News from the agricultural district. An update.

My good friend The General conveys news from the agricultural district which will likely conclude the matter of "Old Boaty" aka Peter Boatman, the former Northamptonshire Police Inspector and violent sociopath, who took the cowards way out in October 2010 when his nefarious dealings in the sale of Taser torture weapons in breach of a Home Office licence ran aground shortly after the death of Raoul Moat.

You can read the previous story with background here. http://thebuckshotter.blogspot.com/2010/10/news-from-agricultural-district.html

Here we conclude the story.... for the foreseeable at least.


A coroner has recorded an open verdict at the inquest of a company director whose firm supplied Taser torture weapons which were used in the stand-off with Raoul Moat.

Taser torture weapon expert and former policeman Peter Boatman, 57, was found dead at his home in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, nearly three months after the gunman died. Pro-Tect Systems supplied unapproved Tasers to Northumbria police.

Mr Boatman was said to have been "ashamed" when the Home Office revoked his licence to supply the items. He was found dead on 1 October last year, three days after the licence was revoked.


A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Coroner's Office said coroner Anne Pember recorded an open verdict. Officials said Mr Boatman's company, based in Daventry, had breached its terms of agreement.

The firm supplied X12 Tasers torture weapons, which were still being tested by government scientists, directly to police involved in the hunt for Moat.

Closed Ranks.

Northamptonshire Police, which concluded its investigation into Pro-Tect last October, said at the time that it was not in the public interest to take any action.

The force said the matter had not been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service and a spokeswoman added it would be up to Pro-Tect Systems to reapply for a licence.

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So there we have it. One set of rules for those who impose the rules, often by violence. And another set of rules for the rest of us who are compelled to abide by the rules violently enforced upon us. Had it been any other member of the public caught out in such shenanigans you can be quite certain that they would have been nailed to the wall. There can be little doubt that had he lived on, the case would have been a whitewash. Fortunate we are then that the crook topped himself.

At least the thousands of decent Police officers around Britain like former Leeds Police officer Michael Bunting who do a difficult and thankless job often under near impossible circumstances and at grave personal risk can feel a little easier now that Boaty can no longer muddy the waters for them.

Pip pip