I know the guy, he's from the same area that I live in, not buddies, but I know him enough to say hello as a fellow paintballer, and with this going on in the papers for the last year or so, enough to ask him about it.
I've previously had his version of events - he pleaded not guilty, accepting what happened but not the circumstances.
He has now been found guilty.
With regard to the relevance of his hobby, it's twofold:
1) any headline will relate to your occupation, hobby or activity, and then the relevant community will complain about the media associating them.
2) he had previously gone to the local paper with his paintball activities (tournaments, playing for GB veterans etc) which then means that instead of the headline 'Businessman ....' its 'Paintballer ....' complete with photos from their back catalogue
The article is factually correct in that he's a paintballer and has has been found guilty of the offence
The local papers, Salisbury Journal et al have been covering this since he first went to court and pleaded not guilty. I don't regularly read the local papers and it may have passed me by without the paintball association - but as soon as paintball is mentioned everyone I know asks me about it
The Sun haven't been very slow picking it up, so I'd probably say a local reporter has submitted it due to the nature of the offence making it 'newsworthy' to a national paper
