Image: Nintendo
The man claimed to be using a Legend of Zelda sword as a ‘fidget toy’.
A man has been sentenced to four months in prison, after police arrested him for carrying a replica of the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda in public. The man, named Anthony Bray, claimed that the sword was being used as a fidget toy while walking around the town of Nuneaton in England.
The police however, argued that the sword could be used as an actual weapon.
Man gets prison time after carrying the Master Sword in public
A man in the town of Nuneaton, England, has been sent to jail for four months for wielding the Master Sword in public. To be more specific, he was carrying a small replica of Link’s sword from The Legend of Zelda franchise to use as a, “fidget toy,” after buying it online. The police press release notes that detainee Anthony Bray was found by officers holding, “a sharply pointed item which could be used as a weapon and might put others in fear of it being used against them.”
Bray received his sentence at Leamington Spa Magistrates Court on June 28, and will have to serve four months in prison and pay a victims’ surchage of £154 on top of that. A quote from the Patrol Investigations Unit’s Sergeant Spellman reads:
We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this. It is possible to find fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you. With a bit more self-awareness, Bray could have avoided contact with us completely.
This might appear to be a harsh sentence for a man simply carrying a Legend of Zelda replica sword around in public, but there is an additional twist to this tale. According to CoventryLive, Bray is a repeat offender and has served multiple prison sentences before, including but not limited to serial burglary. This might have justified a heavier sentence in the eyes of the court, but the police press release bears no mention of these crimes.