Glimmer

Tariq and Colette stood side by side in the dock, co-defendants in a shoplifting matter. As is so often the case, the driver was the overriding need to fund their drug and alcohol habits. When you are living on benefits of about £70 a week, spending the same amount each day on heroin leaves a gap that can only be filled by crime. Every magistrate will have seen many similar cases, with the unsophisticated methods used making arrest a near certainty .
They looked terrible. Her hair was scragged back, her face puffy, her skin blotchy. He exhibited the classic heroin crouch, back bent, elbows in, head held low. And yet they were holding hands. I would not normally allow that, but to have told them to stop would have been unnecessarily cruel. For various reasons the case could not go ahead; for one thing Colette's litre-a-day vodka habit had caused her admission to hospital when she began vomiting blood a week ago.
We bailed them to a later date to obtain reports, and I gave them the usual warning that if they failed to turn up for their appointments we had the power to remand them in custody to ensure reports were done. She clutched his arm, looking up at him adoringly. "Oh no" she said "I can't be without him. He's everything to me".
I found their plight strangely moving. Of course they will be dealt with according to the law, and within our guidelines. I am unlikely to see them again, but I would not be surprised to hear that they were given a Community Order with a requirement for drug and alcohol treatment, which is by no means a certain cure, but is probably their and society's only hope.
The fact that two people so near the bottom of society's heap find solace in each other even as they inject and swig their way into an early grave is just a tiny glimmer of hope that the human spirit can survive in the most desperate circumstances.
My experience and my judgement tell me that neither of them is likely to see the age of thirty. I hope that I am wrong.

Small Earthquake In Chile

We see that the issue of prisoners' votes has resurfaced, with, inevitably, the Mail going for it with a claim that this strikes at the 'soul of our democracy' whatever that may be.

The blog first mentioned the issue about seven years ago and again two years back. Nothing has changed other than an apparent firming of the government's determination to paint itself into a corner and to throw away a few million quid in an attempt to make itself look dead hard over Europe.

It's a pointless fight over a non-issue, and it begs the obvious question to those who govern us:-

Haven't you got more important things to worry about?

Simple, Speedy, Summary

A drunken oaf who assaulted a footballer in full view of TV cameras and thousands of witnesses was weighed off  today, in a hearing that took place with exemplary speed. By pleading guilty (not that he would have got very far by denying it) he saved himself two months off the six months' maximum.

To some extent he was lucky, because such an act in the volatile atmosphere of a packed football crowd could lead to widespread mayhem.

Phew!

I was alarmed to see a news site headline:-

OLD MAGS ARE HEALTH RISK

and relieved to see that this was the story it  linked to.

Not So Élite

Trenton Oldfield, who disrupted the Boat Race in a so-called protest against élitism. has been sent down for six months. Here are the Judge's sentencing remarks, setting out with impeccable clarity the reasoning behind the sentence.

We blogged about the case here and here and here.

Mr. Oldfield will probably have woken up this morning in the less than élite company of the other 1200 or so inmates of Wormwood Scrubs.

I Ink, Therefore I Upset The Boss

However much indignation it has engendered in the ranks of his increasingly touchy troops, I have to agree with the Met Police Commissioner that visible tattoos are inappropriate on police officers, as they would be on magistrates, doctors, nurses, and chartered accountants. When I was younger a tattoo signified that you had spent time in the Navy or in prison. Now the dratted things are , inexplicably, everywhere.

Uniforms engender confidence, and that is why I support their use by those whose jobs involve face to face management of the public. And that is why I shall wear a suit and tie tomorrow.

For Those Who Should Get Out More

The people who like this sort of thing, are going to like this.

There is a  link here to a spreadsheet that includes all sorts of data about magistrates, who they are, their gender, age, ethnicity; there is enough to keep anyone who is interested supplied with data. There are a couple of people on my bench whom I could name but will not, who are probably well over halfway into their analyses as I type.

No Comment - Well, Hardly Any..

This case, albeit all we have is a Daily Mail report, will be dealt with impartially by the usual processes, so we have nothing to add, other than profound relief that it was only a Taser, rather then a Glock 9 mm automatic.

We Got This One Right Anyway

A year ago we decided not to mourn the death of a certain TV personality. I cannot find out how to import the old Haloscan comments, or I would be able to cry 'Ha!' at the posters who deplored my disrespect to a well-loved character.

You know who you are.

Ha!

No Wonder The Service Was Rubbish

Thanks to the Law Society Gazette for this damning report about the shambolic change to interpreting services that we suffered from earlier this year.