A drug dealer in Barnsley has been jailed after rigging properties with “Home Alone-style” booby traps.
Ian Claughton, 60, was found guilty of ten offences including possession of firearms and explosives, drug production and possession of criminal property in November last year.
Mr Claughton’s arrest was sparked by an intercepted delivery addressed to his home from China, containing imitation firearms which was stopped by UK Border Force at Heathrow.
This prompted a multi-agency investigation over three days in the village of Grimethorpe in Barnsley in May 2024.
Over the three days, residents were evacuated from the area surrounding the drug dealer’s home as a 100-metre cordon was erected whilst military bomb squad experts investigated the property, as well as the National Crime Agency.
On Tuesday, Mr Claughton was sentenced to seven years in prison at Sheffield Crown Court.
His ex-wife, Lesley Claughton, 59, was also sentenced to 21 months and two years suspended for crimes linked to the same operation, including drug offences, possession of criminal property and purchasing an imitation firearm.
Mr Claughton told police he had booby trapped his home after burglars targeted his home looking for cannabis, taking inspiration from the 1990 comedy Home Alone.
Ian Claughton has been jailed for seven years
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WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE
He rigged his home with trip wires and home-made “pipe bombs”, describing the devices to police as “crow scarers”, similar to banger-style fireworks, which he had adapted by inserting them in plastic piping with expanding foam.
Trip wires were attached to the devices to “deter anyone breaking into his home”, West Yorkshire police said in a statement.
Simultaneous warrants were carried out at Mr Claughton’s home on Brierley Road, Grimethorpe and two other properties on 8 May 2024, with support from the National Crime Agency.
When the Home Alone imitator was arrested during the raid, police found “two primed man traps, two potential firearms and four large plastic bags of cannabis buds”, with an estimated value of £16,000.
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