Yet another example of the inability of the UK's burgeoning underclass to see that "in nature there are neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences". The consequences for drunken labourer Dominic Peck were two years imprisonment for false imprisonment and threats to kill. Amanda Lacey, the mother of two he was said to have held hostage said it was a drunken prank gone horribly wrong. The newspaper Wales on Sunday tells the full story of how the nothing can stand in the way of the moden Brit's inalienable right to 'have a laugh'. Having been in Peck's council falt for three days, Amanda, now living in nearby Woodstock Close, said that she'd started that Sunday morning with a trip to the shops for drinks.

"I offered to go for Dom because he couldn't be seen because there was a restraining order on him from entering Barry, but his flat is here so what was he supposed to do?" she said.

"We had about nine litres of cider and there was a bottle of sherry left over from the night before.

"So we just sat there drinking and watching the telly."

Then at 11am there was loud knocking at the door of Peck's three-bed, second floor flat.

"Me, Dom and another bloke were sitting watching a dating programme on the box when we heard this banging.

"It was the police shouting, 'C'mon Dom, open up we know you're in there'. I think they'd come because he'd breached the order.

"At which point he turned to me and winked before shouting back, 'F**k off, I've got a gun and a hostage'.

"But he was only joking - we were all hammered to be honest."

As all went quiet the trio thought the officers had gone, until Amanda got up to look out of the window.

"I peeked out and saw they'd cordoned off the street and there were armed officers in all the neighbours' gardens with their guns pointing at the window.

"At that point the other guy with us panicked, jumped out the window and did a runner.

"What we didn't know was that he had the keys on him and the front door was deadlocked - we were locked in."

During Peck's trial at Cardiff Crown Court, the jury heard how he had yelled to police that he had an arsenal of weapons in his flat and was holding a knife to Amanda's throat.

"Apparently, he said he had a Glock 9mm pistol and a shotgun, but I can't remember him saying that," she said.

"As for the knife, he may have had one from the kitchen but he never threatened me with it. He was a big bloke who could look intimidating but he was a friendly giant really."

Then at 6pm, having been drinking all day, a worse-for-wear Amanda stood up at the window.

"I looked down and there were all these little red dots floating around on my chest - it was the laser sights from the police guns.

"I was really scared and when Dom saw that he really lost his rag - but we were both really drunk by then.

"He threw a big axe that he'd bought - I think he'd got it to chop down some trees - through the window pane. Glass went everywhere."

Amanda added that she could remember the police desperately calling up to her.

"They wanted me to jump to safety. I said, 'That's two floors down, you must be joking!'."

She said that she phoned 999 on her mobile to explain to police that she wasn't being taken hostage, she was just locked in.

"I didn't have much talk time and got the police to ring me back," she said, "but before I could say I wasn't in any danger my battery ran out."

Things reached crisis point just before midnight when a smoke canister came flying in through the window.

"Dom pulled me by the arm into another room but then the door was kicked in and about 10 officers in riot gear with shields came storming in," said Amanda.

"They pushed me into one room and Dom into the bedroom.

"I heard a bang and screaming.

"Dom had been shot by a rubber bullet the size of a baked bean tin."

Now, eight months on, his council flat taken from him, a jailed Peck waits for an operation to remove his injured testicle.

"He's written to me and phoned me a couple of times," said Amanda.

"He's not very happy at all about what's happened to him."

And to show there are no hard feelings on her behalf, Amanda is willing to offer Peck a place to stay when he gets out of jail.

"Yeah, I'd put him up on my sofa any day," she said.' Although not quite yet a full Darwin award he does appear to be in the running for a half Darwin. This sort of incident happens with depressing regularity amongst the so-called underclass. As a serving UK law enforcement officer I would add that incidents such as this are always taken seriously, particularly so since the introduction of the Human Rights Act, or, as I prefer to call it the "I'm going to be a complete a**shole and endanger my life and the life of those around me and IT'S YOUR FAULT that I behaved as I did Act". Still, I'm sure that after his incarceration at Her Majesty's Pleasure he will be out and about again. I would add that with the risk averse culture we now have the police are more or less constrained in the action they can take and have no choice but to deal with the situation on the facts presented. Mind you twenty years ago we'd have just kicked the door in and arrested him without waiting to do risk assessments, community impact assessments and all the rest of the stuff we have to do these days. I would also add that as an ex firearms officer the UK police don't use laser sights, I stand to be corrected by those with more recent UK experience about the sights. I'm just glad my thirty years is nearly up and I won't have to deal with the social inadequates who seem to make up most of my work load.

Submitted on 10/04/2005

Submitted by: Boris
Reference: Wales on Sunday 2/10/05

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Other
I rather liked this story! The brazenness of this fellow's idiocy could have cost him his life. As it is, it cost him a testicle. I can't quite vote HM, as we don't know for certain whether or not he will be able to reproduce with one testicle, but I did like the story...thanks, Boris!

Jack said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I have mixed feelings about this, but I'll go for an Honorable Mention for two dumb people who could have been killed because of their stupidity.

Greg said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I bet that rubber bullet made his eyes water! Ok, I'm happy to see this voted on. The write up starts to read like a political message (albeit, a valid one) rather than a DA towards the end, but it's a good story. Thanks Boris.

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