By James Simons-
An East London man has been jailed for sleeping behind the wheel with a gun on his lap.
Nathan Gardier was sentenced by Snaresbrook Crown Court after being found sleeping behind the wheel by a member of the public.
The 24 year old gun man from Walthamstow fell asleep with driving under the influence of drink during a slow moving traffic. A shocked passer by who noticed the alarming sight, seized the keys from the ignition and quickly flagged down a passing police car.
He did not touch the gun, and Gardier failed to notice that the ignition to his car had been stopped and he was just about to pay a heavy price for drinking and driving whilst having a gun on his lap.
When officers attended to the car, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Gardier was immediately arrested and the gun was found to be live and loaded.
The court heard the incidence occurred on August 5 this year, and he appeared in court the next day and pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and drink driving.
Only Gardier himself knows whose blood was saved as a consequence of his alarming negligence and recklessness that led to his capture.
It is believed he was on his way to either subject a person or group of persons to a terrifying ordeal, which could have resulted in loss of life or robbery.
Another theoretic possibility is that he may have been about to sell the gun to a third party or lend it to someone.
What we know for certain is that it was incredibly careless and foolish for him to have it on his lap and then fall asleep
SCRIPTED
It sounds more like a scripted scene for a fictional movie created to show how too much drinking can lead to self implication of a more serious crime. The only difference here being that this really happened.
He will undoubtedly reflect with pain and regret, on the circumstances that led to this unfortunate capture, from his point of view.
From the perspective of the law and the public, it was very, very lucky that he slipped up so carelessly. Someone else somewhere probably won’t be where they are now.