Auchinleck

I see that eight schoolchildren were shot at with a BB gun yesterday, in Church Street, Auchinleck.
















Photo - Michael McGurk/Daily Mail


Church Street is also where Labour MSP and Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson was given a traditional Ayrshire welcome (by this chap) on a visit to the local Co-Op.















UPDATE - via commenter dr cromarty, this :

"Police have been called to a junior football match in Ayrshire after reports that fans were fighting on the pitch. The violence flared at the game, between Cumnock Juniors and Auchinleck Talbot, which ended with a 3-0 victory for Achinleck.
Strathclyde Police confirmed that a disturbance had broken out at the game and that the incident was on going. The teams are playing a local derby game in the Emirates Junior Cup."

Who's The Criminal Here ?

A landlord who lets people smoke in his pub ?

Or a smackhead who steals Poppy Appeal tins from shop counters, hiding them in his daughter's pram (his pregnant 'partner' nicks them, too) ?

The State gives its verdict.

Sentencing Michael Bailey at Oxford Crown Court last week, Judge Julian Hall said he was not going to jail him because the amount of money stolen was 'very little'. He told him: 'One's first reaction is to be quite horrified but I have to stand back a little bit and put it into perspective, having in mind the total amount of money involved is very little and why you committed these offences. It does seem to me they were drugs-driven. I'm prepared to suspend the sentence of imprisonment you so richly deserve.'

























At the same court last week pregnant Sabrina Burton was also let off the hook after she admitted stealing a poppy tin from a Londis shop in London Road on November 6. She also admitted stealing a MS charity box from Frog Orange in Windmill Road on the same day and attempting to steal another poppy tin from a shop on November 9. Judge Hall told her: 'It's the sort of case where everyone has a sense of outrage that you should do this - "how could anyone do something as mean as this?" - but I have to keep some sense of proportion. The monies taken were obviously fairly given for good causes, but they cannot have been huge amounts. I will give you a chance to put your life back in order. Your baby deserves it, if nothing else. It will do your baby the power of good if you keep off the drugs.'

A former pub landlord yesterday became the first person to be jailed in connection with the smoking ban.

Nick Hogan, 43, was sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to pay a fine imposed for flouting the legislation.

"Orpington College Is A Well-Known Scum-Magnet"

...according to a commenter on this story :

Dozens of college pupils were involved in violent clashes with police yesterday afternoon (November 3), forcing the closure of Orpington High Street. The trouble flared at around 5.25pm when more than 40 Orpington College students waited for a bus outside Boots in the high street. Around 15 of them boarded a route 51 before the driver shut his doors and a patrolling PCSO told the remaining teenagers they would have to wait for the next bus. But instead the youths on the pavement tried to force their way onto the bus, kicking the front and back doors. The violence quickly escalated and a 25-year-old PCSO sustained a cut above his left eye. He was taken to a south London hospital by ambulance. Two other police officers were also struck during the incident. The high street was shut for around an hour while police fought running battles with the teenagers.

Seven teenagers, all Orpington College pupils, were arrested including three 18-year-old women from Lewisham, Greenwich and Belvedere. Two boys from Lewisham and Greenwich, aged 16 and 17, were also arrested, along with a 19-year-old man from Erith. A 17-year-old girl from Dartford was also arrested during the disturbance.

Comments :

Please, Bromley Council, take a close look at this establishment and if the current ineffective leadership at the college needs replacing then please do it before someone ends up being killed. It nearly happened last year with the stabbing outside the college and things are getting worse.

We were there yesterday and saw some of what went on - these reports are not sensationalised! Orpington college is an utter disgrace to the local community and it's about time action was taken against that proportion of it's students who routinely behave like animals on their way to/from it.

Yes it is the college students,but not the local ones,always the students who travel into orpington to go to the college.

Are these students paid £30 to attend, I wonder? When this country was still sane, only the clever kids stayed on at school and went to college. Now, because the government wants to fiddle the unemployment figures, all the riff-raff are staying on and spoiling it for the students who actually want to learn.

As a paper informing the public, you need to get your facts straight!! I was on that bus! there wernt 40 pupils at the bus stop, more like 100 (and about 60 police officers) behaving like animals because they have to wait to get on. The police officer didnt get a slash to the face, he got stabbed. Every monday and tuesday this stupid behaviour happens usually resulting in the bus driver turning off the engine. the school kids in the morning have their own bus, 1 needs to be provided at 5PM for the college lot then they can do what they want to each other( which is usually fighting upstairs!) instead of making the public who actually want to get home from work wait 2 hours!!!!!! When the kids who were upstairs causing trouble had to wait to be searched as they got off the bus, the police officers were saying sorry for the inconvinience to THEM!! what about the passengers that had to wait????? Passengers who used their last money on their oyster cards had no other way of getting home, and the police wernt bothered!

Senior Police Officer = Senior Social Worker

No matter what happens at street level, where the decisions get taken the sociology grads are totally in control :

Police try to avoid sending anti-social youths to prison because it increases the chances of them reoffending, an inquest into the deaths of a mother and her disabled daughter heard today.

Superintendent Steve Harrod, head of criminal justice at Leicestershire Police, was giving evidence at the hearing into the suicide of Fiona Pilkington, 38, who killed herself and and her disabled daughter two years ago. Ms Pilkington, 38, died after setting fire to her car while she and her daughter Francecca Hardwick, 18, were inside. An 11-year bullying campaign by local youths had made their lives intolerable. Months before, Ms Pilkington had written in her diary that she had given up trying to call the police for help, because they thought she was “overreacting”.

Earlier this week it emerged that Ms Pilkington had called police 33 times to complain about the abuse but none of the gang members, including the main problem family about whom police were informed, were prosecuted.

Mr Harrod was then asked by a juror: “If a youth above the age of criminal responsibility commits a crime, why is the criminalising of juveniles a consideration? If they commit a crime do they not bring the criminalisation upon themselves?”

He replied: “From a police point of view, what we want to do with any criminals is to prevent reoffending. From my personal experience, if a juvenile goes in to detention, they are likely to mix with like-minded people during their time there and they are more likely to reoffend. I think for new police officers this is all part of their training and for older officers there is a transition. But once you recognise that if you go to charge, and then the offenders come out of prison, you see them in the cells again and again.”

The badly burnt bodies of Ms Pilkington and her daughter, known as Frankie to her family, were discovered in October 2007 in the family’s blue Austin Maestro at the side of the A47 near their home. For more than a decade the family had been subjected to daily torment from local youths – some as young as 10 – who routinely shouted abuse and hurled objects at their house. At one point Ms Pilkington’s son Anthony, now 19, was threatened with an iron bar and locked in a shed at knifepoint. Earlier, the inquest was told social services were aware Ms Pilkington had been experiencing “suicidal thoughts”.

I blogged this case two years ago, and the reality turns out to be just as heartbreaking as I thought. Frances Crook and the Prison Reform Trust - and the BBC, of course - are doing a cracking job.

UPDATE - more from the spectacularly useless Steve Harrod :

At the inquest into the pair's deaths yesterday, Superintendent Steve Harrod, head of criminal justice at Leicestershire Police, acknowledged that the criminal justice system was set up to avoid sending juveniles to prison. He said police officers were only allowed to issue warnings to young troublemakers unless their behaviour was judged to be serious.

"I'm not sure if people know but low-level anti-social behaviour is mainly the responsibility of the council"

UPDATE - more torture in the community. If this had happened sixty years ago it would have been front page news. That's two rape/torture convictions in Greater London in the last three weeks that the BBC have failed to report. Is a pattern developing ?

The boys, two aged 17 and the other 16, approached the 14 year old victim and took her to a flat in Bromley on October 24 last year. While there the girl was raped and her hair was set on fire. An investigation was launched by Lewisham police and officers obtained mobile telephone footage of the suspects tormenting the victim with a cigarette lighter. Detective Constable Darren Sonnar said: “This was a particularly harrowing case".

Read, Weep

While we're on the subject of abduction by thugs, this. Usual useless social workers, powerless police, waster parents.

There's always been an small underclass - lefties used to call them the lumpenproletariat. But it's been the toxic synergy between the cultural revolution ('if it feels good, do it') and the welfare state which has expanded it so spectacularly.

Who would have thunk it ?

'Twas more than four years ago that I noticed Cathy Jamieson's campaign against anti-social behaviour didn't seem to be bearing the right sort of fruit.



Now those wee neds are all grown up :

A man who became notorious for making a v-sign behind Scotland's former justice minister during a TV interview has been jailed for assault. Jamie Smith, 20, is the 25th person to be prosecuted for a gang attack on passers-by in Cumnock, Ayrshire. Smith from Auchinleck, was sentenced to six months in prison.

He was 16 when he was filmed making obscene gestures behind Labour's Cathy Jamieson as she launched a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Unlike Ms Jamieson's policies, our young "Superned" is bearing fruit :

The Record told in 2006 how Smith and his then girlfriend Lisa Wilson, both 16, were expecting their first child.

And slowly, inexorably, Nature's majestic benefit dependency cycle makes one more turn ...

"a major step forward for pirates "

I don't know what's more striking - management-speak of the pirates :

Separately, wire service AFP quoted Mohamed Muse, reportedly the head of the pirate group, as lamenting their failure to take the vessel due to “technical reasons.”

“The capture of such a large vessel would have represented a major step forward for pirates off the Somalian coast, but unfortunately their tactics were good and we could not board.

“It was not the first time we have attacked this kind of boat and we were very close to capturing it,” Mr Muse told AFP. “We really showered it with bullets.”

How long before they're talking about "a new parrot-digm" or "a raft of new initiatives" to "take piracy into the twenty-first century" ?

or the general floppiness of :

Mr Vago insisted that the company only carried arms onboard under exceptional circumstances, attributing the storage of “just a few pistols” aboard the MSC Melody to the recent escalation of pirate attacks off the horn of Africa.

He also claimed that, contrary to some press reports, security guards aboard the vessel had no independent access to the weapons. The pistols were kept in a safe on the bridge and released only at the discretion of the master.

At the same time, he admitted that the controversial issue of deploying firearms on passenger ships, which some believe will only lead to an escalation of pirate violence, must be debated.

Words fail me (that's a figure of speech - they don't really). Thus have we progressed from the days when captured pirates would soon be decorating the yardarm.

We're that near the gibbet that my neck's stiff with thinking on it. You've seen 'em, maybe, hanged in chains, birds about 'em, seamen p'inting 'em out as they go down with the tide. 'Who's that?' says one. 'That! Why, that's John Silver. I knowed him well,' says another. And you can hear the chains a- jangle as you go about and reach for the other buoy.

The late Captain Coulston would have known what to do with them. A cruise with him would have been something to talk about when you got back.

"The battle it commenced, brave boys, and blood in streams did flow
While undaunted did our passengers the pirate overthrow
The cries of women and children lying in the hull below
While the captain and his passengers the pirate did overthrow"

I'm all for merchant vessels mounting a few Oerlikons or Bofors - preferably hidden in Q-ship style (via which, the Baralong incident. Bad form and not something to be proud of. If they'd been pirates it would have been different).

Tony Pomeroy - Magistrate From Hell

Don't even think about getting a fair hearing from this idiot if you're a victim. Because he doesn't know a victim when he sees one.

Alum Rock Update

Two arrests, no names.

Two views of the area - from the native Brummies and the young people who live there (aka "ppl dat liv ther")

Alum Rock Update

Nasty.

The slightly built 16-year-old fled in terror as he tried to escape from the 10-strong mob, who slashed him repeatedly across his neck and face when they finally trapped him. The youngster begged for help from passers-by seconds before the savage attack in Alum Rock Road, Alum Rock. Three of the gang, two armed with large machetes and a third with a wooden baton, caught up with the victim and rained down blows during the broad daylight attack at 5pm on Saturday. Eyewitnesses saw the boy being chased from Woodwell Road by a gang of at least 10 youths in their late teens, who hit him indiscriminately as he pleaded for mercy. It was only when shopworkers, neighbours and passers-by closed in on the gang that they fled towards the nearby park.

Interpreter Iftikhar Ahmed, who was cleaning his car when the attack unfolded, said: “The boy was only small and ran up to an old man in the street screaming ‘help me, help me please’. But then one of the gang with a machete leaped over and struck the boy in the head. He fell backwards and stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground. He was lying on the floor when another youth with a machete struck him straight across his forehead. I was rushing forward to help when he was dealt the second blow and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It made my body tremble. Blood was pouring out of him, it was terrible. The machetes were about 18 inches long, they were identical with massive shiny blades.”

Onlookers were surprised by the pack mentality shown by the armed gang.

“The youths attacking him had no fear,” said Mr Ahmed “They didn’t think twice about doing this attack in broad daylight, on a main road with people watching. The boy didn’t stand a chance.”

The victim suffered terrible wounds to his neck, back and face while the mob also came close to slicing off his ear. He was taken to Heartlands Hospital in a serious condition but had today improved to become “stable” and was expected to undergo surgery this afternoon.

Resident Naseem Ahmed, a father-of-two from Alum Rock Road, said: “My wife rushed out to help this poor boy with the woman from Muskaan Tailors Shop, and were wrapping scarves around his wounds to stop them bleeding. His ear was hanging off and there was a large gash down his neck. There was also a big cut across his face and a wound on his back. He could hardly speak. This was a big armed group of teenagers against one person. It was unbelievable. They hunted him down like an animal. There are gangs in Washwood Heath but it has never been on my doorstep before.”

"Help me, please". It does sound like Martin Dinnegan all over again.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: "A number of people were thought to be involved in the attack but details are unclear".

Fame At Last ?

Huzzah ! Coppers and other organs of the state all over the BBC - who are neither Sir Ian Blair not the late Mike Todd - nor any of his (approx) 10 mistresses, all of whom have been offered compassionate leave.

Today at 1.30 pm on Radio Four's Media Show - Inspector Gadget.

The Magistrate (who sounds just the well-educated liberal chap that his blog presents) and the Policeman can be heard on Radio Four's "Law In Action" - 18 minutes in. Nightjack gets a mention too.

Who Attacked Keith Reid ?

Stories like this bother me.

A man is fighting for his life after being stabbed several times in Walsall. The 42-year-old, named locally as Keith Reid, was chased through the town centre by a gang of men before being attacked in Wednesbury Road at around 11.55pm yesterday. He was taken to Walsall Manor Hospital with multiple wounds where his condition is described as serious. Police say he had been chased from the town down Corporation Street before being attacked by the gang.

Poor guy. Imagine that - a bunch of people with knives chasing you, like they chased poor Martin Dinnegan. More at the Mail :

The man, aged 42 and from Walsall, was in the town centre when he was confronted by a number of people. He was pursued by the group and suffered multiple stab wounds. The victim was today said to be in a serious condition. The incident happened in Wednesbury Road near its junction with Corporation Street and Milton Street.

Is this just a completely random attack ? Who were the attackers ? Anyone know ?

Stockholm Syndrome - St Austell

A couple who came "under siege" from youths who vandalised their property and held rowdy parties on their land have solved the problem by building a £500,000 golf course to give them something to do. Retired hoteliers Andrew and Mary Flint have endured more than 20 years of anti-social behaviour from bored teenagers who trespassed on their 11-acre estate. They were subjected to verbal abuse when the gangs gathered on their land and around a farm near their home, drinking, stealing and damaging property. So, when the farm came up for sale, the Flints decided to buy it and turn the 20 acres of land into a nine-hole pitch and putt golf course. Mr Flint, 65, and his 76-year-old wife say the course acts as a barrier to keep troublemakers away, and gives local children something do.

More than 20 years. You get far less for murder. I'm amazed they look in such good nick. I'd either have died myself or killed someone. They must be saints.

And what of the local police ? What were they doing over 20-odd years ? I know that if they arrested the courts might not convict - and if they did, they'd only get told by a magistrate not to be naughty. You have to try very hard to get a meaningful punishment. If only the couple hadn't been white !

But all the same ...

Police in St Austell have welcomed the course and said it will help reduce anti-social problems. A spokesman said: "The area of Boscundle has suffered problems with groups of youths gathering in certain areas. There is little in the way of resources and public transport and any new youth-based activities will help. In a rural area such as this one of the issues we have is teenagers who have a lack of proper facilities. A golf course like this is a very welcome amenity and will undoubtedly help reduce crime."

The triumph of the sociologists is almost complete. Crime is caused by a lack of 'something to do'. Now I know that the Devil finds work for idle hands - but that's an argument against idleness, not for the provision of entertainment.

Wow

An impressive resource, this. I wonder why I've not heard of Michael Hughes or his site before ?

This website is hosted by a former detective sergeant in the Metropolitan Police who worked inside the British criminal justice system for in excess of 25 yrs - including 6 years in one of Her Majesty’s Young Offenders Institutions. This has given him a wealth of insider knowledge as to the workings of the CJ System - and the necessary authority and ‘streetcred’ to become the author of a True Crime & Political hard backed book entitled,

JUDGEMENT IMPAIRED

Law, Disorder & Injustice to Victims in 21st Century Britain

(This book has received excellent book reviews from a retired Crown Court Judge, a former Senior Probation Officer, the Legal Editor of Jane’s Police Review - part of Jane’s Information Group - a widely read and very long established weekly Police publication - and others - See BOOK REVIEWS)

There are 808 pages in this book, spread over 24 chapters.

"Please, please can someone help us"

The travellers encamped illegally at Crays Hill have won their High Court battle against eviction after Lawrence Collins ruled they they could stay 'while concerns about their needs and welfare are further investigated.'

Tragically the needs and welfare of those whom obey the planning (and other) legislation don't seem such a high priority.

Posted by: Hovefields resident, wickford on 2:59pm Fri 9 May 08

We have been totally let down by this government. I don't know which cloud this judge has been sitting on for the past 6 years but he should be knocked off his perch and told to live in the real world. We have suffered so much down here I just want to sit down and cry buckets but no I have to pick myself up and fight again. Our human rights are non existent, why will no-one listen to us, why is this allowed to happen to us. We have no faith in our judicial system whatsoever. Please, please can someone help us because we are at a loss as to what to do. Most of the comments are realistic and supportive and I thank you for these.

Dalrymple ...

Here :

"If I were a Marxist, I would conclude that the British criminal-justice system is now a conspiracy to keep an ever-expanding class of criminal lawyers in permanent employment."

And on the disastrous ex-Lord Chief Justice Harry Woolf's tedious liberal breast-beating here.

Nothing to see here ...

I can't find this on the BBC. I guess it's just a minor incident.

A father-of-three is fighting for life after he had his head stamped on outside a Colne church. Paving contractor Edward Geddes, 29, was left covered in blood after being attacked by a gang of four outside St Bartholomew's Church in the early hours of Sunday.

Eyewitnesses say his head was repeatedly stamped upon by the gang, who are believed to have been thrown out of a party just minutes earlier.

Judge Beverley Lunt

The Burnley/Bacup/Nelson zone, so close to the beautiful Pennine moors, seems like a wee microcosm of modern England, with its cast of smackheads, paedophiles, thieves and unruly (if not downright murderous) gangs, all mixed in with the unique issues that pertain to such a vibrant part of the multicultural UK, and presided over by a bunch of visionary social engineers.

Mixed in with said ne'e'r-do-wells are a lot of ordinary hardworking types, heavily taxed to pay for the social workers, youth workers, solicitors and drug outreach workers of which the former have such need. They only tend to be seen in the comments boxes of the local press, raising metaphorical eyebrows as yet another serious crime is given yet another non-custodial punishment.

I was visting the Burnley Citizen site to find out, in the light of the recent reports on 'grooming', what sentences had been handed down to the gang who kidnapped, beat up, and dumped a fourteen year old schoolboy - for the crime of talking to their (female) cousin at school.

Suspended sentences. Not surprisingly the boy's father is extremely unchuffed.

The court heard that the gang of five set upon the boy because he had been seen talking to one of their cousins. He was hit with a crook lock during the assault and a footprint was left on his face by one of his attackers. After the violence he was left to walk home alone.

But the father of the victim, who has asked not be named, said the sentences, handed out by Judge Andrew Woolman last week, were 'unduly lenient and disappointing'. He said: "I really feel that a golden opportunity has now been lost to send a strong message to the community. I am particularly saddened that it has taken a great deal of effort from my young son, standing up to these people and willing to go to court where others may not have. And all this effort has amounted to nothing. The original attack and in particular the subsequent sentence has been devastating to him. His grades at schools have slipped and he is nervous in unfamiliar places and never allowed to go out unaccompanied"

The father has contacted Lancashire's Crown Prosecution offices in Burnley, urging lawyers to launch an appeal against the sentences. He has paid tribute to the police and prosecutors in bringing the case to court - but feels 'appalled' at the outcome. A Lancashire CPS spokesman said: "We are reviewing the issues which he has raised in his letter."

Where was I ? Ah, yes - the comments. Another of the stories in the Citizen featured a couple of guys who, baseball-batted, hooded and balaclava'd, kicked down a front door to "have a word with" the occupants. Mr Balaclava, Lee Rainford, got sent down (two months - what's that in real money - 3 weeks ?) and Mr Hoodie, Shaun Rushton, got a community order, which he failed to turn up for.

Judge Beverley Lunt told him "you have thrown a chance in the judge's face and I will not stand for that" - before giving him 12 weeks suspended and more community service.

So far, so normal. It was the comments that struck me.

"I KNEW who would have presided over this case before I even opened the link."

"Well what a surprise finding out who the judge was"

"Judge Beverley Lunt - a name that must warm the hearts of all the local thugs and criminals"


She seemed to have quite a fan base. Time for a quick Google. Wow.

"How did I know when I read the headline that this judge would be Judge Beverley Lunt?"

"when i first saw the headlines "troubled youth spared jail" how come my first instincts was to say "It has got to be Beverly Lunt" and sure as glass is glass it was! What is wrong with this woman?"

"I guessed the name of the Judge before I read the report."


When ever a case like this comes up in court and Judge Beverley Lunt is in the chair she gives out outlandishly lenient sentences.

Joseph McDonald had a long record even though he was only 17 and Judge Beverley Lunt said structured assistance from the Probation Service could be just what he needed. Burnley Crown Court heard how the defendant had stole victim Syed Kazmi's money bag and punched him.

The judge warned the defendant: "People who attack taxi drivers in this town must expect a custodial sentence. The courts are going to protect taxi drivers. They are serving the public during unsociable hours."

But she then spared him jail, saying support could help "make a man out of him".

"So, Beverley,you've been duped yet again."

"Beverely Lunt is THE worst judge that this county has had the misfortune to ever meet"

"As soon as I read the headline I knew who the Judge would be"

"Lunt has struck again"

"I saw the headline and thought to myself, I'd put my house on this Judge being let em go LUNT. If only I was a betting man"

"I am now awaiting the approval for a petition that I have set up demanding the resignation of Judge Beverley Lunt on the Downing Street website"

A soldier suffered a fractured skull after he was attacked by a gang in Burnley whilst on leave from the army. Scott Condron, 20, who serves with the Royal Signals Regiment, was punched in the face by drunken Luke Thompson before the gang repeatedly kicked him. Signaller Condron suffered a fracture to his temple as well as cuts and vomited repeatedly after he was taken to hospital, Burnley Crown Court heard.

But a judge decided not to jail Thompson, 18, who pleaded guilty to inflicting grevious bodily harm, for the appalling attack' saying it was time for him to turn his life around.

Judge Beverley Lunt said anybody involved in street fighting with kicking should expect prison and added it was appalling Mr Condron was home for rest and relaxation and was the victim of such an assault. But she said he was working and the authorities prevailed upon judges to impose an alternative if a sentence of 12 months or less could be passed. Judge Lunt said Thompson had had too much to drink and added the number of drink fuelled offences by otherwise responsible young men was becoming frightening. She added it was now the time to turn his life around.

"Criminals of Burnley -TAKE YOUR CHANCE WITH BEVERLEY LUNT - YOU HAVE JUST ABOUT EVERY CHANCE OF GETTING AWAY WITH IT."

"Here's some more on the judge who appears convinced prisons are so overcrowded that she shouldn't send anybody there...

1 ARMED MUGGING – WALK FREE ONE of a gang of three hooded and masked knifemen who took a mobile phone off a terrified teenager has kept his freedom. Burnley Crown Court heard how Shumel Mahmood (16) was said to be the "main player" in the incident in which all three attackers were armed with multi-tool weapons. Mahmood, of Gordon Street, Burnley, admitted robbery in March. He was given 200 hours of community punishment with £100 costs and £100 compensation.
2 MUGGING & SERIOUS ASSAULT - A CUSTODIAL!!!!! A TEENAGER has been sentenced to five years in jail for a vicious mugging which left a Brierfield man scarred and needing surgery. Baron Paul Newton (19) pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to the July robbery in which he taunted and punched a man in the face as he walked home from a night out in Burnley
And yet a soldier gets beaten to the point where he may lose his career and the criminals WALK!!!!
3. ATTEMPTED MURDER _ WALK FREE A DISTRAUGHT middle-aged mum who knifed her ex-partner after he found a new woman, has walked free from court. Depressed Joan Harris (46) had hidden in victim Harold Bleasdale's garden, armed with a 4in. weapon, before pouncing on him from behind as he walked home with his new girlfriend in the early hours, Burnley Crown Court heard.
So, attempted murder = walk free
4. PUB GLASSING _ WALK FREE A DRUNKEN teenager who glassed a man, leaving him "scarred for life", has kept his freedom - even though a judge slammed him as a menace. Burnley Crown Court heard how Mark Steer (19), of Woone Lane, Clitheroe, immediately rang his victim to apologise. When the police answered, he owned up. Judge Beverly Lunt told Steer he worked hard all week, but then went out, got drunk and was out of control. She went on: "That has to stop and one way is to make sure you don't have the money to do it." Steer admitted wounding in January and had been committed to sentence by Hyndburn magistrates. He was given 52 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with 12 months' supervision.
6. FRAUD – WALK FREE DVD pirate was so successful he installed CCTV in his garage "store" to deter shoplifters. Hugh Hamer, 59, had 7,500 Hollywood bootlegs with a value of £100,000, on sale for £5 a copy. Trading standards said his garage was like a high street store, selling DVDs, CDs and computer games. The divorced dad-of two, who lives with his mum in Billington, Lancs, also admitted selling ****. Burnley judge Beverly Lunt said: "You have done a wicked thing. Continue and you will go to prison." He was given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to do 250 hours' community work.
7. PUB GLASSING – WALK FREE Kirsty Ryan (22) hit one victim with a glass and then sank her teeth into the landlord as he tried to break up fighting between her and another girl at the New Black Bull pub in Padiham. Burnley Crown Court heard how Ryan had descended into a downward spiral of drink and drugs after her three-year-old daughter was mowed down and killed by a disqualified driver in September last year. This offence was committed just a month after she received a conditional discharge for throwing a vase at her mother's partner. The defendant's barrister told the court how Ryan had struggled to cope with not only her loss, but also the high-profile court case following the accident and the ensuing publicity.
Despite personal tradegy it is somehow OK to go around glassing people and not get locked up…
8. ARSONIST WALKS FREE A woman set fire to her flat after a vodka binge with her partner still sleeping inside, a court was told. Deborah Ryan set fire to curtains on the flat on Albyn Street East, Preston last December. Preston Crown Court prosecutor Paul Cummings said she and her partner George Crompton had been drinking during the day. Eventually she asked him to leave, he refused and fell asleep only to be woken by smoke. Ryan was heard to say: "Let the place burn", Mr Cummings added. Mr Crompton was able to douse the flames and damage was confined to curtains and a window costing about £250 to repair, the court heard. Ryan, 43, pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless arson. Her barrister, Miss Nadine Hope said immediately after the fire she accepted what she had done, in drink, when police arrived at the scene. In her state at the time, she had wanted to harm herself but recklessly started the fire, not intentionally. She had been allowed to stay in the property and was now repaying the costs for the damage to the Housing Association who own it. Miss Hope said her client was successfully fighting an alcohol problem. She also had mental health difficulties. Jude Beverly Lunt told Ryan she could have put her own life, that of her partner and neighbours at risk. She had come close to receiving an immediate prison sentence but the judge told her she had decided to suspend the 12 month term for two years."


But it's this one that takes the biscuit.

On Friday at Burnley Crown Court Judge Beverley Lunt gave Jason Davies a last chance to kick his habit after he admitted twice raiding Nelson fire station on one occasion threatening a firefighter with a screwdriver and violent behaviour.Davies, of Dover Street, Nelson, who had almost 150 previous convictions, also asked for 45 offences carried out to fund his addiction to be considered.

Judge Lunt gave him a suspended jail sentence, 12 months supervision and a nine month drug rehabilitation requirement.

Magistrates had earlier warned Davies who also faced charges of supplying amphetamine he faced jail when they sent the case to crown court.The crown court was told Davies was on bail from a prison term at the time of the fire station break-in, which happened on April 14.

So he was a violent smackhead, with 140+ previous convictions, out on bail when he committed more crime - and Beverley Lunt thought a 150th last chance might just turn him round.

That was Friday morning. Friday afternoon ...

A Nelson man returned from a shopping trip to find a body in his living room.Jacob Sadiq today spoke of his horror at finding drug addict burglar Jason Davies, 33, slumped on the settee of his home in Fir Street, Nelson, following a suspected drug overdose.

Mr Sadiq, 30, returned from a two-hour trip to Nelson town centre to find Davies lying in his living room surrounded by drug paraphernalia.

Just hours earlier, Davies had walked from court after Judge Beverley Lunt gave the career criminal a last chance to kick his addiction.

Mr Sadiq was questioned by detectives but quickly cleared of any involvement in Davies' death.

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He said: "I was totally shocked. I was in total disbelief. I thought he was just lying there so I called the police ". I just closed the door straight away. It turned my stomach. I felt sick. He had been foaming at the mouth and the sofas were moved all over the place. He had had a good rummage around."

Hmm.

"Vulnerable Adults"

There's nothing unusual about this story, via Small Town Scribbles - an everyday story of elderly council tenants having their lives made hell by the people the council (or often, some well-intentioned housing association or charity) move in down the road. But the report's unusually revealing in its use of (the officially sanctioned) language.

Coun Reg Corns, (Con: Northfield) said problems had arisen across the city after the city council allowed sheltered housing schemes to accommodate vulnerable adults, who have issues with drugs and alcohol, to live alongside ordinary pensioners.

So the pensioners aren't the vulnerable ones. Oh no. It's the young smackheads and alkies next door who are 'vulnerable'. The medicalisation of deviance is complete. Robert Doody and his mates are probably registered disabled and in receipt of disability benefit - unlike the pensioners next door.

Concerns about Doody included allegations that his guests were drunk, aggressive and abusive, urinated in communal hallways, swore and banged on doors. Doody was issued with an anti-social behaviour order in June 2007. His suspended sentence followed the jailing of one of his guests for four months. He was sent to prison after breaching an anti-social behaviour injunction barring him from visiting Aire Croft and another sheltered housing scheme, Campion House, in Kings Norton.

Doody's neighbour Richard Wilkes, 65, previously told the Sunday Mercury about the problems and said Birmingham City Council had asked him to keep a diary of the troubles. He said: "There's a man in his 80s who lives in the same block as me, and who isn't able to keep diaries like this. He isn't the only one in this position. We have had court injunctions against one man who visits one of the residents, but nothing seems to make any difference. The courts have ordered him not to threaten us, not to enter the block, not to bang on doors or kick windows in, and not to shout or swear, or throw glass bottles."

Fellow Aire Croft resident Rhoda Olsen, 69, said she was sick of the problems caused by Doody and his guests too. "We constantly have to keep the doors of our blocks locked so that they can't get in," she said. "It is the same with the common room. It's only used once a week now for bingo, but we should be able to use it every day to meet with our neighbours and relax."

Stan Andrews, vice chairman of Birmingham Sheltered Housing Liaison Board, said he was aware of similar problems across the city.

The good news is that the full weight of the law has come down on Mr Doody for his breaches of his ASBO. A 28-day suspended sentence.

Oh Dear

You know that this kind of thing must, must happen in the sort of school environment where being a 'boff' will get you beaten, terrorised, targeted - the sort of school that middle class Guardianista Sarah Donachy teaches at (check the comments thread - especially this one).

But when you read the story of Angel, it still breaks your heart.