The appalling murder of Anne Maguire by an unstable teenage pupil has shocked the nation. A commenter has given the link to the judge's exemplary clear and logical sentencing remarks.
I often browse through the comments on the Daily Mail website, to stay in touch with that sector of public opinion. If you have a strong stomach have a look at the comments on the Maguire case. The sort of people who spill their bile through a modem almost always feel that no sentence is ever long enough, nor can any prison conditions be too harsh.
Numbers of the posters call for the death penalty to be exacted upon this 16 year-old boy, putting British justice on a par with that of Iran. Perhaps they would prefer it if he could be hanged from a crane, just as they do in Tehran.
Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
But at the other end of the spectrum there's the "Standing Committee for Youth Justice" complaining that he's being punished - the lunacy isn't all one way
ReplyDelete"unstable teenage pupil "- "British justice "
ReplyDeleteMy such fancy words. Maybe you could say he enabled her preterminal exeunt.
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Bloody revenge has a lot going for it.
Nice to see the judge remembering to impose the Victim Surcharge as well. Just because he got detention at HM pleasure with a minimum term of 20 years is no reason to ignore this important element of penal policy.
ReplyDeleteWell said, that man.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why we have a judiciary to dispense justice with cold, logical and balanced consideration. It's what stands between a modern democratic society and the lynch mob.
Shocking comments from their spokesman on Today on 4 November. No mention of the victims or the concept of deterrence. Shame she's said to be an ex-mag. No wonder the public (not just the DM readers) think so little of us.
ReplyDeleteOpinion is always going to be divided over a case like this.
ReplyDeleteI think allowing the name to be published was right and for one overriding reason. He committed the murder in full view of his classmates. That group of people would of course have told their friends who would have told others etc., etc. Social media would have seen to the rest. In fact the name may well have been released by text within minutes from one of the many phones in the school. These days it is very hard indeed to keep this particular genii in its bottle.
I believe the section 39 order, banning the reporting of information that could lead to the identification of someone under 18, was brought in with the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933. How quickly in those days could a name be spread round compared with now?
The report makes very chilling reading indeed, he appears to be a true psychopath.
ReplyDeleteToday there was a case where someone charged with ABH, who had 23 previous convictions for violence gets a suspended sentence and told it's their last chance to avoid prison.
ReplyDeleteIs it any wonder that people gravitate towards the daily mail position ?
Deploying the phrase " people who spill their bile through a modem" does you no credit, BS. Fear, not inherent hatred, is at the root of many of these responses. We live in an age of anxiety, stoked by the relentless coverage in the media. Note the numbers switching off the Today programme, because they have found current affairs simply too disturbing over recent months. Around every corner lurks an eye-swivelling Jihad i beheader or crazed gun-toting teenager. Sadly, the public do not believe that the law offers sufficient protection.
ReplyDeleteCornick had a list of teachers he was intending to kill. In America this would have been the next Columbine/Sandy Hook/etc. In the UK Cornick had no access to guns so the death toll was limited to one.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that an aggravating factor was that she suffered inadvertently - I don't think anyone would disagree he stabbed her to murder her, not to torture her. Without wishing to sound unduly grisly, does anyone else find it slightly odd that had he been more efficient with the knife, his sentence would have been reduced?
ReplyDeleteAs much as I find the Daily Mail annoying the readers are entitled to their opinions.
ReplyDeleteRevenge is a natural emotion which often magistrates do not seem to understand.
Jaded
It isn't that magistrates don't understand the desire for revenge, it's simply that it cannot be any part of the judicial decision making process. There are 5 purposes to sentencing and none of them have anything to do with revenge.
DeleteThat the judge was going to pass an excessive sentence was obvious from the moment he referred to the 16 year old defendant as "mister".
ReplyDeleteHow odd, that the sentencing remarks never address the question, why this boy hated this woman so much, and why his only alternative option to killing her should have been killing himself.
ReplyDeleteThe prosecutor said: "Late on the night of Christmas Eve 2013, and into the early hours of Christmas Day, the defendant exchanged messages with a friend on Facebook.
"In those messages he spoke of 'brutally killing' Mrs Maguire and spending the rest of his life in jail so as not to have to worry about life or money."
Spending his life in jail?
Worry about " life" ?
Is this a 16y old of sound mind?
Sometimes psychiatrists worry me sick.
if he's in there for 20 yrs he can pay the victim surcharge out of his prosn pay. if I isn't the law, the law should be changed to accommodate it, especially as it would upset some of our more liberal magistrates.
ReplyDeleteAs for his sentence, I would have thought Broadmoor would have been better, or did some liberal medic class him as sane ?
Would have thought 'liberal' would be associated with insanity as a defence and a shorter sentence as a result.
ReplyDelete