Man rigged up house ‘like Home Alone’ to protect drugs business, jury told

A man accused of rigging his house with tripwires attached to explosives to protect his drugs business told police he was inspired by the classic 1990 comedy movie Home Alone, a court has heard.

Doncaster Crown Court heard that around 100 homes in Grimethorpe, near Barnsley, were evacuated in the former pit village in May 2024 after police executed warrants at three neighbouring houses connected to Ian and Lesley Claughton in Brierley Road.

Opening the couple’s trial on Thursday, prosecutor Helen Chapman told a jury that officers found weapons including a home-made flamethrower, large quantities of cannabis, amphetamines and cash, as well as a series of traps.

She told the jurors: “If you are sitting there thinking that this sounds a little like the film Home Alone, then you would be correct.

“In fact that is precisely what Ian Claughton said he was aiming for when he told the police about these devices.”

Ms Chapman told the court: “When the police attended at those addresses and executed those warrants, what they found were properties which were heavily protected.

“They needed to be heavily protected, the prosecution say, because they were full of drugs and cash.”

She added: “The prosecution case is that Mr Claughton had sought to protect those drugs and the cash by the possession of firearms and by the laying of traps – those traps including the use of some minor explosives.

“The activities of Mr Claughton and Mrs Claughton had, it would appear, brought trouble to their doors and Mr Claughton attempted to deal with that trouble by fortifying the property and arming himself against any would-be intruders.”

Ms Chapman described how, when police entered one of the houses, “they noted a fishing wire running across the length of one of the rooms on the rear floor”.

She said it was at knee height, attached to an electrical connector and a battery pack.

She added that Ian Claughton told police the explosives were crow-scarers, used by farmers, which he had inserted into plastic piping and, in one instance, into a bag of paint.

Other devices found in the property comprised of banger fireworks inside piping, sealed with foam, and with wires and a coiled spring.

The prosecutor told the jury of seven women and five men that a stun gun was found behind a fridge-freezer and a homemade flame-thrower was discovered in a workshop.

She said it was a fire extinguisher filled with petrol, which had been adapted so fuel would be emitted at pressure.

Other weapons found at the properties included two high-powered air guns and a crossbow.

Ms Chapman said the cash found in the property included £27,000 sewn into a settee.

Cannabis plants were found growing in two of the houses, including some in tents in hidden rooms.

The prosecutor told the jury that officers went to the three houses, which are next door to each other, after Border Force found a package of imitation firearms ordered from China, addressed to Lesley Claughton.

The package was opened at Heathrow Airport and five small silver-and-black folding five-shot revolvers were found.

Ian Claughton, 60, denies possession of prohibited firearms, criminal property and an explosive substance.

He has admitted causing an imitation firearm to be brought into Great Britain, possession of class B drugs with intent to supply and being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Lesley Claughton, 59, denies causing an imitation firearm to be brought into Great Britain, possessing class B drugs with intent to supply, possession of criminal property and being concerned in the production of cannabis.