UK Circlefaker Fined £100
A man has been fined £100 after admitting damaging farmland while creating crop circles.[Original headline: Man fined for creating crop circle]
Matthew Williams, 29, of Bishops Cannings, near Devizes, Wilts, appeared before magistrates in what is believed to be the first such prosecution in the country.
For years intricate patterns discovered in fields have been blamed on acts of nature and even alien intervention, while others believe the ornate and crafted "works of art" have been composed by hoaxers using elaborate machinery under the cover of darkness.
Williams pleaded guilty to creating a seven-point star in a wheat field at Manor Farm, West Overton, near Marlborough, Wilts, in August.
The unemployed computer technician, who said he created the design to prove experts wrong, was also ordered to pay £40 costs by Devizes magistrates.
Roger Jones, prosecuting, said farmer Michael Maude estimated £200 damage was caused. "Mr Williams said he created it because a crop circle researcher had said it wasn't possible for humans to create a seven-point star. His desire, he said, was to prove the experts wrong."
Mr Jones said the matter was reported to police by former professor of architecture Michael Glickman, who has been studying crop circles for many years. Mr Glickman, who lives near Devizes, and has written books on the subject, claimed on an American radio show that is was impossible for a human to create the star in a crop field.
Paranormal researcher Williams, who has also appeared on television and radio shows to talk about the subject and moved to Wiltshire two years ago to conduct more research, said he and an American friend created the circle at Manor Farm to prove him wrong.
Williams said he falsely believed the field belonged to another farmer who had previously given permission for crop circles.
Stephen Clifford, defending, said: "Mr Williams says he approached Mr Glickman and tried to persuade him he was hoodwinking us. He said Mr Glickman didn't want to know. Mr Williams shows no malice towards Mr Maude. He has no desire to trouble the court again."
• Story originally published in •
AP / London - November 6 2000
Wiltshire Police took the suspected hoaxers into custody after swooping on a house in the Devizes area yesterday morning in what are believed to have been the first ever crop circle related arrests.
They used a warrant to search the premises and seized several tools and other pieces of equipment which may be connected to the construction of elaborate corn formations.
First they arrested a man [Matthew Williams] on suspicion of creating a crop pattern at a farm in West Overton near Marlborough in July.
Later they returned to the same address to arrest another man, also in his late 20s.
It is understood that the suspects, who were both taken to Salisbury police station, were arrested after photographic evidence was sent to police.
Opinion is divided over the cause and nature of crop circles but it is widely acknowledged that many are the work of hoaxers who go to great lengths to create increasingly detailed and intricate patterns every summer.
Last night former county chairman of the National Farmer’s Union Tim Carson, of Alton Priors near Marlborough, welcomed any police action against suspected hoaxers.
He said: “It’s no different than if someone came into your garden and caused damage or vandalised your car.
“You spend a lot of time and effort planting crops and then someone comes along and destroys them. It’s very annoying.”
Mr Carson, whose crops have been damaged on several occasions as a result of suspected hoaxers, was aware of the particular formation which appeared at West Overton and which is now subject to possible court action.
“It wasn’t an especially spectacular one - not like some of them,” he said.
Another Wiltshire farmer whose crops have been damaged on several occasions by hoaxers, Andrew Naughton of Bishops Cannings near Devizes, said: “Imagine you had a green car and someone came along and sprayed pretty patterns on the roof with white paint.
“That’s the only way I can describe it.”
