everyone deserves a second chance?

[Bobbisox]

and I think this lad does...
he was wrong and has admitted it, Do you think he should have been given this ?

[Bobbisox]

I have nanny....
but I hope this kid has learned from this

[horseshoes]

nannybooby - that's exactly what I said! .....and yes you're so right, being burgled is AWFUL - I speak from experience.

[Davethedog]

I presume that should there be a riot and someone else kicks in your front door and smashes in your window, then 5 minutes later I wander in a take the contents of your bar (or your telly) because i'm drunk you will give me a cheery wave on my way and implore the police not to arrest me.

This is another case of it didn't happen to me, so how bad can it be.

[starone]

Oops, spelt judge wrong. Sentence - two weeks on the naughty step, even though I swear I am sorry.

[jackthehat]

The lad should have gone to prison for stealing:

*a Ferrari/a Vauxhall Cavalier/a Rolex watch/a Bang and Olufsen sound system/ a 42" LCD TV set/a laptop computer/ a Wii/ an iPod/a bottle of beer (*delete as in/appropriate).

Once you have done that, explain why the 'act of thieving' one of those items is greater, or lesser, than stealing any of the others.....

[nannybooby]

I hope he has learnt too.

[Bobbisox]

Dave I most certainly was not thinking along those lines when I posted this thread

[DrFilth]

ok jack why was this person not sent to prison

>>Edward Masters, 50, of Camborne Street, Yeovil, who booby-trapped his garden to keep out the neighbour’s cat,
has just been sentenced to 200 hours community service.
A grey and cream Abyssinian cat, belonging to Mr and Mrs Ruddle, was found dead hanging from a wire snare last November.

Ted Masters, a Yeovil plumber, who scattered broken glass in his borders as well as setting several
nylon and wire snares in his shrubbery, was ordered to pay £1000 in court costs as well as £450 in
compensation to the Ruddles, for causing 'unnecessary suffering’ to the pet'.<<

this to me is a lot worse than taking a bottle of beer

[sandyRoe]

Here was a youngster who had no previous record. He did something both stupid and wrong, agree. But the sentence was still much too long. A community service order would have been more fitting.

[jno]

I've been robbed, I've been mugged, I've been burgled. No way have I carried the scars forever. It took me a week or so to get over it each time. It will take the various Baron Sainsburys about 10 seconds to do so.

[nannybooby]

this youngster ,Sandy Roe ,could have chosen not to go out looting its not just something you do on the spur of the moment .......oh let me see here I am in the middke of a riot that took me by surprise I was out minding my own buissness and this riot just happened and I thought hey look at those guys getting goods for free ,I'll have some of that too. He knew it was wrong and if he didnt he will now

[jackthehat]

Perhaps the punishment he received was all that the law allows?

However, the law allows you to be imprisoned when you have stolen something.

[DrFilth]

i think you will find the law is there it is the courts that do not apply it,
they never have where animals are concerned

[starone]

Of course it will only take Sainsbury's owners 10 secs or less to get over it. That is not the point. Whoever he was stealing from, he was stealing and so committing a crime which has to be punished in some way or other.

[DrFilth]

Starbuckone i don't think anyone is saying he should not be punished it is the severity of the sentence that is the problem to some people

[sandyRoe]

But the sentence should be in proportion to the crime. And as the appeal judges reduced his sentence by half it's clear that the original sentence was wrong too.

[nannybooby]

jno you must be very resiliiant I've been robbed in my home and I still dont like to be alone after dark. The robbery happened 30 years ago.

[Bobbisox]

I would never dispute this lad should have not been punished, I just happen to want to see him learn from his stupidity

[DrFilth]

hope you are not sending him a cake with a file in bobbi :)

[Davethedog]

Jno I admire your courage and stoicism however not everyone reacts the same way. Sainsbury may have been able to take the hit, but I don't think the people who owned and worked in the furniture shop in Croydon were so lucky. Do you?

Bobbi my comment wasn't aimed at the question so no offence.