DATELINE :- 23rd May 2000
A7 CASE RESOLVED
Binnacle remover receives caution
The Ministry of Defence has dropped its proposed court case against Roger Webber, the Plymouth dive centre operator and charterboat skipper, over the removal of a compass binnacle from submarine A7, off the Devon coast.
The charge was dropped after Webber agreed, before the case came to court, to accept a police caution for the offence of theft by finding. If the case had proceeded and he had been found guilty, Webber would have faced heavier punishment.
Following the decision, Diver contacted Roger Webber, who said that the binnacle had been in his possession for 20 years. It was seized by MoD police from his home last year.
He told Diver: "I thought that the idea of the amnesty [the Receiver of Wreck is considering the concept of a wrecks amnesty, whereby divers in wrongful possession of finds could hand them in without fear of prosecution] was to allow divers to hand in their finds without fear of prosecution, especially in this case, as I found the artefact 20 years ago.
"In those days it was perceived that the Receiver of Wreck was only interested in commercial salvage. I believe that the new Receiver of Wreck agency [Maritime and Coastguard Agency] have fully acknowledged this by announcing their intention to have an amnesty."
The compass binnacle will now reside at Gosport's Royal Navy Submarine Museum.