Helicopter laser: I was only playing with the cat

AN OLDHAM man could have caused a disaster after dazzling a police helicopter pilot with a laser pen, a court heard.

Officers said the pilot had been deliberately targeted but Mobosir Ali (23), of Newport Street, claimed he hadn’t meant to shine the beam at the helicopter — and had merely been using it to play with a cat.

He admitted a charge of shining a light at an aircraft in flight so as to dazzle or distract the pilot at Oldham Magistrates Court yesterday and was fined £250 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

In mitigation he claimed he had been waving the pen around a room so a cat could chase the light and had no intention of affecting the helicopter.

Magistrate Aftab Haque said: “Thankfully the aircraft did not suffer such loss of control that it crashed.”

The Greater Manchester Police force helicopter was assisting officers with a search around Glodwick at around 12.50am on January 9, when the incident happened.

Julie Spaven, prosecuting, said it was flying at around 1,000ft when pilot Steven Curry noticed a dazzling green light that diminished his flight visuals and his view of the control instruments.

He realised it had been trained on the aircraft and it was repeatedly shone over 10 minutes.

Officers searched for the source of the light, which led them to a room at Park View Hotel, Park Street, Oldham, where they arrested Ali.

The car insurance salesman told them he had bought the laser pen as a cat toy and had been playing with it for 30 minutes. He regularly rented a room at the hotel to use to socialise with friends,

He was aware of the dangers of shining the pen in the eyes but had only been shining it along the walls and objects in the room for the cat to chase the light.

Rebecca Romih, defending, said Mr Ali admitted that his behaviour was reckless but not that he had deliberately targeted the helicopter.