According to multiple news reports, Clutton first came on the radar of UK police when he ordered several counterfeit firearms through his wife’s eBay account. When police arrived at Clutton’s home to investigate, they found themselves “in a room covered in fishing wire at knee height, connected to an electrical connector and a battery pack.” After moving forward quietly, they found “two primed spells” [and] Two possible firearms, as well as four large plastic bags filled with weed. Next door, they found the growhouse they were from filled with four large bags, along with more traps, while Clutton’s wife had additional booby traps at her home. Overall, it apparently required “a three-day multi-agency operation…”. [including] Army bomb squad specialist to defuse all the surprises left for unwanted visitors.
If it seems lazy to compare this case Home Per se, we don’t disagree, but the point is that everyone involved in this case has made the same comparison. This includes Clutton himself, who told police he was inspired by “Booby Traps from the Macaulay Culkin movie”. home alone“; the police, who said, “[Claughton] that sounds like… [gone] Taking inspiration from Macaulay Culkin’s character in the popular Christmas film, he made unusual and elaborate efforts to protect his home and its illicit contents from potential intruders. home alone”; and the prosecutor, who told jurors, “If you’re sitting there wondering, this sounds a little bit like a movie home aloneThen you must be right.”
It’s been a long time since we saw each other home aloneBut we’re pretty sure young Kevin McAllister’s arsenal of comedy traps didn’t include mantraps, fishing wire attached to homemade pipe bombs, or a jerry-rigged flamethrower made from a fire extinguisher – all of which were discovered by police at various Cloughton properties, along with fake guns, a crossbow, and a wad of cash sewn into a couch. (Nor, for that matter, do we remember Kevin waving a three-pound bag of speed, although that would probably explain a lot about his character.)
Claughton’s suggestion that her house was rigged to harm intruders in every possible way was a somewhat harmless joke, along with her explanations for everything else, which can basically be summarized as “Wait, no, it’s not what it looks like!” motion? For weight loss and chronic fatigue. Tripwire-triggered explosive device? They came there to scare the crows. Several imitation firearms were found on the property? For a theme based birthday party!
What about a homemade flamethrower? “It was supposed to ‘wow’ people on Bonfire Night,” Clutton insisted. Judging by the video that police found on Clutton’s phone, he certainly would have done so — but perhaps the most impressive moment in that video comes when Clutton uses the fire extinguisher he’s just thrown as a flamethrower to extinguish the flame. A gadget that can set someone on fire, but also extinguish them again, perhaps? Or, think about it, could it also reignite a fire you may have accidentally extinguished? That’s genius! If only our hero had used his powers for good.
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