Drop the criminal surcharge

Former Blue singer Lee Ryan is not the brightest spark in the world - he was the one who moaned about saving the whales in the days following 9/11.

Yesterday, he was convicted of punching a taxi driver. He was fined £500, ordered to pay costs of £450 and must give the taxi driver £300 in compensation.

So far, so good. But he must also pay a £15 surcharge which goes towards victims of crime.

Why? He has just paid the victim of his crime £300. That should be an end to the matter. The surcharge should be abolished especially since if you get sent to jail for, say assault, you don't pay it.

More legal madness...

In less than two hours the House of Commons votes on whether to pass legislation allowing terror suspects to be detained for 42 days without charge.

I fear the Government will win the debate but as has been mentioned by many the debate has become a test of strength of Gordon Brown. Labour's worse Prime Minister since Ramsay Macdonald is claiming that it is all about saving the country from terror and that the police and security services want the extra time.

That as with so much of what Gordon Brown says is a lie. The security services have not said that they want extra time and many policemen say that it is unnecessary. Sir Ken McDonald, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, says that it is unnecessary. Former attorney general Lord Goldsmith says that it is unnecessary.

Acpo, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the unelected cabal of top coppers says that it is required but then if you ask them if they wanted 90 days, 180 days, a year, 42 years - they would say yes. Acpo always wants more and more power.

One might ask why 42 days is necessary in Britain when 14 days is sufficient in so many other "civilised" countries.

The Government promises safeguards but it also said that the RIPA powers would only be used to prevent terrorism. More than 150 local councils have so far used the powers for such heinous crimes as dog fouling, putting too much rubbish in a bin and trying to get a child into a particular school. Who authorised that?

If you give politicians and the police powers they will always, always, always abuse them.

As a sop Gordon Brown has said that people held after 28 days and not charged will receive compensation. So that's all right then. The police arrest an innocent man and hold him for more than 28 days and the taxpayer ends up paying... again.

This legislation is unnecessary and the sooner it is put in the bin the better.

Mind how you go....

Two forces show why policing in this country is in such a mess.

In a six-day period last month in Suffolk police caught more than 1,700 people speeding. Do you think that all those people were driving dangerously? Attempting to justify his force's behaviour, Sgt Steve Knight said, "Motorists really have no excuse. The campaign was well-publicised and there still seems to be a significant number of drivers who have failed to grasp the concept that speed kills."

Actually, speed doesn't kill. Inappropriate speed kills.

Again, Sgt Knight: "We are aware that there are those who say police should have better things to do, but this ignores the role speed plays in fatal and serious road traffic collisions."

Yes, it plays a role. A very small one. Even the Government's figures show that speed is responsible for 5 per cent of crashes.

How many people were mugged and how many houses burgled while the police crouched by the side of the road?

Meanwhile, a plumber with a heart condition spent 18 hours in a police cell and and had his DNA and fingerprints taken after being accused of dropping an apple core.

On 21 April 2008, the first day of Suffolk's motoring blitz, Mr Hirst said he was tapped on the shoulder by a plastic plod on the way to the chemist and accused of dropping the apple core, which he denied.

Mr Hirst, who no longer works because of his ill health, said: “He was an over-zealous young lad baying to give me a ticket.

“I told him I was on my way to the shops, but would be walking back that way if he wanted to speak to me later. He followed through the precinct to the chemist.

“When I came out there were five police officers surrounding me. I said I had done nothing wrong and so was not telling them who I was. The most senior police officer said they would have to take me into custody.”

Mr Hirst was arrested for refusing to pay a £50 on-the-spot fine and taken to Swinton police station before being eventually taken to the magistrates’ court in handcuffs.

While in custody Mr Hirst twice needed to be seen by a doctor as he complained of dizziness and chest pains.

Superintendent Ian Palmer of Greater Manchester Police said: "We work closely with the city council and other partners and take a firm stance against all environmental crime."

Ye gods! "Environmental crime"! Does Supt Palmer have any idea how ridiculous he sounds? It was an apple core. It is organic matter - it will decompose on its own unless it was eaten first by some local creature.

Sgt Knight and Supt Palmer will, no doubt, go far.

Life should mean life...for Sophie's memory

Two morons who kicked a young girl to death as she tried to protect her boyfriend have been jailed for life.

Well, I say life: Brendan Harris, 15, and Ryan Herbert, 16, have been told that they must serve a minimum of 18 years and 16 years respectively for the brutal murder of Sophie Lancaster, 20, in Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancashire, in the summer of 2007.

So when they get out of prison they could be as young as 33 and 32 - still in the prime of their lives.

Sophie won't get the chance to be a mother or live a happy life.

Isn't the least her memory deserves that these thugs spend the rest of their miserable, useless lives behind bars?

Empty the bins, damn you!

The world has officially gone mad - or at least this country has.

A father-of-three has been fined £225 because his wheelie bin was overflowing - not rubbish strewn on the floor but overflowing.

Council officials took pictures and two turned up on his doorstep wearing stab vests, read Gareth Corkhill his rights and then issued him with an on-the-spot fine of £110.

Taken to court, he was ordered in absentia to pay the fine plus hit with costs of £100 and a £15 surcharge.

Mr Corkhill said: "I could not believe I had been fined for putting rubbish in a bin. I tell my kids not to throw rubbish away and always use a bin."

Whitehaven magistrates convicted Mr Corkhill in his absence of overfilling a receptacle used for waste.

In a statement the council said: "Copeland Borough Council will continue to crack down on the problem of overflowing bins, which cause problems for local residents and in the battle to reduce waste."

Here's a radical solution: why don't they crack down on overflowing bins by emptying them weekly instead of fortnightly?

And why does everyone have to pay a £15 surcharge? Well, I say everyone - if you are sent to prison you don't have to pay it. The surcharge is supposed to go into a fund to help victims of crime - muggings and the like. But if you are convicted of, for example, "overfilling a receptacle used for waste" why should you have to pay towards a mugger's victim when the mugger himself doesn't have to pay if he is, rightly, sent to prison.

Be afraid...investigators are out there

A couple from Weston-super-Mare has been caught claiming child benefit for offspring they never had.

After the case Sarah Bamford, of HM Revenue & Customs, said: "This case is the result of many months of intense and thorough work by a dedicated team of tax credit investigation officers."

Many months? The couple lived in a one-room property in the town yet claimed that they had 16 children.

How long does it take HMRC to investigate that it is highly unlikely that anyone would have 16 children, let alone that they would all live in the same room?

Is this justice?

Today, the Daily Mail runs a horrific story about a shopkeeper facing a murder charge after defending himself against a scumbag career criminal with a string of convictions going back to 1999.

Loser Liam Kilroe attempted to rob Tony Singh at 9.40pm on Sunday 17 February 2008 after a 13-hour day minding his corner shop in a parade of stores in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

Incredibly, Kilroe had been given bail last year despite pleas that he remain in custody after the collapse of his trial for two robberies.

Lancashire Police issued a warrant for his arrest last week after he failed to appear in court. He was on the run when he targeted Mr Singh's late-night shop.

Now, Mr Singh has a terrible wait to find out if he will face murder or manslaughter charges.

I thought the government had said that it would not be prosecuting anyone for defending themselves. More weasel words from this mendacious bunch of spivs running this country.

Mr Singh is a hard-working man who serves a local community often working 13-14 hours days in his shop. Liam Kilroe was a waste of space - let him rot.


UPDATE: (Wed 27 Feb) In a rare outburst of common sense the CPS has announced that it will not be prosecuting Mr Singh.

The war on drugs wasn't lost - it was never fought...

Contrast the sentence meted out to someone possessing illegal drugs in Dubai to that over here.

Some Radio 1 DJ who I had never heard of has been jailed for four years in Dubai for possession of cannabis.

We are not talking about supplying cannabis - he had 0.076oz of the drug in a pair of trousers - so that was almost certainly for personal use. The sentencing guidelines in Dubai for drug possession range from four years to death.

Possession of that small an amount would not even result in a caution in the UK where some senior policemen are calling for the decriminalisation of all drugs.

The policemen in question claim that the war on drugs is lost. I would argue that far from being lost, it was never fought. When so-called "leaders" like Brian Paddick - who now wants to be mayor of London - introduce a softly-softly approach to drugs, you know that the authorities are not serious.

Imagine the outcry if someone in Britain was sentenced to four years of porridge for possession of less than a quarter of an ounce of cannabis.

Yet if the police pursued an anti-drugs policy with the zeal they prosecute motorists, we, too, would not have a drugs problem and useless police would not talk about the war on drugs being lost.

Another Labour initiative... that will go nowhere

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has announced that thugs who carry knives will be sent down for four years under a new crackdown.

And the band played "I'll believe it when I see it".