Watching Newsnight this evening it seems that Jim McCormick, the ‘inventor’ of the ADE 651 is finally being exposed in the mainstream press. (Private Eye have of course been on the case for a long time). The device is basically a divining rod dressed up with a whizzy name. Watch this to see the magic detection card being taken apart by an electronics expert to reveal that it is in fact a cheap anti-shop lifting device.
Jim McCormick, entrepreneur & fraudster
Jim is the sole shareholder of ATSC Exports Ltd and ATSC UK Ltd. They sell what they call an explosives detector that sells for about $40,000. Allegedly over £80 million of them have been sold in Iraq alone. Trouble is, they are absolutely and utterly useless. Jim claims that his magic machine can detect explosives in ideal conditions up to 1km away.
In a country like Iraq, desperate for anything that can help limit the bloodshed and bombings that are an everyday occurrence, it is not hard to see why people would be prepared to invest in anything that could help. The government has just banned the export of these devices to some countries on the grounds that they could put the lives of UK forces at risk, but they are still able to export to other countries.
It is impossible for me to understand how someone could sell such a device and profit from the misery of others, when by doing so he is almost certainly causing the deaths of people who are given a false sense of safety.
About as close to being downright evil as I think you could get.
You can follow me on Twitter if you like that sort of thing. @marklittlewood
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And now, Jim McCormick has been arrested this evening, (21st January) on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest
I think you should remove “entrepreneur” from the caption and just label him for what he is, fraudster.
What an oozing accretion of evil he is. I bet he has that hair style to hide the horns that would complete his Mephistophelean appearance
If this is the truth about ADE651 how has it sold. Governments etc should have had it tested thoroughly before purchase. People will surely have had to be negligent to be conned like this.
This guy should be dismembered finger by finger and limb by limb. He is a disgrace to the human race and regrettably also to the United Kingdom. Meantime, I am also shocked by how gullible the procurement organisations were who were taken in this by this so simple deception.
This man should be tried for murder not fraud if it can be shown that his ” device” has allowed explosives to be planted or gained access to premises that have subsequently exploded and caused loss of life, SCUM. Also every penny, plus, that he has ever made should be seized and property confiscated, he should be left with less than nothing. Lock him up in a military prison, lol.
Whilst I TOTALLY agree with all of the above comments – It has rasied a question in me as to how Iraq was duped on this – surely there must have been people on Iraq’s side through coruption perhaps that benefited either in pocket or in kind to even allow this – ‘Allegedly over £80 million of them have been sold in Iraq alone’!!! – so would this be a conspiracy by many to defraud – and will they get away with it? I have never heard before of any government or country not properly testing a devices claim – especially one with such a pivtal role before parting with such sums… incredible.
Do any solicitors know if there is a case for him to be tried in Iraq – don’t they still have the death penalty there? clipping – – James Randi, tested the devices and expressed his doubts over them. He even challenged McCormick to prove the ADE-651 really worked – offering $1m if he succeeded.
Iraq is testing place for the liberators, bombs and at the same time faulty bomb detector from the west!!! what a funny tragedy.
AHAHAH XD wow. sooo fucking sad and funny at the same time. did Iran purchase this shit I wouldn’t be surprised if they did . being iranian myself I really wouldn’t be surprised. hmm I dont think they bought it though someone prove me wrong. This shit is something out of a fucking bad dream. lol ahahah fuck this is so messed to think if any intelligent people died because of this stupid bs makes me feel fucking sad in the inside. This guy should get life he’s basically a mass murderer. watch him get a bunch of charges and no jail . I’m fucking sure of it. hell he probably has enough money from this scam in a swiss bank account to get the feds off his ass. mind you half of iraqis are uneducated. poor people I really feel sorry for them for falling for this bs or letting their govt fall for it I mean. fuck why does the world suck so much
Fitting punishment for Jimbo would be to get him to walk through a minefield with only his plastic box to guide him to safety.
I think he should be put in a field with landmines with his so called invention and ask him to walk out of the field!!!
I did use the word ‘entrepreneur’ with great regret.
Now the “explosive detectors”are banned for export to Iraq and Afg’n , and not to the rest of the world.Keep exporting them.
“The government has just banned the export of these devices to some countries on the grounds that they could put the lives of UK forces at risk, but they are still able to export to other countries.”
Because “lives of UK forces” are at risk and only they needed to be protected by evil entrepreneur of UK. Evil what??? Does UK government as any morals?
It’s sad, but probably no one that uses the device can come back to complain about malfunction.
The reason the UK government has only banned the sale of them to Iraq and Afghanistan is because it is not classed military equipment. Therefore technically it’s legal to sell as there are no checks required, they can ban the sale to Iraq and Afghanistan using the “UK forces at risk” legal loophole.
In practice they won’t be exported anywhere else anyway, it’s just a legal complexity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8477601.stm
Mr McCormick, 53, was detained on Friday on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation, British police said. He has since been bailed.
Another explanation for the current controversy came from a senior Iraqi interior ministry official, Assistant Deputy Minister General Tareq al-Asl, interviewed by the newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.
“The reason the director of the company was arrested was not because the device doesn’t work, but because he refused to divulge the secret of how it works to the British authorities, and the Americans before them,” the general was quoted as saying.
“I have tested it in practice and it works effectively and 100% reliably.”
For those really annoyed at McCormick, why not send a letter to his home address at:
PARK FARM
HAMBRIDGE
SOMERSET
TA10 0AE
UK
If you felle strongly about McCormick and his scam device why not write to him at his home address:
PARK FARM
HAMBRIDGE
SOMERSET
TA10 0AE
UK