The law is an ass

LONDON (Reuters) - A man who punched a 96-year-old war veteran, leaving him blind in one eye, during an unprovoked attack on a tram in south London, escaped jail on Monday.

Stephen Gordon, 44, a paranoid schizophrenic, was sentenced to a three-year supervision order at Croydon Crown Court after the judge ruled that treatment rather than jail would be "in the best interests of the public in the future".

The incident occurred after Gordon tried to push past the elderly man, who requires two walking sticks and was standing in the aisle of a busy tram travelling near Croydon on December 14 last year.

As he did so, Gordon's hat was brushed off his head. He retaliated by calling the elderly man a "bastard" and then punched him in the face.

He was arrested in January this year after the incident was captured on CCTV and found guilty at trial of causing grievous bodily harm.

"This was a particularly nasty attack on an elderly man who was obviously very frail and was physically not able to defend himself," said Detective Constable Darren Stenning of British Transport Police.

"The blow to the victim's head caused serious injury, which has resulted in the victim losing sight in one eye. And unfortunately since this assault, the victim's health has deteriorated and he now resides in a residential care home."




This three-year supervision order to me beyond belief - The laws of this land are just so out of date and need to be changed - how do you go about it - anyone know ? ..

If you and I - who are in our right minds were found guilty of GBH - away we would to jail go but if you have a mental health problem you stay free ...

The judge ruled that treatment rather than jail would be "in the best interests of the public in the future". ----- Is paranoid schizophrenic Curable ? .. The 3 year supervision order will not even begin to manage the condition ..

Rose, I agree with you. An utter disgrace.

If the man involved is mentally ill, than this sort of behaviour should dictate that be held in some sort of secure hospital until he is better.

However, if he is well enough to walk the streets, then he should have gone to prison.

This sort of rubbish from our courts has led to a situation where the law is not respected & the police & the courts are not feared by criminals.

THE number of violent crooks committing murders, rapes and other serious crimes while on jail early release soared 36 per cent last year, figures revealed.

All were supposed to be under supervision when they carried out the vicious attacks ...

Full article, the Sun, 23/10/07.

So the police catch them & we pay to prosecute them. Then a jury finds them guilty & the judge passes sentence ... only for them to be put back on our streets in order to save money by not building more prisons.

What we need for violent criminals is longer custodial sentences & then supervision afterwards, not this sort of rubbish policy.

As rose says, the law is an ass.

Here is a breifish summary of an ongoing local case.

A couple in their sixties are taking their evening meal when they hear a frantic knock on the door. On answering the door the man sees a breathless, panicked stranger who says he is being chased by a gang of youths and needs sanctuary. The youths however have followed their prey and come storming through the garden. The homeowner slams shut the door but the window is smashed and the youths are kicking in the door. The sixty year old bravely holds his ground and fends off the first couple of marauders until they give up.

The upshot? Yes, you guesed it, the sixty year old man has been charged with assaulting two of the youths (both teenagers.) He is currently awaiting trial. The law is an ass.

It's just appalling. This sort of thing cannot be allowed to go on happening.

common sense? where?

How about this from Saudi Arabia?

A 19 yr old women is gang-raped by seven men. They are sentenced to between 1-5 yrs while she is given 60 lashes for the "crime" of being in a car with a man who is not a relative...

The woman appeals the sentence and whilst her attackers get their sentences increased, she too suffers. Her 60 lashes are increased to 200 and she gets 6 months prison for "trying to exploit the media."

Absolutely shocking. Yet our governments refuse to speak out.

Now to Australia. A 10 yr old girl is gang raped by nine youths/men and not a single one of them is given a prison term. The judge suggests that the girl "probably consented"

It seems the demented (female, I think) judge is concerned that all involved are part of the Aboriginal community...the males being part of a "high ranking" tribe whilst the poor girl is of a "lower" status.

Printable words fail me.

it gets even worse from what sky news just said all the men plead guilty as well!
the premier has ordered an investigation into all the sex crime rulings because he thinks that there will be more cases of racism
(which is what this boils down to)

I sincerely hope that this investigation begins with the judge being sacked with no payoff, no pension etc.

I just do not know what to say

What other humans have to go through at the hands of so call other humans, beggers delief - it really does ..

I agree. What an awful case.

There are a few more details here:

The Sun, 11/12/07.

even more details

skynews

Three convicted of Newlove murder

Three teenagers have been found guilty of the murder of father-of-three Garry Newlove.

Two of the juveniles can now be named as Stephen Paul Sorton, 17, of Honister Avenue, Warrington, and Jordan Cunlifffe, 16, formerly of Rowland Close, Warrington.

Also convicted of the murder of Mr Newlove was Adam Swellings, 19, of Meredith Street, Crewe.

Two juveniles, aged 17 and 15, were cleared of murder and manslaughter.

It can also be reported that Swellings had been released from custody on bail on August 10 last year. Hours later, he was part of the gang which kicked Mr Newlove to death.

One of the bail conditions, it has emerged, was that Swellings was to have kept out of Warrington.

Mr Newlove, 47, suffered massive head injuries after he left his home in Warrington, Cheshire, to confront a gang of teenagers about vandalism to cars parked outside.

He was punched to the ground and kicked "as if he were a football". Mr Newlove, who was married to Helen, 44, died at Warrington Hospital two days later.

He was attacked on August 10 last year on Station Road North, Fearnhead, Warrington, just days before he was due to go on holiday with his wife Helen and his three daughters.

The jury deliberated for 55 hours and 25 minutes in total. As the verdicts were read out, there were gasps from the public gallery.

Ananova, 16/01/08.

Please note the bit in bold. Why is bail given out so easily? And why is bail given out when there are not the resourses to police it probably?

The law, once again, is an ass. And another innocent man has lost his life because of it.

It was talked about in general yesterday on the radio - people are let out - bail or early from prison as we just DO NOT have the places for all the people that should be in prison ...

I just do not understand what has happened to this country.
Far from being a saint I have had some "punch-ups" in my time and probably (certainly) lost a few of them...but the idea back then was once a guy was down and out it ended. Now it seems once a guy is down you take the opportunity to kick him to death
I despair.

IN a picture that shames Britain, 76-year-old former soldier Richard Fitzmaurice is led away in handcuffs for non-payment of council tax.

Shocked, he asked: “Is that really necessary? You don’t need those for me.”

But yet again, in a triumph of robotic bureaucracy over common sense, he was told “procedures had to be followed” ...

... “I am here on a matter of principle . . . pensioners in this country are the worst-treated in Europe. It is not fair and it is not right. I have no other way of protesting.” ...

Picture of Richard in handcuffs & full article here, the Sun, 20/02/08.

What a disgrace.

We treat our pensioners far worse than we treat criminals. Pensioners are being forced into poverty because the government has not looked after them. They paid, all their lives, into the national insurance system on the promise of a decent pension.

It is very shameful ..

Best of luck to Mr Fitzmaurice .

I agree that pensioners have been treated shabbily by this and indeed previous govts. The priorities are simply all wrong. The article itself is wrong though by saying UK in the headline as the law in Scotland regarding debt is very different to that in England and Wales. (I don't know about NI.)

Crime suspects let off because CPS lawyers 'too slow'

More than 2,000 crime suspects had their cases dropped last year because Crown Prosecution Service lawyers were not ready for court, it has emerged.

CPS chief inspector Stephen Wooler said the number of potential thieves, violent offenders and drug dealers escaping trial "continued to be too high".

The service said its "throw-out rate" - 2.5 per cent of all Crown cases - had improved, but needed working on.

Mirror, 12/03/08.

The police catch them & charge them because they believe they have enough evidence to convict them.

But the courts dismiss cases because the CPS can't get it's act together to prepare for the trial.

Absurd.