Boiler Room Scammers Boiled
I like this story. Let’s hope these three don’t ever get out of jail to fleece people of their money.
The Scandal of the European Court of Justice
I’m not talking about any judgements, as that is for the court to decide.
But they have just said, that they have a waiting list of 150,000 cases. That is a true scandal.
I think in some jurisdictions, which might include Scotland, there is a time limit, before which a criminal case must be started, if the defendant is in custody. If it isn’t then the defendant is released.
We need more thinking like that!
The Case of Anders Breivik
In my view, whether Anders Breivik is sane or not is irrelevant. And the British courts generally take that view as multiple murderers are either declared criminally insane and sent to places like Broadmoor or just sentenced to spent the rest of their lives in jail.
I suppose that in many ways Broadmoor might be preferable from the murderer’s point of view, but in truth the result is the same.
But still the Norwegians persist in a trial, that gives Breivik the ability to expound his views.
Worse To Be Late Than Racist
According to this article in the Guardian, Manchester City have been fined €30,000 by UEFA for returning to the field late for the second half of their match against Sporting Lisbon.
This compares with a fine of just €20,000 for Porto for racially abusing Manchester City’s black players.
The logic of this defies me and I suspect every other person in the UK, be they a football fan or not. To take a simple example.
Does this mean if my bus is on time, I can’t racially abuse the driver, but if it is late, I can? Or is it the other way round? Not that we do this in London or in fact anywhere in the UK, even if the bus driver is a UEFA official doing a job on the side.
Abu Hamza Can Be Extradited
I’m not going to comment on the legal reasons, as it does seem to me, that the verdict of the European Court to allow the extradition of Abu Hamza may create more problems than it solves.
After all, it’s unlikely he’ll get a slap on the wrists in a United States court, so what will be the reaction of his apologists here in the UK, when they realise he’s not going to come back? I think it might be better for everyone here if he was kept in a nice warm cell and released when his time is up.
But then I don’t have to get elected in a few years time.
The EU could put a whole cap on it, by passing a law that says that no-one could be extradited to a country with the death penalty on the statute book.
Donna Air Head
Apparently according to this case n Isleworth Crown Court, reported in the Telegraph, it’s alright to commit an offence if you’re stupid. Donna Air’s lawyer said of her “not a great deal in her head but hot air.” And the jury let her off.
I hope that the CPS appeals.
Japan Joins the Evil Empire
Yesterday, Japan hanged three men.
The death penalty is barbaric, but in Japan, they just take you in the morning and hang you, after you might have been in jail for twenty or thirty years. Your relatives aren’ even told.
That though is truly barbaric. Even when we had the death penalty, it was carried out as humanely as possible, according to the standards of the time.
So Japan now joins the Evil Empire of Iran, China and the United States.
The United States Looks After Its Own
The fact that Sergeant Robert Bales, has been quickly returned to the US is no surprise to me.
In areas around the US bases in the UK in the 1970s, there were a couple of cases of death by dangerous driving caused by US servicemen.
No prosecution in the UK ever happened and in one case familiar to my late wife, a barrister in Suffolk at the time, nothing more was heard of the case, after the perpetrator was returned quickly to the United States.
The current case is very different and I suspect that he will face a Court of Law.
Would Stings Like This Be Allowed Here?
The BBC has a piece this morning about the rise of the FBI sting. IT would appear that Christopher Tappin, a man with previous good character might have got caught in one and he’s now in a prison in the United States.
I suspect that if the British police used similar techniques, the evidence wouldn’t stand up in a court.
But then our justice system is about justice, whereas the one in the United States is about vengeance.
Is This a Solution to Bigots Like Abu Qatada?
Michael Burleigh writing in the Sunday Times today, takes a broad look at terrorists who have come to or are in the UK.
He makes one point that I wholly sympathise with. If someone says lets kill all people with a penchant for wearing purple socks, then they should be prosecuted for incitement to murder.
So why hasn’t Abu Qatada been prosecuted, if as some allege he has incited others for murder? Surely if found guilty and sentenced, he could then be returned to his homeland. We now have a precedent in that in this case in Derby, three men were jailed for urging people to hang homosexuals.
These cases would be very much helped if phone-tap evidence were allowed. I can never understand why it isn’t After all, if the United States can use it, to convict the Mafia, why can’t we use it with possible mass murderers. It might have the side-effect that they all got paranoid about talking to each other.
The Anonymous Widower 