{"id":968103,"date":"2026-05-18T05:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968103\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T05:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:55:17","slug":"solihull-man-of-good-character-found-carrying-knuckleduster-by-police-sentenced-at-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968103\/","title":{"rendered":"Solihull man of &#8216;good character&#8217; found carrying knuckleduster by police sentenced at court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 21-year-old had a knuckleduster in his pocket during a police search &#8211; the weapon will now be destroyed<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"birminghammail\" class=\"PremiumArticleBadge_premium-badge-image__ceBDv\" data-testid=\"premium-byline-birminghammail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/assets\/birminghammail\/images\/premium-byline-birminghammail.svg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35 __className_01dda3\">BirminghamLive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>05:18, 18 May 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dylan Connolly outside Birmingham Magistrates Court.\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_NWP_BEM_120526Snatches_23JPG.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Dylan Connolly outside Birmingham Magistrates Court.\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Dylan Connolly outside Birmingham Magistrates Court.(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A Solihull man of &#8216;good character&#8217; has been fined after police found him carrying a knuckleduster in Solihull, a court heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Dylan Connolly, a warehouse operative, was found in possession of the weapon on Perch Avenue on April 17 this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The 21-year-old, of Fordbridge, Solihull was stopped by officers who made the discovery before taking him into custody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Read more:<\/strong> <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/sprightly-birmingham-mum-dies-good-33924124\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">&#8216;Sprightly&#8217; Birmingham mum dies at Good Hope Hospital after care failures<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Connolly pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place at <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Birmingham<\/a> Magistrates&#8217; Court on Tuesday (May 12).<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Prosecuting, Ms Robinson said: &#8220;On April 17, police constables stopped the defendant in <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/solihull\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Solihull<\/a> and the knuckle duster in his pocket. The defendant was arrested and taken into custody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He is a man of good character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;The weapon is made with the sole purpose to cause injury. The crown makes a deprivation order for the knuckleduster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Mitigating, Ms Begum said: &#8220;He has entered a guilty plea at the first opportunity. He is a man of previous good character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He is a 21-year-old and is in full time employment as a warehouse operative.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Why BirminghamLive covers court cases<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Courts in the West Midlands serve a population of five million &#8211; and BirminghamLive brings you coverage from them each and every week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Magistrates Courts deal with offences where the maximum permitted sentence for each offence does not exceed six months imprisonment or one year if two or more offences are to be considered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Crown Courts deal with the more serious cases including murder, rape, robberies, serious assaults.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">BirminghamLive&#8217;s team of journalists report on proceedings, but it can regularly surprise people, and sometimes anger them, when details are published.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">So we have come up with some <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/birminghamlive-covers-court-cases-what-17787467\" rel=\"follow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">frequently asked questions<\/a> and answers to hopefully help people understand our role better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">She added: &#8220;It [the knuckleduster] was not used, it was not threatened it was not brandished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He accepts he shouldn&#8217;t have had it. He returned home from work, he had worn the jacket and forgotten he had it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;He accepts there is no reason to have it. He no longer has those items in his possession, either at home or in public.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The court heard there were no aggravating factors in his case. The chair of the Magistrates&#8217; told Connolly: &#8220;You have pleased guilty at the first opportunity to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Quite rightly, the public has an expectation that people who carry weapons will be punished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;You have a stable home, a stable job and are of previous good character. We see this as a one off.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">He was told to pay a total of \u00a3831 to the court, including a \u00a3533 fine. &#8220;We won&#8217;t be giving it you back, not that you want it back anyway,&#8221; the chair said. A forfeiture order was made, meaning the weapon will now be destroyed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 21-year-old had a knuckleduster in his pocket during a police search &#8211; the weapon will now be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":968104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,11653,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-968103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-premium","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116594037934316411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}