A man has been sentenced to four months in prison after walking through the streets of Nuneaton with a miniature Master Sword.
48-year-old Anthony Bray of Jodrell Street in Nuneaton was detained by police after being found in possession of the iconic sword from the Legend of Zelda game series in public.
Bray’s Master Sword measured six inches in length, and its blade could be released from its sheath by pressing a button.
He was spotted on CCTV walking down Queens Road in Nuneaton with the sword on June 8th 2024. Officers approached him, and Bray certainly wasn’t wearing his pegasus boots, because the (tri)force of Warwickshire Police detained him for carrying a bladed article.
Bray – who has previously been arrested multiple times for burglary in the past – said he wouldn’t use the Master Sword as a weapon, but as a ‘fidget toy’, something to keep his hands busy.
“We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this. It is possible to find fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you.”
Sgt Spellman, Warwickshire Police
There was no missing Link, as according a news release on the Warwickshire Police website, officers had tried to explain to Bray that, ‘despite its intended purpose, it was in fact a sharply pointed item which could be used as a weapon and might put others in fear of it being used against them’.
Bray was sentenced at Leamington Spa Magistrates Court on June 28th 2024. In addition to the four months’ prison time, he’s also required to pay a victims’ surcharge of £154.
The news comes after Bray was imprisoned back in 2011 for four years for burglary, as reported by the Coventry Telegraph. His first conviction for a domestic burglary was in 1989, when he was a minor, and in the ’90s ‘he was regularly in court for thefts and commercial burglaries’. He was also sent to prison in 2001 and 2003 for 18 months, for house burglaries.
Sgt Spellman of the Patrol Investigations Unit said: “We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this.
“It is possible to find fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you.
“With a bit more self-awareness, Bray could have avoided contact with us completely.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
