A group of so-called 'urban explorers,' who filmed themselves climbing and hanging from a high-rise building and parachuting off a wind turbine, have been banned from scaling structures across England and Wales.
The four men, from Waveney, were given criminal behaviour orders following reports of them climbing structures in Lowestoft.
The four – Matthew Adams, 23, of Raglan Street, Lowestoft; Javier Centeno-Gomez, 24, of Benacre Road, Ellough; Daniel Batchelor, 26, of Newark Road in Lowestoft and a 17-year-old boy also from Lowestoft, who cannot be named for legal reasons – pleaded guilty to a section five public order offence of disorderly behaviour.
They appeared at Lowestoft Magistrates Court last Thursday (March 10) – where the court saw footage of them taken from their own head cameras. This included images of two of the group lowering themselves over the edge of the roof and hanging off the side of St Peters Court in Lowestoft – 15 storeys above the ground on the town's high-rise tower block – in one instance directly above the main entrance door to the building. They also filmed themselves climbing on a large crane that has been in the middle of town at Clapham Road and there was footage of one of them parachuting from the wind turbine at Kessingland.
At court, they were fined a total of £205 each, including costs and a victim surcharge, and were each given a criminal behaviour order for two years.
Speaking after the case, a police spokesman said officers 'felt they had no alternative but to take action due to the extreme danger of their actions. 'As was pointed out during sentencing, they may have fallen and not only killed themselves but innocent passers-by on the ground.'
The order prohibits the men from climbing, walking, crawling, hanging or being on the outside of any building or man-made structure anywhere in England and Wales over three metres from the surface below, unless it has been specifically designed for climbing, they have the written permission of the owner and appropriate safety equipment is used.
The order also includes requirements not to go beyond safety barriers on any building or structure and not to parachute off any structure without the written permission of the owner.
After the prosecution, Adams, 23, said: 'I was inspired after to do this after learning about different styles and I wanted to find my own style as an artist, started visiting derelict buildings and then began climbing.
'I would describe myself as an artist and a photographer, although it is kind of hard to describe it exactly.
'Maybe it would be more accurate to describe myself as a explorer who documents and takes photographs of what he sees.'
With the order continuing for the next two years, Adams added: 'I plan to travel around the world, Hong Kong or Dubai would be my dream choice for locations and want to visit one of those later this year.'
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