Windscreen Sponge Attacker Charged

Police were called to a busy children’s play area on the Quay after reports of a man brandishing a weapon 15 yards away.

But after an hour-long stand off, the armed officers discovered the man’s “weapon” was a squeezy windscreen sponge.

The “weapon” looked like this

Marc Carpenter, 33, told police he had an armed gun in his holdall on July 10th, hours after Prince Edward had opened a new activity centre on Haven Banks.

Dozens of members of the public witnessed the hour-long stand off, where the bare-chested man invited the policemen to shoot him before allowing himself to be handcuffed.

Exeter Crown Court heard that the “gun” was later found to be fake, with Judge Francis Gilbert QC suggesting that Carpenter’s crime be relabelled with either threatening behaviour or wasting police time.

Carpenter was remanded in custody and the court case will continue in a week, after the charge is reviewed by prosecutors.