Legal Cases
In June 2004, The Sun newspaper reported that Courtney had been cleared of beating his wife during a row over her lesbian lover.
In January 2009 he was given an 18 month conditional discharge at Bristol Crown Court, on a charge of possessing live ammunition without a firearms certificate. His defence of not knowing that the single live pistol round was live rather than a stage prop prompted Judge Ticehurst to comment, “It perhaps undermines your street credibility and your stage performance that you cannot distinguish between a real round and a fake round. But perhaps that’s not for me to say.”
In May 2009 he was made bankrupt, owing £400,000 to creditors, including taxes of £250,000.
On the 29th July, 2009, he was arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, specifically a Brocock Air Cartridge pistol, and possession of a firearm whilst being a prohibited person. He was sent in custody to Woolwich Crown Court for trial. Although the Brocock pistol was previously legal as an air-weapon (and would then have been legal for Courtney to possess), past police concerns (unconnected to Courtney) over the "ease" with which they might be converted as cartridge-firing firearms led to a ban on this specific design. Courtney was on remand in HMP Belmarsh, concerning the aforementioned Firearms offences. On 10 December, Courtney was cleared after the jury took two hours to find him not guilty on all charges.
Read more about this topic: Dave Courtney
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