Bad Bedfellows
‘IF Kevin Smith and Jose Ruiz had attended the polices gun-handling master class at Cedar Mount School in Gorton, Manchester, earlier this week theyd know what a real gun looks like (see An Explosive Situation).
But they did not. So when hotelier Robert Bush picked up an item and shouted to the gay couple Im a bloody good shot!, they panicked.
As Mr Ruiz says: I was shocked, extremely frightened, stunned because I thought Mr Bush was going to shoot us.
Indeed, when police were called to the White Hart Hotel in the village of Overton, Hampshire, they found a shotgun and a rifle for which Mr Bush had licences. They also found an empty handgun box.
But it was all a misunderstanding. As Bush told a jury of his peers at Winchester Crown Court, what he held in his hand was no gun, but an unloaded beer tap. He was not threatening to put a slug in his gay guests, just bragging to them about his prowess in throwing beer taps.
Such behaviour may be what passes for entertainment in that part of Hampshire, as the jury cleared Bush of possessing an unlawful firearm with intent to cause fear of unlawful violence.
This in itself provides an invaluable insight into life in modern Britain, where beer taps and their throwing is nothing unusual.
But it is the build up to the row that concerns the Express. The story goes that Smith and Ruiz had booked a double room. Bush would have preferred them to have had a twin room, but they had all been taken.
The pair checked in. They then stepped out to attend a friends party. And when they retuned, they discovered that the doors to the hotel were locked. Mr Bush did not approve of their sleeping arrangements and had had barred entry.
The two guests were forced to retreat and spend the night elsewhere. The next morning they returned and were confronted by a smirking Bush and said beer tap.
It seems that having booked the couple in Bush had become worried that locals would take the mickey out of him for having gay men share a bed under his roof. Says he: In a small village like Overton everyone watches everyone else all the time.
Well, with beer taps flying about the place, youve got to keep your wits about you…’
Posted: 24th, February 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
