A man robbed not once, but twice.

Here is a tale from the formerly Great Britain.

A pensioner who left two children "very frightened" after he went to his door with a gun because he heard a noise outside has been fined £367.

That doesn't sound so bad, right? You're probably envisioning some dusty old codger waving a rifle around at a bunch of kids try to retrieve their ball from his yard. Who wouldn't want to fine someone like that.

At an earlier hearing fiscal depute Ruth Ross-Davie said: "It was about 9pm when Knight was in his home and he heard a noise outside of his door and his response to that was to take one of his guns out with a view to frightening whoever was making a noise outside of his door.

OK. That makes sense. A guy hears noise outside of his house and goes to investigate. Not the wisest thing to do, but understandable.

Apparently, the boys were "very frightened". Surely, Knight was waving the gun in the air and pointing it at these two boys, right? Well... No.

The court heard the two boys saw Knight even though he did not see them and were "very frightened".

Surely, Mr Knight had a good reason for toting this dangerous weapon around his house.

He added that the weapon Knight had taken out was a Winchester Rifle with a long barrel and was not capable of firing.

Mr Robertson said Knight, who has poor eye sight, had become paranoid after he was robbed and his neighbours were robbed in their own home.

That seems like a good reason to have a gun. Although, i'd want a functioning firearm. So far, Knight hasn't done anything that I would consider worthy of legal punishment.

The defence agent added Knight knew that whatever provocation he had taken the wrong course of action.
The court also heard Knight was planning to sell his home and move into sheltered accommodation.

Of course it was the wrong course of action. This is England. Anything involving a gun, even a non-functioning gun, is the wrong course of action.

Sheriff Elizabeth Jarvie QC told Knight she took account of his previous good record and the unusual circumstances in the case.
She added that his fine would have been £500 but she had discounted it to reflect his early guilty plea.

Knight's guns have also been forfeited.

And there you have it. An old man who has been robbed hears a noise outside his house, arms himself with a non-functioning gun, and goes to investigate it only to be robbed by his government.