This road rarely leads to jailA result in court recently. I only had to wait around for three and a half hours. An hour of this was waiting for the defendant to bother turning up. I think there is some ingrained arrogance in them, that means if they turn up on time they are somehow weak and bowing to the system.
This was a not guilty trial date. Said youth had been photographed by a member of the public in the drivers seat of a stolen car outside in the street. It was a great shot of head and shoulders. When it appeared on our daily briefing I recognised the culprit immediately. Slightly gutted as well, I'd only spoken to him the day before so missed out on an easy collar.
One of my team arrested him the following week and he was charged and bailed. At the same time he was charged with a theft from vehicle, where he'd screwed a police sting car. There was fingerprint evidence and video of this offence. That was listed for a different not guilty trial the following week.
He was obviously bang to on all these charges. As I see him on a near daily basis, I asked him why the "not guilty" pleas. All on the advice of his solicitor it seems.
Anyway as all prosecution witnesses have turned up, including the victim, person who took the photograph and three police officers the defence solicitor now indicates his client will be pleading guilty. He is even copping a plea to screwing the sting car. So we can all leave after he's done his bit in court. This is all a game - he will get credit for pleading guilty - but if one of the prosecution witnesses had failed to turn up - he would be "not guilty" and apply for a case dismissed.
He won't get jail despite a lengthy list of previous convictions. He knows it and we know it. I had the opportunity to speak to the sergeant from the vehicle crime squad. He tells me of one youth who has been caught four times in a year screwing their sting cars. He is still to serve a custodial sentence.
So if your car is screwed when you leave your Sat Nav in view, and you blame the police as car crime's out of control, and you rarely see a police officer in your street you know why!
This was a not guilty trial date. Said youth had been photographed by a member of the public in the drivers seat of a stolen car outside in the street. It was a great shot of head and shoulders. When it appeared on our daily briefing I recognised the culprit immediately. Slightly gutted as well, I'd only spoken to him the day before so missed out on an easy collar.
One of my team arrested him the following week and he was charged and bailed. At the same time he was charged with a theft from vehicle, where he'd screwed a police sting car. There was fingerprint evidence and video of this offence. That was listed for a different not guilty trial the following week.
He was obviously bang to on all these charges. As I see him on a near daily basis, I asked him why the "not guilty" pleas. All on the advice of his solicitor it seems.
Anyway as all prosecution witnesses have turned up, including the victim, person who took the photograph and three police officers the defence solicitor now indicates his client will be pleading guilty. He is even copping a plea to screwing the sting car. So we can all leave after he's done his bit in court. This is all a game - he will get credit for pleading guilty - but if one of the prosecution witnesses had failed to turn up - he would be "not guilty" and apply for a case dismissed.
He won't get jail despite a lengthy list of previous convictions. He knows it and we know it. I had the opportunity to speak to the sergeant from the vehicle crime squad. He tells me of one youth who has been caught four times in a year screwing their sting cars. He is still to serve a custodial sentence.
So if your car is screwed when you leave your Sat Nav in view, and you blame the police as car crime's out of control, and you rarely see a police officer in your street you know why!
1 comment:
It just beggars belief that there are people out there who persistently commit crime. It's way of life for them now. They need to be embarassed and humiliated. The leftists and guardian readers won't allow that to happen though.
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