has no record of the ammo having gone missing - in other words, relying on SAS records being in a hopeless muddle and using that as a defence. If that defence is run and succeeds, it would be egg on face for the regiment - big time.
With something as strange as this case appears to be, you wonder just what has occurred and what is actually going on. It's a puzzle. It seems safe to say that someone involved is going to cop it. I cannot see a "great revelation" coming to light (or being allowed to, he added, cynically), so I suspect the Sergeant is going down.
A fair reason why the UK laws are strict on forces personnel having firearms/ordenance stashed at home BBC NEWS | England | Bradford | Former SAS man to serve 18 years
Id like to think someone trained in covert techniques and a variety of ways of killing should of been a bit more subtle than that....
Not wine, women and song for you then? Just Rum, bum and LPs PS....There is only one person on this forum that IMO is likely to know any of 'the boys'....and that may only be by recognition of off duty clothing.
They are guys you would never look twice at We have one old guy who talks non stop about when he was in the regiment bless him he breeds budgies dresses in camo and wears a toupee He does make me laugh
Apparently the Nightingale case has today been ordered for a Court Martial trial, to be held at Bulford, Wilts as expected on 1 July. Some media refer to it confusedly as a "retrial" - but there was never a trial in the first place because N originally pleaded guilty. In these circumstances N cannot really plead guilty now, it has to go to a full trial. We await developments with interest.
