The Chief Constable of Sussex Police has said he feels
Andrew Woodcock
December 29 2018 10:40 AM
The Chief Constable of Sussex Police has said he feels «really sorry» for a couple who felt «violated» after being held for 36 hours before being cleared of involvement of the disruption of Gatwick Airport by drones.
However, Giles York said that the ability of the police to declare that Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk were no longer suspects should allow them to get their lives «back on track».
Mr York revealed that two drones found by police near the airport have now been ruled out of responsibility for the disruption which saw around 1,000 flights cancelled or diverted over three days before Christmas.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that police have not yet found the drone involved and did not know its model.
He insisted, though, that he was «absolutely certain» that a drone was flying near the runways during the three-day period from December 19-21 when the airport was repeatedly forced to close.
Police received 115 reports of sightings in the area, including 92 which have been confirmed as coming from «credible people», he said.
But he acknowledged that there may have been some «confusion» caused by the fact that Sussex Police launched its own drones in the hunt for the craft which was causing fears for safety of planes.
He told Today: «Of course, we will have launched our own Sussex Police drones at the time with a view to investigate, with a view to engage, with a view to survey the area looking for the drone, so there could be some level of confusion there.»
Mr York confirmed that military technology had been installed at Gatwick following last week’s incident, «dramatically» improving security at the airport. But he acknowledged that he could not rule out future disruption of the same kind.
The Chief Constable said he was «really sorry» for the couple from Crawley, West Sussex, who were detained in the wake of the disruption, but said that the grounds for arrest were «well founded» in lawful suspicion.
