BEBO is a public place, at least for posing with a sword

A man seen posing with a sword on BEBO, the social networking internet site, pled guilty at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on 7 November 2008 to possession of a sword in a public place.

Anthony Bowman (19) was convicted of a contravention of section 49(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 between 1 January 2006 and 14 July 2008.  His case was reported to the Procurator Fiscal in Kilmarnock as part of Operation Access, a Strathclyde Police campaign against violence launched in July 2008.  This involves trawling the Internet in a move to uncover criminal activity, supporting the drive to reduce crime and disorder across the region.  Intelligence gathered in this way is then passed to the Violence Reduction Taskforce which works closely with local community police officers to identify those pictured online. 

Bowman was fined £200.