Police recently raided an alleged nighthawk’s house in Kent. However, the possibility that that nothing will come of it prompts a wider question: why are there so few successful prosecutions? A story from The South Shropshire Telltale may provide a clue…….
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Shropshire “nighthawks” turn out to be innocent!
A row has flared in Worfield. A well-known notional octogenarian farmer declared his local policeman “so useless his face isn’t worth sunburning”. Pig farmer Silas Brown was incensed after police released two men from custody the day after they had been detained on his fields at 3.00 am carrying metal detectors and 2 bags of artefacts.
PC Dwight Wash explained that they had responded to a call from “an agitated, confused elderly gentleman” but when they arrived it quickly became clear that no offence had been committed. “It turned out they were travelling metal detector salesmen whose car had broken down and they were simply walking home on a footpath which crosses the farm. The artefacts were the props they used when they give talks on amateur archaeology at primary schools. Oh how we all laughed at the station when we realised! They were released without a stain on their character or hobby”.
Mr Brown was less certain. “We have a saying in farming” he said, “if it walks like a duck but it squawks like an archaeologist it’s probably a duck. I’ve sent the police an identification guide. Maybe it will help raise the prosecution rate.”
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The Heritage Journal 
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