Robert Boyd, aka Buho the Elf has got two years for robbery at Belfast Crown Court. Enthusiastic readers of Sammy Morse will remember that Boyd was arrested for stealing lingerie and suspender belts at oh-so-feminine-not-a-sex-shop-honestly Orchid on Belfast's Lisburn Road. Boyd's defence was that he got confused between real life and his character in theShadowrun cyber-fantasy role playing game, Buho the Elf.

Two years seems a bit stiff for a first offence, even if a knife was involved, as the guy obviously has 'issues'. I suspect the beak noted the public notoriety of the case, especially among roleplayers and sundry geeks, and decided to make himself look a bit hard.

I don't envy this bloke when he gets to Maghaberry. He will be the laughing stock of the jail.

First it was Richard and Judy and the X-Factor, now even that staple of motherhood and apple pie children's programming Blue Peter has been caught running a bogus phone-in competition.

Has anyone actually been sacked over this corruption? For corruption is what it is. And if not, why not?

I mean, at one level I really don't care what C-list TV shows do; but at another it's an example of literally getting away with theft that erodes, in a very public way, some of society's most important values.

One for all you roleplayers. This sort of thing could only happen in Belfast.

A man accused of a stealing underwear from a shop in a knifepoint raid believed he was a female elf at the time, Belfast Crown Court has heard.

[...]

He told the court he had been involved in a role-playing game at the time, and his character was an elf named Beho.

He told defence counsel Anthony Cinnamond that within his small social circle he had been participating in a game known as Shadowrun.

The game was set in the future and the assumed characters were criminals, he said.

He told the court his character was a shaman, or magical elf, who carried a small Japanese sword as a weapon.

[...]

He is accused of stealing two sets of bras, knickers, suspender belts and stockings from the shop on Lisburn Road on 14 December, 2005.

The case continues.

This certainly brightened up my day. The BBC has more.

I'm often quick to make fun of the dumb, fat, elderly, American tourists I meet in Central London, so let me rebalance a little...

I use the cycle cut-through which avoids having to cycle round Hyde Park Corner (a terrifying road intersection for those who don't know London). This runs next to the pedestrian crossing. You know the difference because the cycle cut-through has big bicycles painted on it.

Anyway, this morning two elderly Australians were waiting on it when I pulled up beside them, and the man gave me a dirty look and asked was I allowed to do that.

I pointed out that, yes, I was, and gently intimated that he wasn't really supposed to be there, hence the bicycles painted on the ground.

He replied, quick as a flash, "Sorry, I get confused because, you see, in my country we drive on the left."

You couldn't make it up, could you?

73% of 2,500+ BBC Magazine readers who responded think Uranus is now the outermost planet. Ohmigod!