Another great day for British “justice” - 2

Thanks to the Wolverhampton Express & Star for bringing us yet another example of how the judicial system looks after the criminal, rather than the victim.

Two predators who attacked lone women in the West Midlands in a series of terrifying kidnaps and robberies have had their 10-year jail sentences cut.

Nathan Hamilton, aged 24, and 28-year-old Jobari Blake stole jewellery including wedding and engagement rings from their victims before driving them to cashpoints for more money. The pair attacked random women in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, often targeting them as they got into their cars after shopping, between May and June last year.

The sentencing judge at Birmingham Crown Court said at the time the robbers showed callous disregard for the victims in taking the jewellery,

In one case a woman’s plea to be left alone because her husband had cancer was ignored.

One victim was snatched from a supermarket in Wolverhampton, while other was taken from a shopping centre in Perry Barr and several abductions took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham.

Jail sentences of 10 years were imposed on each of the thugs after they pleaded guilty to five counts of kidnapping and five robberies last September, were yesterday cut to eight years by appeal judges.

Lord Justice Dyson, sitting with Mr Justice Collins and Mr Justice Maddison at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, cut the sentences by two years each, after saying the previous judge passed sentences that were too long.

Lord Dyson said: “These were carefully planned offences, targeting lone women, and subduing them using violence of necessary.

“Although the physical injuries were not of the most serious kind, the emotional and psychological harm caused was incalculable.

“But despite the gravity of these offences, we have been persuaded that the sentences imposed were too high, taking into account the roles of the two in the offending and the low intelligence and suggestibility of Hamilton.”

Hamilton is of Shakespear Street, Sparkhill, while Blake is of Collymore Avenue, Bromford.

Lord Justice Dyson made the ruling after saying the pair were not the ringleaders of the gang and had not physically harmed any of the victims themselves.

A price worth paying?

Like the vast majority of us, PC Geoff King joined West Midlands Police “to reduce crime and disorder and make our communities feel safer”

PC King was patrolling an area of Wolverhampton that had been hit by a spate of car thefts. He was doing his duty and being the diligent officer that he is, he approached a man who he believed was acting suspiciously.

This man, not wanting to be troubled by an officer doing what the public expects of its police force, pulled out a handgun and shot PC King twice at point blank range. PC King lost over six pints of blood. He was minutes from death. He still hasn’t returned to full duties.

The man responsible for attempting to murder PC King was found, tried, convicted and sentenced.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has put a price on this traumatic incident, which has left PC King with permanent scars and ongoing psychological problems.

The value of having a couple of bullets pumped into you while doing your duty? £4,000. I’ll put that in words, in case you think some zeros might have dropped off. That’s Four Thousand Pounds.

Let’s put that into perspective. If you watch the ads for those ambulance chasing compensation grabbing legal firms, you will have seen the woman who can’t walk over a slightly damp floor without crashing to the ground. She got £4,000. Some bloke who was too busy eyeing up schoolgirls at a bus stop to notice a car pulling out of a drive got several thousand pounds. Another woman who wasn’t looking where she was going tripped up over some parcel binding and gets a huge payout.

These people, who are apparently genuine, get paid out despite the fact that their own lack of attention contributed to their downfall. PC King was doing his job and probably had no expectation or anticipation that he would be shot at, yet he receives less compensation than people who were victims of their own lack of awareness.

There is a limit to how much the CICA can pay out. After all, it’s funded by tax-payers. PC King is one of those tax-payers.  It does not appear that there is any limit to how much comfort and how many perks his attacker will get in prison. The man responsible for putting PC King in this position will never have to pay a penny in compensation.

I don’t know PC King personally, but I do know officers like him who have been injured in the course of their duty. Each one of them will say that they were doing the job they love and would do the same again in the circumstances. None of them demand or expect financial compensation for injuries received, but they deserve some recognition for the unique nature of the job that they do.

I don’t think the price that PC King has paid has been anywhere near reimbursed.

Another great day for British “justice”

Take a look at this picture

This is Joe Paxton - he was driving a train in the Kidderminster area, minding his own business, when some morons dropped a slab off an overhead bridge.

The slab bounced off one train and went through the windscreen of the cab that Mr Paxton was in. He was knocked unconscious and received serious injuries.

The two oxygen thieves who performed this act of gross stupidity were caught and convicted. One of them was sent down for seven and a half years.

The defence team for this waste of good skin promptly launched an appeal against the sentence. No doubt paid for by Legal Aid funded by the honest tax-payers of this country - you know, the likes of you, me and Mr Paxton.

As a result of this appeal, Daniel Ratcliffe had his sentence reduced to six years, meaning he will be out in three. Free to “laugh and joke” about how he and his mate nearly killed a man.

If I were Mr Paxton and his family, I don’t think words could describe how I would be feeling right now.

Thank you to the Court of Appeal for once again capitulating to the whims of the criminal and ignoring the victims of crime.

You can read the story here.

(First posted on Police Oracle forum 1013 20/02/0

Diana inquest cost now over £6 million….

…. and you know what?

She’s still dead (allegedly)

Ashes to Ashes

Fire up the Quattro!

DCI Gene Hunt has transferred to the Met. No doubt he has had his Diversity training and is as politically correct as ever.

The follow-up to Life on Mars starts tonight on BBC1 at 2100.

Policing as it used to be done!

Be careful what you wish for…

Sir Ronnie Flanagan has published a review on policing. In his considered opinion, only 10% of the stuff we do needs a police officer’s training to do it.

The solution to this dilemma is apparently quite simple. Get more civvies in to do the jobs that don’t require a police officer.

So statements will be taken by a member of police staff. Prisoner interviews will be done by police staff. Collection of CCTV from the petrol station who have had their fifteenth drive off of the week would be done by police staff.

This is all very well, until the time comes when industrial relations break down and all those civvies put down their pens and walk out. Who will be left to take the statements? Oh yes - all those police officers who have never been trained to do the job and have no idea how to gather the evidence needed. Who will be told to interview Billy Burglar? The probationer who has never even seen a tape machine, let alone used one or interviewed anybody.

It’s all very well saying that police officers shouldn’t be doing this stuff, but one of the reasons we should be getting a decent pay settlement is that we can’t go on strike.  As Jan Berry has quite rightly pointed out, if the Home Office take away all the personal interactive stuff from us, all that will be left is the door kicking, drunk lifting and brick catching. Some might like the idea, but it isn’t what policing in this country is about.

I think Sir Ronnie might have missed the point.

 

A free advert for Charlie Owen

 I don’t know Mr Owen and I have not been asked, persuaded, bribed or cajoled into writing this post*.

However, credit where it is due - this man has written two bloody good books and if you are going on holiday soon, I recommend that you put them in your hand luggage.

*If you do read this Charlie and want to send a free copy of your next book, then don’t hesitate to get in touch! 

Paul Routledge and the truth - never the twain shall meet

Either Mr Routledge is extremely ill-informed, or he is being deliberately provocative? Either way, it’s a classic example of a journalist who won’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

I’ve had enough of police whining

Paul Routledge 25/01/2008

Wednesday was Burglars’ Holiday, courtesy of the massed ranks of police officers who took the day off to invade Westminster.

More than 20,000 coppers wearing silly white baseball caps deserted the thick blue line to protest about being given a pay rise.

I wonder who was protecting us while they exercised their unlawful right to hold a one-day strike in the capital. Their law-abiding mates, I suppose.

This work stoppage must have been illegal because it can’t be true that every one of the 25,000 protesters took a legitimate day off.

And they are forbidden by statute to strike. The Manchester force alone sent 950 officers to London. Yet police chiefs are always moaning they are undermanned.

The opposite is plainly true. I suppose the protesters will make up any lost dosh in overtime. The average copper makes £2,900 a year that way, at an annual cost to the nation of £440million.

That’s on top of their salaries, which go up by around a thousand quid every year, on top of the 2.5 per cent rise that upset them so much. There comes a point when we have to say “enough is enough”, and they should calm down and accept they cannot have everything they want.

That point has now been reached. Most workers would envy the policeman’s salary, his fat, index-linked pension, his early retirement and his generous sick pay and his immunity from prosecution when he shoots dead a mildly inebriated Scotsman for the crime of carrying a chair leg in a public place.

The same police who demand the right to lock up people for 42 days without charge, and possibly without even saying what they are supposed to have done. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the politician who says cops can’t have their cash, is still willing to believe police chiefs need SIX WEEKS to interview suspects.

This business of unelected police bosses telling the elected government what its policies should be has to stop. And the place to stop it is the House of Commons, where MPs are being asked - no, told - to back new detention laws.

Aside from the merits of the case, it’s good for governments to be defeated occasionally. Taking ministers down a peg or two does wonders for their egos. But this time it would be sound policy too.

Tony Blair tried to keep suspects detained for 90 days, and had to settle for 28. MPs should keep it at that - if only to put the impertinent police in their place.

Keep the blue flag flying.

For those of you marching tomorrow.

Have a great day.

Behave yourself (like you need to be told)

Make them listen.

Duties prevent me from being there - I wish I could be there and support all of my colleagues.

I hope we can get the shortsighted Home Secretary to put her bifocals on.

Those who live by the sword…

Perhaps the people on trial went a little bit too far with their summary justice, but how much would crime reduce if more burglars ended up like this?

Burglar died after beating

A burglar was stabbed and beaten to death by a gang of neighbours after they caught him raiding one of their flats in a Wolverhampton tower block, a court heard this afternoon.Drug addict Alan Harris, pictured, was attacked by five men after he was caught “red handed” stealing a TV, DVD player and DVDs, it was alleged.

Mr Christopher Hotten QC, prosecuting, said: “It was a low and despicable crime to burgle a neighbour in such a way. He was to pay the ultimate price.”

Lee Gannon, Wayne Buchanan, Michael Joyce, Patrick Summers and Dale Francis all deny murdering Mr Harris, aged 37, in Wodensfield Tower, Wednesfield, early on March 11.

The court heard his killers beat Mr Harris up and dragged him to the 15th floor where he was dumped in a lift and had bleach poured over him in an attempt to clean the scene.

He died later in New Cross Hospital from multiple injuries including skull fractures and a stab wound. The victim lived alone in Flat 17 on the third floor of the flats in Plym Close. Cocaine, amphetamines and Ecstasy were found in his body.

The jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told that on the night he died Mr Harris broke into Flat 85 at Wodensfield Tower, the home of Gannon, 25.

He took the electronic equipment along with a Burberry cap and even the bed to exchange for drugs and returned to Flat 85.

Mr Hotten said Gannon returned home with Buchanan, 27, of Rushall Road, Northwood Park, and Summers, 23, of Dudley Road, Wolverhampton.

Meanwhile a party was taking place at the nearby flat of Joyce, a friend of Gannon. Joyce and Francis, who was at the party and lived in Wodensfield Tower, both aged 19, joined in the attack, it was alleged.

The trial continues.

(First posted on Police Oracle forum 1746 21/01/08 )