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Or there's Van Allen, who built himself a 14x10 concrete bedroom under part of London's Hampstead Heath... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22493078 https:

by Nursie 3y ago

Or there's Van Allen, who built himself a 14x10 concrete bedroom under part of London's Hampstead Heath... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22493078 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22493078 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/05/invisible-city-how-homeless-man-built-life-underground-bunker-hampstead-heath https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/05/invisible-city-...

shoo 3y ago
This is a great read, thank you for sharing. Van Allen comes across as capable and making the best of things after being dealt a bad hand of cards in life and being continually let down by interactions with state bureaucracy while trying to obtain secure housing. When he gets the message the state isn't going to help, he figures out how to look after himself. Then years later the state finally notices him and gets all stirred up about perceived terrorism/drug threats and gaols him for five years.
- bell-cot 3y ago
  's/perceived/hallucinated/' The law enforcement & security org leaders who went ballistic over one elderly homeless man, who dug himself a little dirt cave to live in, should have been forced to undergo psychiatric evaluations. What's next? Arresting poor kids for chewing gum, because "what if the gum was plastic explosives, and they were actually suicide bombers!"?
probably_wrong 3y ago
There's a lively discussion on that thread regarding whether the alleged "pipe gun" is actually a gun (the general agreement seems to be "no") and there are many comments praising his ingenuity. I wanted to check how Mr. Van Allen is doing these days. From what I can gather he escaped an open prison less than a year into his sentence [1] and is mostly known in the media as "man jailed for stashing homemade gun". He was in the list of Sussex's "most wanted" [2] in 2021, but that's about it. I wish someone would write a book about his life, but I guess they would have to find him first and I kinda hope they don't. [1] https://news.sky.com/story/police-hunt-for-prison-escapee-public-warned-not-to-approach-him-12117061 https://news.sky.com/story/police-hunt-for-prison-escapee-pu... [2] https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/sussex-most-wanted-men-women-4852638 https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/sussex-most-wa...

by Nursie 3y ago

shoo 3y ago

This is a great read, thank you for sharing. Van Allen comes across as capable and making the best of things after being dealt a bad hand of cards in life and being continually let down by interactions with state bureaucracy while trying to obtain secure housing. When he gets the message the state isn't going to help, he figures out how to look after himself. Then years later the state finally notices him and gets all stirred up about perceived terrorism/drug threats and gaols him for five years.

bell-cot 3y ago
's/perceived/hallucinated/' The law enforcement & security org leaders who went ballistic over one elderly homeless man, who dug himself a little dirt cave to live in, should have been forced to undergo psychiatric evaluations. What's next? Arresting poor kids for chewing gum, because "what if the gum was plastic explosives, and they were actually suicide bombers!"?

probably_wrong 3y ago

There's a lively discussion on that thread regarding whether the alleged "pipe gun" is actually a gun (the general agreement seems to be "no") and there are many comments praising his ingenuity. I wanted to check how Mr. Van Allen is doing these days. From what I can gather he escaped an open prison less than a year into his sentence [1] and is mostly known in the media as "man jailed for stashing homemade gun". He was in the list of Sussex's "most wanted" [2] in 2021, but that's about it. I wish someone would write a book about his life, but I guess they would have to find him first and I kinda hope they don't. [1] https://news.sky.com/story/police-hunt-for-prison-escapee-public-warned-not-to-approach-him-12117061 https://news.sky.com/story/police-hunt-for-prison-escapee-pu... [2] https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/sussex-most-wanted-men-women-4852638 https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/sussex-news/sussex-most-wa...