13922/2A POLICE helicopter crew have told of their fury after a man tried to bring down the machine by dazzling the pilot with a powerful light.

The Devizes-based helicopter had been scrambled to search for a missing woman in Wootton Bassett just after midnight on Sunday.

Three police patrol cars searched the area around Stoneover Lane for the woman, who is in her thirties and was believed to be pregnant and suffering from depression.

The helicopter arrived over the scene at 12.05am and joined the search using a thermal image camera.

The missing woman was located within 15 minutes and driven by patrol car to the Great Western Hospital, Swindon.

But during the search a man with a high-powered hand-held light began shining a beam at the helicopter as it circled overhead.

PC Kevin Reed was one of the three-man crew on board the helicopter. He said: "It started at the time the missing person was found and probably kept shining for six or seven minutes."

The helicopter crew, made up of a pilot, a paramedic and a police observer, pinpointed the location of the man and alerted police officers on the ground. The man, in his fifties, was confronted and police confiscated a torch.

PC Reed, who was monitoring the thermal camera, said: "I find it quite incredible that people do this kind of thing but it does happen to us on a reasonably regular basis. The fact is they're endangering the aircraft. It can affect the pilot's level of night vision and in the worse situation cause them to crash either into another aircraft, an aerial, or into the ground."

PC Reed said: "I will be putting a file forward to the Crown Prosecution Service." Recklessly endangering an aircraft is a criminal offence and can carry up to five years in prison.

Mike Evans, executive officer of the Air Support Unit based in Devizes, said: "We are doing our best to catch people who are breaking the law or searching for people who are vulnerable. I do appreciate that in the middle of the night it might be disturbing but I can assure the public that we do not enter into these situations lightly."

l In an unconnected case, Charles Calkin, 45, of Mill Farm, Stanton St Bernard, has denied recklessly endangering the Wiltshire Police helicopter while it was attempting to land.

Calkin pleaded not guilty at Kennet Magistrates Court in Devizes on Tuesday. The incident happened near Woodborough at 10.40pm on May 2 when the helicopter was searching for an offender. The case was adjourned to October 14 for a pre-trial review.

Calkin was released on bail.