Despite the piecemeal nature of sentencing for those convicted of violent disorder (there are currently no sentencing guidelines in the crown court), comparatively speaking Gilmour’s fate seems to be hugely disproportionate and unfair. He simply should not be imprisoned for crimes that hurt nobody. This is a conviction that raises a hackneyed question, so often mooted during the phone-hacking scandal: cui bono?
Cui bono? Erm, yes. Society, probably.
But now the cameras turn once again to Charlie Gilmour, a 21-year-old Cambridge student and scion of the Pink Floyd dynasty who today received a 16-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to violent disorder. Gilmour, now sober-suited, bespectacled and freshly shorn, presented a very different figure to the apparently crazed eccentric who was photographed swinging from a union flag on the Cenotaph during the fees protests last December. He was later seen leaping on the bonnet of a Jaguar in a royal convoy taking the Prince of Wales to the royal variety performance, and was also found have also hurled a rubbish bin at the vehicle.
Violence doesn’t have to neccersarily hurt someone. He jumped on the bonnet of a car and and threw a bin at another vehicle. I would say that is being violent. The swinging from the Centotaph is an act of vandalism. All three instances are violence against property. Guilty as charged.
But, Ellie, what the buggering fuck is this about…?
And certainly Gilmour did wrong although, having admitted that he had taken LSD and Valium prior to the protests, it’s arguable whether he was wholly responsible for some of his more extreme idiocy.
W.T.F?
Charlie is still responsible for his actions. Whatever he’s off his face on, he is still responsible for his ‘more extreme idiocy’, as well as his not so clever, harmless moments of the day. Just because someone is bolloxed doesn’t mean they can go breaking the law. That’s why junkies end up in prison for theft. That’s why beer monsters end up in front of the magistrate on a Monday morning after kicking the shit out of someone whilst fueled up on Wife-Beater. You do something illegal because you have taken mind-altering substances, you are still responsible.
You only have to take a look at the sentencing history for “Violent Disorder”, coupled with Mr Gilmour’s nature in court (allegedly giggling at scenes of his actions), tempered by the fact he pleaded guilty and apologised for certain (but not all) actions.
Attacking a police officer by throwing bottles – 10 months
Encouraging others to KILL police officers – 12 months
Revenge attack on property, with “attack” of person, person of good character – 18 months
Taking part in a riot, repetitive attacks on riot police with state of mind to “re-arm” with projectiles, second offence – 3 years
16 months, given that Charlie doesn’t exactly seem remorseful of the main elements of the charge (which is the threat, as little as it was in reality, he put members of family of the head of state under, and the encouragement for others to break the law vandalism of property), seems pretty much bang on all things considered, doesn’t it?
Prisoners are to get the right to vote as the government is poised to throw in the towel in a long-running legal tussle with the European court of human rights, it emerged today.
It is understood that the coalition is to confirm that it is ready to change the law to remove the voting ban on more than 70,000 inmates of British jails.
You know what I say?
Fuck ’em.
If someone doesn’t play by the rules why should they get to say what the rules are?
If it’s all about human rights, how about bringing to an end overcrowding? That’ll do more for the prisoners than the chuffing vote.
What an easy life they have in prison. Spoiled they are. TV, excercise, three square meals a day. *We* feed them. Out of *our* taxes and they dare moan and whinge and complain when they get poisoned.
Never mind that they do not have a choice about where their meals come from, they should be lucky that they are getting fed at all. Fucking ingrates.
Half a million pounds of *our* taxpayers money. That’s what the wasters are going to get. Not each, thank Christ. but shared between 300 prisoners and “quite a few of the prison wardens”. So in reality that’s less than £1,600 each. Still, if you’re a prisoner that has been poisoned by some twat who can’t cook properly, that’s quite a windfall.
If those lackies had been on the straight and narrow they wouldn’t be getting any money at all. Who says crime doesn’t pay, huh?
Let’s say for talk’s sake that you are Mr Tony Blair. Let’s further suppose that you have in your prison system a foreign national convicted of 270 counts of murder. You can probably be confident that he’ll be out of sight, out of mind for ten or twelve years, but eventually his health is likely to fail him, and you might be faced with the question of what to do with a dying man, to whom it would be deeply politically problematic to give a compassionate release. What do you do?
If you’re a skilled politician, or a treacherous weasel, you might do something like this:
Sign a treaty with Colonel Gaddafi.
Include in that treaty a clause on prisoner transfers, which is realistically only going to apply to one man.
Devolve responsibility for this area to the Scottish government.
When the time comes, stand back and chuckle as Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill wonder how they ended up with this steaming turd of a decision.
A man jailed 27 years ago for murdering a barmaid could be released from prison after DNA evidence was reviewed.
Sean Hodgson, 57, is serving a life sentence for killing Teresa De Simone, 22. She was found strangled in her car in Southampton in December 1979.
The case has now been sent to appeal over claims tests on semen found at the scene prove it was not Hodgson’s DNA.
The BBC understands the Crown Prosecution Service will not contest the appeal on 18 March.
This guy has spent 27 years in prison, and now some DNA testing can, it is thought, prove that it wasn’t him that killed this girl. The fact that the CPS isn’t going to try to keep him in prison is a strong indicator that this man will be free and pronounced innocent.
This refers to Warren Blackwell, who was imprisoned for three and a half years for a crime he didn’t commit and is about the compensation he is going to receive, thought to be about £100k, which will be deducted almost £7000 for expenses he would’ve saved on, stuff like rent and food, whilst in prison.
Did you notice the Doublespeak that goes with the Orwellian name of Ministry of Justice:
“…wrong to refer to the deductions as ‘Bed & Breakfast’
“…would have to pay…such things as a mortgage or rent”
The Ministry of Justice has done an assessment and come to this figure, and will make the deduction because the compensation is “to put an individual back into the financial position they would have been in but for the miscarriage of justice, but not to a better position.”
Now, I do not know Warren, so I don’t know whether he was employed or not or what his finances were when he went into prison, but I do know that he is married and has a 7 year old son. His wife has still had to pay a mortgage/rent, that doesn’t reduce when one less person is living there. How could the MoJ predict what Warrens employment status could’ve been during those 3.5 years of imprisonment? Three and a half years is a long time, most people do not know if they will still be with the same company in three and a half years time, or unemployed, etc so how the bloody hell is the Govt. supposed to know?
Mr Blackwell couldn’t have been in prison, and yet he is having to reimburse the Govt. for his stay. The people who put themselves in prison by committing crimes do not have to pay a thing. If that is the way the Govt. wants to go, why not introduce two new schemes, Pay as You Go for occasional sinners, who will have a short stay every few years and Pay Monthly for the biggies that do years.
There is also no mention of anything to compensate Warren for missing out on three and a half years of his son growing up, who was 3 when Warren went into prison, and is now 7. Those years can never be replaced or returned and children change so quickly at that age that money cannot ever help to undo the loss, but it would be a gesture.
On a related note, Mr Blackwells accuser remains anonymous and has a history of falsely accusing men:
Has made at least five other fake allegations of sexual and physical assault to police in three separate forces.
Was married twice and made false allegations against both husbands – one of whom was a policeman.
Once accused her own father of sexual assault, but police concluded she had made it up.
Accused a boy of rape when she was a teenager, only for a doctor to discover she was still a virgin.
The CCRC concluded that in the case of Mr Blackwell, she had “lied about the assault and was not attacked at all, her injuries being self-inflicted”.
Whilst this lady obviously has some mental problems, and Warrens has had a (relatively) good outcome, it is often not the case and the man has his life ruined and the woman remains anonymous.