British businessman accused of 'bomb detector scam'
Court told device sold around world for US$40,000 was actually a cheap golf ball finder
A British businessman imported novelty golf ball finders and used the design to develop expensive devices he claimed could detect explosives and drugs, the Old Bailey court was told.
James McCormick, who worked from a cramped office in Somerset, southwest England, sold the devices to countries around the world, including Iraq, for as much as US$40,000 each, it is alleged.
His publicity material claimed the devices could detect tiny samples of explosives, drugs, ivory and human beings at a distance of up to 1 kilometre at ground level and from a plane flying 5 kilometres high.
They could even pick up the target substance if it was up to 30 metres underwater or 10 metres underground. Even a trace of explosive or narcotic weighing a billionth of the weight of a strand of hair could be detected, according to McCormick's material.
But opening the case, Richard Whittam QC told the jury that the claims were "simply fantastic ... incredible".
He said: "These devices did not work and he knew they did not work. He had them manufactured so they could be sold for a handsome, unwarranted profit."