P C Phillips

[Rowlf]

Clayton Williams has been found guilty of the manslaughter of PC Phillips and ordered to serve 20 years. Manslaughter ? In my book it was murder. The judge has said today he recognised Williams did not deliberately attempt to cause serious harm but did deliberately drive the car at PC Phillips. What planet is he on? The officer was on the kerb and the vehicle was driven off the road directly at the officer. In my book if you drive a vehicle at high speed you know you are going to kill them so that equals murder.

[cashman]

Thing is i agree rowlf, but the scumbags got 20 yrs which is very harsh fer a manslaughter charge in my view, seems to me like the jury has done the pc a grave disservice n the judge has given him as long as he can fer such a charge?

[accyman]

if you deliberately drive your car at someone and they live it gets treated as attempted murder so if they die surely it is actual murder

one thing i will say is that it shouldn't matter if the victim is a copper or not the same should be applied evenly .Evenly should be life theres no need to get in to years and numbers they should stay in prison until they day they draw their last breath and if money and cost of keeping them is a factor i would rather see a murderer swing from a rope than get an early release

in cases like this where there is no doubt of guilt the death penalty could be used

[Rowlf]

I agree Accyman and its sounds Cashman that if you and I had been on that jury we would still have been there arguing the toss. I cannot for the life of me understand how they can think he did not intend to kill or seriously injure the poor man.

[cashman]

Its simple to me, society now considers the "Human Rights" of scum like that before the rights of a deceaseds family,we have become a nation of do-gooders,

[Margaret Pilkington]

Oh, come on folks.....this poor wee lad had a terrible upbringing......a deprived childhood.
A single mother who cared more about partying than teaching her son the difference between right and wrong.....And hand wringing, bleeding heart liberal judges who listen to this kind of drivel....though to be fair it was the jury who decided.....good job I was not on the jury with Rowlf and Cashy.....we would still be there now hammering it out.
So now this lad is going to be kept at our expense. He is going to be fed, kept warm, have no worries about any utility bills, council tax or anything like that.
He will likely be offered an opportunity to afford himself of an education that our own teens would have to go into debt for.
This is justice is it?

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

....though to be fair it was the jury who decided.....good job I was not on the jury with Rowlf and Cashy.....we would still be there now hammering it out.

You can add me to that list of "Peers", looks like we'll be getting a hanging vote before to long.

[Margaret Pilkington]

In situations such as this one...where it is clear that the lad did what he was accused of.....where there can be no doubt about the who or the where...where it was caught on film.......this lad should be disposed of.
Nothing on God's green earth can convince me that he did not intend to kill this policeman...or that he thought that there was any chance of the policeman not suffering appalling injuries...his protestations that he was 'devastated' when he heard the man had died....and that he did not know what to do about it are all a load of bullshine.
That he was off his face on cannabis is no kind of excuse.
It is the innocent family of this policeman who will suffer.....every Christmas, every Birthday, every anniversary. He robbed this man of his life and should be paying for this with his own life......if this were the case then it might(just might) make others in similar situations think twice about their actions.

[keith higson]

What did Clayton Williams expect the policeman to do whilst being driven at in a motor vehicle m- jump out of the way - shame, shame. shame Williams you deserved what you, got it should have been life.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by keith higson

What did Clayton Williams expect the policeman to do whilst being driven at in a motor vehicle m- jump out of the way - shame, shame. shame Williams you deserved what you, got it should have been life.

No....not life, but perhaps a length of rope.
This lad won't be rehabilitated in prison.....he will not find remorse for his cowardly actions.....he will just be kept at our expense.
He deserves to live the most abject life....he should be forced every day to live in misery......the kind of misery this mans wife and family will experience for the rest of their lives.

[daisybeth]

Interesting to see all of the views. I am of the opinion that until society addresses the education of would-be parents, the undisciplined offspring will continue to be the scurge of global decency. Remove them at birth, deposit in an institution, and bring them up properly!!!

[Balbus]

Although we have not heard the evidence, most of us probably think that the jury got it wrong. Is it time we looked at the jury system again? Has it outlived its usefulness? It is sometimes said, unkindly, that you are no longer judged by your peers, but by 12 people too stupid to get out of jury service. (Apologies to those who have done their duty, and perhaps enjoyed the experience.) Should the system perhaps be replaced by a judge sitting with 2 lay assessors, as in South Africa (although they reached the wrong verdict in the Pretorius case)? Such a system would be more efficient. quicker, and less expensive.

[daisybeth]

Originally Posted by Balbus

Although we have not heard the evidence, most of us probably think that the jury got it wrong. Is it time we looked at the jury system again? Has it outlived its usefulness? It is sometimes said, unkindly, that you are no longer judged by your peers, but by 12 people too stupid to get out of jury service. (Apologies to those who have done their duty, and perhaps enjoyed the experience.) Should the system perhaps be replaced by a judge sitting with 2 lay assessors, as in South Africa (although they reached the wrong verdict in the Pretorius case)? Such a system would be more efficient. quicker, and less expensive.

Having been summonsed for jury service myself last year, and managed to excuse myself [I have to add that this was not so easy to do], it left me considering at the time also, as to the whole jury system. I'm not sure that I could be so impartial to judge whatever the crime and thinking of the diverse views of 'joe public' however well educated, facing any jury appears to be akin to a lottery. Life, I feel, is full of winners and losers and we are all pawns in the game of a higher power.

[Less]

Originally Posted by daisybeth

Interesting to see all of the views. I am of the opinion that until society addresses the education of would-be parents, the undisciplined offspring will continue to be the scurge of global decency. Remove them at birth, deposit in an institution, and bring them up properly!!!

Remove them at birth, deposit in an institution! That will work every time won't it?

There is no-one in this world that can be considered a perfect parent and it isn't always the uneducated that abuse and neglect children, there are many so called uneducated parents that give their love, time and dedicate their lives to giving their children the best life possible.

Also, how many times in recent history have we had newspaper reports about abuse and neglect within all sorts of institutes that are supposed to care for children many of whom have already suffered?

[Rowlf]

I have always lived in dread of being called for jury duty. My other half and my son have both done it in the past. I am surprised Daisybeth that you were excused the duty. I have known others who for whatever reason asked to excused but were given an alternate date not let off altogether.