Judge Jonathan Rose, inset, jailed Benjamin Fort, of Keighley, for pointing a laser beam at a police helicopter A MAN who shone a laser beam at a police helicopter carrying out a missing persons search has been branded an idiot by a judge. Benjamin Fort, 39, directed the beam from his laser pen for a prolonged period at the helicopter, which was looking for a missing woman in Keighley. The laser beam, which Fort shone from his top floor flat at Parkwood Rose, Keighley, temporarily blinded the pilot, who was on board with another serving police officer. The helicopter had travelled from Manchester to assist with the search for the missing woman.
A MAN who shone a laser beam at a police helicopter carrying out a missing persons search has been branded an idiot by a judge. Benjamin Fort, 39, directed the beam from his laser pen for a prolonged period at the helicopter, which was looking for a missing woman in Keighley. The laser beam, which Fort shone from his top-floor flat at Parkwood Rise, Keighley, temporarily blinded the pilot, who was on board with another serving police officer. The helicopter had travelled from Manchester to assist with the search for the missing woman. Fort claimed he was shining the laser beam as he was hunting rabbits, but said at an earlier court hearing he thought the helicopter was a UFO.