The Sterling Redemption - James Edmiston, Lawrence Kormornick

Engineering entrepreneur James Edmiston acquired the Sterling Armament Company in 1971 while still in his twenties. The company was notable for manufacturing one of the most famous sub-machine guns ever produced. The Sterling had seen limited use in the Second World War and by 1953 had been formally adopted by the British Army. Sterling guns were even the basis for the weapons used by the Storm Troopers in the Star Wars films. By the beginning of the 1970s the Sterling Armament Company had been in operational difficulties. James set about putting its troubles to rights and building on its reputation for manufacturing the best quality, high-performance machine guns that could be obtained. By the age of 40 he had turned the business around and was successfully selling Sterling guns to legitimate purchasers all around the world adhering strictly to the rigorous British licensing and export regulations. But all this suddenly changed when James, along with arms dealer Reginald Dunk, was wrongly charged with illegal arms exports through Jordan to Iraq at a time when British policies were reacting to rapidly fluctuating foreign regime changes and allegiances. Their defence resulted in a merry-go-round of legal wrangles involving the British Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Customs & Excise. In 1985 Reginald Dunk was persuaded to plead guilty to the charges after an important witness reneged on assurances to come to court to prove his innocence. James was acquitted and
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