Thursday 28 August 08 - 11:28
 

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Chemring cleared in landmine case

Chemring plc, parent company of Pains Wessex McMurdo, has been cleared following allegations that the company's subsidiary, PW Defence, was embroiled in selling landmines, an action outlawed in the 1998 Landmines Act.

A BBC radio reporter, posing as a buyer for a Middle East security firm wanting to buy landmines, secretly recorded a meeting with David Howell, overseas sales manager of PW Defence.

Howell was heard to offer to sell 500 trip-wire activated fragmentation grenades to him.

Following the decision by the Police, Crown Prosecution Service and Customs & Excise not to proceed with legal action, David Evans, CEO of Chemring, said: "The original allegations were without foundation. We have never manufactured or sold products for use as landmines."

Evans claimed Chemring had told the BBC at the time, but they still proceeded with the broadcast.

"We are in discussions with our lawyers about the damage that these unfounded allegations have already caused, " said Evans.

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