Justice?

So Wayne Bishop, the burglar controversially freed by the Court of Appeal because he has five children, is back in trouble. No surprise there then.

His eight month prison sentence was suspended by the, some might think, misguided judges of appeal, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Maddison, given that he had been before the courts on 14 previous occasions, had been in prison three times, had past convictions for theft, no less than six for driving whilst disqualified, and he had been before the court for breaches of community orders on three previous occasions, which some might consider shows a tendency to disregard court orders, which would include suspended sentences!

Mr Justice Sweeney

Bishop promised in court that he was ‘going straight’, but it’s taken less than a month for him to show his true colours.

Found Guilty after trial for assault he now stands to be sentenced, and the presumption is that when a further offence is committed during the course of a suspended sentence then that sentence will be activated, in addition to any sentence imposed for, in this case, the assault.

It will be interesting to see if justice finally catches up with Mr Bishop and if so, and he appeals again, the appeal judges will recognise that the argument 'because he has children he should be set free' will not prevail a second time - but don't hold your breath.

A Despicable Pair

Words cannot do justice to the despicable actions of Maggie Bowden, Rebecca Willis, and Anthony Connolly, who, as a drunken gang, tortured Sean Ruddeforth, tying him to a lamp-post and, during a four-hour ordeal, covered him with paint, nail varnish and food.



Two things are especially worrying about the case.

Both these feral women were given 12 months prison sentences by judge Peter Lakin at Manchester Crown Court but he suspended the sentences for two years when told both were mothers, as if that excuses in some perverse way their appalling behavior. Indeed, if they do have children what sort of mothers are they who get drunk and carry out the systematic torture of a vulnerable man with learning difficulties.

It is to be hoped Manchester Children’s Services are taking a keen interest in their fitness to be in charge of equally vulnerable children.

Of equal concern is that Manchester police were, it is reported, twice alerted by 999 calls to what was taking place but declined to act, telling one caller it was ‘an environmental health issue' and another it was a ‘non emergency’!

The case is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police Professional Standards Branch and The Disability Hate Crime Network wants an inquiry into the case carried out by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

I wish the former well and agree with their spokesman Stephen Brookes when he said “These sentences are a total farce”, although I hold out little hope that Manchester police will come up with anything other than the all too familiar platitudes that ‘lessons will be learned blah blah blah’.

Prison Really Does Work

It’s hardly surprising that Daniel Chrapkowski, 24, raised his arms aloft with delight after getting a 12-month suspended prison sentence at Manchester Crown Court on the 18th January for committing Grievous Bodily Harm against Joseph O'Reilly.

Even given the other elements of his sentence, an electronically monitored curfew and the requirement to carry out 160 hours of un-paid work, he must have thought he’d got off lightly.

It’s always dangerous to comment on sentences handed down by other courts without having had the benefit of hearing all the circumstances, not that this prevents the tabloids doing just that, although they seem to have taken as much umbrage at his being tattooed as to what he did.

What this story does, however, make very clear, is just how much prison is feared by criminals, and the extent they will go to avoid it. ‘Prison works’ as Michael Howard famously never said, although it’s what he meant and what Home Secretary Theresa May did say to the Home Affairs Select Committee.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8201914/Prison-works-says-Home-Secretary.html

In any case, it’s as true now as it ever was, the tragedy is we have in Ken Clarke a Justice Secretary in denial and who believes the opposite to be true.

Judge Bolton, Again.

So Her Honour Judge Beatrice Maud Bolton has retired as a Judge ‘for medical reasons’ as of January 1st 2012 and, coincidentally, has had the dangerous dog charge she faced, as reported here
http://amiducour.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-are-mighty-fallen.html
dropped.

Preston Magistrates Court was told that Ms Bolton had a mental health condition, was not fit to enter a plea and that a psychiatric examination ordered by her defence team found that attending the hearing would have "a catastrophic affect on her mental health".

I’ll bet being ravaged by her out-of-control dog didn’t do much for the mental well-being of postman Kenneth Auld who, it is said, was bitten on his leg and backside by Ms Bolton’s German Shepherd.

It would seem that the £140,000 a year ex judge will also escape any censure for her earlier conviction, retiring before the disciplinary inquiry into her behaviour could be concluded.

While she will no doubt console herself with a substantial pension perhaps we should just be grateful that we are shut of her.

Road Traffic Court

I was in road traffic court last week, the first time for about four years but something which will become more common following a revised listing schedule lately introduced in our court.

Two things both surprised and alarmed me.

Out of 74 cases before the court all but one of the drivers had either no driving licence, or had one which had been revoked by the DVLA.
They had all, without exception, been offered a fixed penalty by the police for offences such as faulty lights, speeding, or minor traffic infringements but without a valid driving licence had been unable to take up the fixed penalty of a £60 fine and three points on their licence.
In the majority of cases they were also charged with having no insurance, any insurance they did hold becoming invalid simply because they had no licence.

I find the prospect of so many un-licensed, and therefore un-insured, drivers on the roads every day truly alarming, no wonder the general standard of driving is so poor, and it is unlikely to improve. Those drivers so convicted, of speeding, having no licence and no (or invalid) insurance received fines averaging £600 and having eight penalty points endorsed on their licence when they finally, if ever, get one.
It is likely therefore that they will find it virtually impossible to obtain insurance at affordable cost and without insurance they will be unable to learn to drive and pass their test. It is equally unlikely that they will desist from driving, a frightening prospect.

Another equally alarming statistic came to light during the day, no less that 34% of defendants were either Pakistani, or of Pakistani descent, which must be wholly disproportionate to their ethnic distribution within the population generally.

I don’t know what this represents, speed cameras are blind to race or colour so it can’t be a deliberate targeting by the police. Does it indicate a general disrespect for the law within the Asian community, I hope not?
Someone did suggest that language difficulties may account for part of the problem, making it difficult for some to pass the written part of the driving exam, which surely validates those who call for all ethnic minority citizens to learn English as a pre-requisite to being allowed to live in the UK, as I understand is the rule in the USA.

Whatever the root cause is, along with the seemingly never-ending stream of un-licensed drivers who came before me, I had an unsettling day, and was assured by the Crown Prosecutor that such a list was typical of recent traffic courts, which does not bode well for my future peace of mind.