British Justice?

[bruce5755]

In response to the pathetic sentance given to the evil bu**er who ran down Abi Craen without stopping, I need to know why sentances like this are handed down. Who decides these pathetic rulings? Lets face it, it was nothing less than murder at the hands of a man who shouldn't have been on the road in the first place.

My heart goes out to the parents of this poor girl who was just beginning in life.

When are judges going to come into the real world and hand out more severe punishments to people who dont deserve a place in our society. And when is a jail term going to last the full length handed out and not half of it?

It just seems to me that everything these days is about money. Carry out such crimes as forgery, fraud, corruption, god forbid late payment of taxes etc and they'll soon put you away for years, murder someone and bye bye for 9 mnths. And lets not forget; if you're a pensioner who can't pay your council tax you're done for!

WHY is this happenning?

[libertie]

Have to agree that I think the sentance was no where near long enough! A tragic waste of a young girls life and a life sentance for her parents! Unfortunately we do seem to have a hard core of driving offenders in this country who keep re-offending and this sentance will do nothing to make them think twice!!

[smudge]

I totally agree bruce - I was incensed when I read the story this morning!

[beryllium]

life means nothing

nothing in this world

money is the only thing protected

not life

and nor will it ever be

[jake-the-peg]

This might interest you:

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/press_18feb03.html

a short custodial sentence for an offence arising from a momentary error of judgment or short period of bad driving, where there are no aggravating features;

a custodial sentence of 2-5 years when the standard of the offender�s driving is more highly dangerous, e.g. aggressive driving or greatly excessive speed, or when the offender has consumed alcohol or drugs;

a custodial sentence over 5 years, up to the maximum of 10 years, for the most serious offences, where the offender has driven with complete disregard for the safety of other road users and where other aggravating features are present.

It would seem the judge felt the case came into the first category with no aggrevating factors - The prosecution could well appeal the sentence on the grounds that the history of drunk driving was an aggravating factor but if he wasn't drunk at the time that might not wash

[brionon]

Judges, lawyers, solicitors,juries--All drivers. Can this be why?

[gessoo]

But jake the peg, he didn't stop after the accident. The fact that it was 'hit and run' was the worse aspect of this to me, regardless of anything else. He deserved a much longer sentence for this reason alone.

[bruce5755]

I see where you're going on this jake, but it's a pity that the other sections weren't taken into consideration at the time, being:- Factors that would increase the seriousness of an offence include:

"Failing to stop or falsely claiming that one of the victims was responsible for the crash; and
previous convictions for motoring offences, especially if they involved bad driving or the consumption of excessive alcohol before driving."

[jake-the-peg]

Where I'm going with this is that you may rant against judges but they operate within sentencing guidelines.

I believe he did actually give himself up albeit some time after and from what I can see there was no drugs or drink or wanton recklessness, racing on the road etc.

It is a fair comment that maybe he ought to have qualified for the second category but given that there was no wanton recklessness drink or drugs and that he gave himself up (albeit a bit too late) that still only puts you in the bottom end of the range (about 2 years)

You can't give him a higher sentence because he'd been caught drink driving before because he was sentenced for that before and there was no drink implicated this time - to do so would be punishing him twice for the same offence.

If you throw the book at cases like this it doesn't descriminate more serious cases like this one:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16900120&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=8yrs-for-boy-racers-who-killed-4-girls--name_page.html

[Joefish999]

Thanks for the link Jake, it's useful to see guidelines that officials have to work to.

The problem with this case though was that the murdering b******d (what else can you call him!) deliberately fled the scene and turned himself in much later....after he had sobered up maybe????

Would he have not turned himself in if she had just been paralysed or seriously disfigured, what a gent!!

Why, when officials have guidelines, do they all seem to work to the bottom end, benefiting the culprit, rather than the top end so the victim or their family feels some sense of the justice system caring for the right people?