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.