Another Of Those 'Rare' Events...

Lisa-Jayne Samuels, 29, falsely accused a man of having spiked her drink and attacked her in October 2012.

It led to the arrest of innocent Terry Brown who endured more than a year of suspicion before Samuels finally admitted she had made the whole thing up, a court heard.

How rare! Why, we hardly ever hear about these cases, do we? Oh well, at least no one was hurt.

Wait. What?

During that time, Mr Brown was attacked by a gang and his pregnant partner lost her baby, Basildon Crown Court was told.

Oh, well, We can't blame the police, after all, they can't do any investigation before they arrest, can they? That would be stupid and....

Wait. What?

CCTV showed no sign of Samuels at the time and place she was supposed to have been at the pub, and the friends she had spoken of did not to exist.

During a voluntary interview with Samuels on December 6, 2013, she eventually admitted to making up the whole story.

And if she hadn't?

She pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was imprisoned for 20 months. All her children have been taken into care.

Lucky kids.

Her defence solicitor, Paul Vickers, tried to argue her sentence should be suspended.

He said: "She accepts what she has done was loathsome and describes her actions as stupid.

"You are dealing with a lady who was homeless, intoxicated and in the grip of an addiction, who botched a scheme to enable her to get the support of her mother, to try to get her to feel sorry for her and to take her back and to rebuild her relationship with her."

The poor innocent sod who lost everything might argue with the idea that this is any kind of lady....

H/T: AndreaUrbanFox via Twitter

Wonder No Longer At The Discipline Problems In Schools…

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser found Miss Itauma not guilty of common assault, saying she could not know how hard Itauma held the boy’s arm, or if he threw himself on the floor.

She said: “You did act with good intentions… I have no doubt you took hold of him not as an act of aggression but to stop him going back to the fight.

“I find the case against you not proved and dismiss the charges against you. I find you not guilty.”

Someone else should be in the dock, though:

Speaking after the verdict, Itauma branded the trial a “complete waste of time and money” and said the resources spent on the case should have gone to helping the nine-year-old.

She told the Advertiser: “He needs a lot of help and he hasn’t been given that help, and I have been scapegoated because the school can’t deal with him.

“He [the pupil] has had no consequences. When he is 18 and smacking people over the head with chairs he will go to prison. We haven’t taught him anything.”

Well, you’ve taught him that not only are there no consequences for him, the system will come down like the wrath of god on anyone trying to stop him, so there’s that…

Itauma said the school initially called the police, but have only brought a case which has “exposed their failings” .

“I feel very let down by them,” she said.

“If he [the headteacher] got out of his office he would have known what was happening.

“I’m a newly qualified teacher it would have been okay if they had given the things they promised.

“Most of the time it’s me and the teaching assistant in the class. It’s all nice for everybody to get involved afterwards but then it was just me. Where was everybody then?”

A very good question.

Is This Magistrates’ Court Or The Catwalk..?

In the short hearing at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Spivey, wore a mustard and navy jumper, black bomber jacket, jeans and Timberland boots.

Ummm….

Greens: "Hugs For Thugs!"

I don't think it's a vote-winning strategy, love...

Yesterday (Wednesday) lunchtime, the whole of the Highbury Quadrant Estate, off Catherall Road, was put on lockdown by police in response to a gang of yobs terrorising residents.

People on the estate have been victimised by thugs driving stolen mopeds, burning the bikes, taking drugs and breaking into homes. A pizza delivery boy has been stabbed, Christmas trees torched and teenagers regularly run from police helicopters in the chaos that’s blighted the lives of residents.

Now under the dispersal order, which expires tomorrow (Friday) lunchtime police can ask anyone to leave the area if they are even suspected of harassing or intimidating people on the estate, or causing any kind crime and disorder.

Hurrah! Right?

Oh.

But Cllr Caroline Russell, Green Party councillor for Highbury East ward which covers the estate, says the answer isn’t as simple as locking up the offenders or kicking them out.

Really? Well, have we tried it yet?

She said: “It’s incredibly complicated - ever since I first got elected I have been contacted by people concerned with motorbikes being burnt out, being intimidated, minor break-ins and so on.

“The situation had clearly got out of control.

“But I have huge misgivings about evictions, just kicking people out.

“These are kids at the end of the day and we need to help them, offer them support and give them things to engage them - we are working on more activities for young people in the area.

“These kids have been rampaging around the estate causing mayhem and destruction.

“People are at their wit’s end - they’ve had enough.

“But on the whole the are incredibly sympathetic to the situation. We can’t just wash our hands of them.

“We have to work towards their future and help them live a purposeful life - stay in education, find employment and be constructive members of society.”

But maybe they never will be. What then?

H/T: wiggia via email

Yet Another SMBD* News Story…

Mark Eden, 47, who has lived in Erith Road for 15 years, said it's only a matter of time before someone is killed on the road. He said the situation is particularly bad during rush hour, with parents driving up to the school to pick up their children and youngsters cramming themselves onto buses to get home. He said: "It is terrible - I am surprised people haven't been killed.

"You've got buses racing down, cars racing down, lorries racing down.

"You need a zebra crossing for the kids and a speed camera. It's a death trap that road.

"We've had a car smash into the front of our neighbours house, another one crashing into the wall out here. It is frightening."

Right, OK, got it, the motorist is 100% to blame and…

Wait.

The incident happened at around 3.30pm as children were leaving at the end of the school day.

Pupils have said how the girl - named locally as Caitlin Martin - ran in front of a bus as she attempted to reach her mother on the other side of the road. She is said to have frozen in front of the oncoming vehicle, which was unable to brake in time.

Hardly surprising, and certainly not an attitude confined to children, either. I’ve lost count of the adults I’ve seen in the last few years that have blithely stepped off the kerb into traffic, engrossed in their smartphones or simply failing to look.

The father-of-six added: "Something has got to be done about it. Either a car is going to smash into one kid or a car is going to smash into a group of kids.

"We live here and I cannot even let my kids play at the front of the house. It is like the M25 out there.

"And the way buses speed down there - I feel sorry for the girl."

Maybe you should feel sorry for the bus driver instead?

*Something Must Be Done

Panic Over...

Rules which bar sex offenders from working with children are ‘unfair’ and even convicted paedophiles should have the right to adopt, a leading legal academic has said.

OMG! Really..?

Helen Reece, a reader in law at the London School of Economics....

Ahahahaha! Never mind. No-one's going to take that seriously.

In her article, Miss Reece suggested that the review should also introduce an assumption that sex offenders including child abusers posed no threat once they had served their sentence.

She said: "There is no reason why all sex offenders should not be considered as potentially suitable to adopt or foster children, or work with them.

“The Vetting and Barring Scheme and other legislative measures single out sex offenders for unfair special treatment and they destroy the principle that a prisoner pays his or her debt by serving their sentence before re-entering society on equal terms.”

I wonder where this airhead stood on the Chad Evans debacle..?

No Humans Involved…

A drug dealer has been found guilty of murdering a young father in a flat in Braintree.

…

Michael’s death devastated his family. In a statement issued shortly after he died, his family said: "Michael was a new father, a son, a brother and a good friend who had his whole life ahead of him. He had just got a new job and had a lovely new home with his partner and new son, Eli.

"He was loved by many and helped people when he could. He used to bring in young homeless children to spend Christmas with his family to make them feel a part of this world again and bring hope into their lives.

"May his humble soul rest in peace."

How awful! The man sounds like a saint. What a terrible loss this must be!

The three week trial had heard that Eva and Haastrup were rivals…

Rivals, eh..? Over a woman?

Well…no.

Speaking after the verdict, (Det Chief Insp) Hall said: "I welcome this guilty verdict to give some peace to Michael’s family and friends. Michael was a young man who had just become a father. His life was cut short by the actions of Luke Eva on that night in Braintree."

Jesus Christ, I know the police have to parrot politically-correct crap, but do they really need to go the extra distance for a ‘victim’ whose life was cut short not so much by the actions of his killer as by his own?

The court heard James McGowan, 25, and Mr Haastrup were at the flat to buy cannabis when Eva arrived, went into a bedroom with the flat’s occupant, Colin Cornelius, and emerged saying a deal had been done.

Eva, Mr Haastrup and Mr McGowan then fought, leaving Mr McGowan with a broken nose and a bloody jaw. At one point, Mr McGowan claimed Eva was holding a knife in an “aggressive manner” while Mr Haastrup had a hammer in a “defensive position”.

Mr McGowan escaped from the flat and Mr Haastrup followed shortly afterwards, where he used a hammer to smash windows on Mr Cornelius’ car.

During the trial, neighbour Abigail Pollard said she called police after hearing a commotion and saw Mr Haastrup standing by the door of a flat shouting “you are going to die.”

I can’t seem to find it in me to shed any tears for either of them.

“Gentleman! You Can’t Fight In Here, This Is A Boxing Tournament!”

With some of the invaders reported to be carrying weapons, police were called and the tournament was promptly halted - ruling out some top clashes between leading London boxers and their Scandinavian rivals.

“It’s heartbreaking, so many people work so hard to keep amateur boxing alive yet the action of a few idiots can ruin everything,” said Mills, who runs his own plumbing company.

It’s uncertain whether the ‘idiots’ referred to are the gatecrashers, or the police who failed to ensure the miscreants were dealt with so the event could continue…

However ABA official in charge Ted Goreham backed the police intervention, adding: “They were correct calling off the show.

“If they had not stopped it, I would have done. You just cannot tolerate that sort of behaviour at tournaments, it’s terrible for the sport.”

Wait, what? Is he suggesting that it was the ticketholders present that were causing the trouble, and not gatecrashers?

Romford official Paul Claydon has worked regularly with Scandinavian clubs staging shows in the past and said: “They are great people - we are good friends.”

Shaking with anger he was quick to apologise to the Scandinavian team and RUSSC club staff and management.

“I have put on around 40 shows and never had any trouble before. It has cost me thousands of pounds and months of hard work to arrange this show,” added Claydon, who is still counting the cost of a night he fears could cause his club to fold.

Curiouser and curiouser…

No Rush, Lads..!

Mr Cheema said he was disappointed with the speed of the police investigation.

A police spokesman said: “Our enquiries are ongoing. We have had no confirmation about which breed the dogs are.”

What does it matter? The new legislation – which you whinged for because otherwise ‘your hands are tied’ – allows action to be taken no matter what breed, and no matter if it occurs on private property.

“Officers have been to see the man in hospital but he was in theatre at the time. A statement will be taken when he is ready and the dogs have been earmarked for a visit from the dog patrols.”

No-one has been arrested.

I bet you’ve marked the address on the PNC, though, so you don’t get an unwelcome surprise when knocking on the door one day, eh?

Remember, These People Are Professionals…

Not even the letter by Jane Extance warning of harm that could come to members of her family if action wasn’t taken, could spur the department into action.

Calls to social workers went unreturned, visits and meetings were left to “drift” by days and weeks.

Peter Meek was again arrested in September 2011 and was released on bail. A statement from Sarah at the time said that he had threatened to kill her and that he enjoyed beating her up – on this occasion over a computer game.

Within two months Blake was dead, at the time in the care of Peter Meek who should not have been in contact with the family at all because of his existing bail conditions.

That case was also thrown out by Southampton Magistrates Court, days after Blake’s death as Sarah once again refused to support the prosecution. A prosecution breach of Peter’s bail conditions was also discontinued by magistrates.

And it’s quite clear that this is yet another failing by…well, by all concerned.

The Serious Case Review (SCR), which was eventually commissioned to examine the role the authorities played in the circumstances surrounding his death, sets out a list of damning failures that led to the youngster remaining in an environment where he eventually died.

In the first instance a victim of the worst parenting imaginable, but secondly the victim of a systematic failure of care. The report concludes that Blake could have been protected long before his death and that there were too many missed opportunities.

So, what will be the excuse? Lack of resources? It won’t fly.

It goes on: “This was not a case which required particular investigation expertise or determination. Evidence of the abuse and neglect was repeated and explicit.” The violence to which he was exposed was so obvious, even workmen in the Southampton street where Blake lived were so appalled they reported it.

The boy’s grandmother wrote to social workers pleading with them to intervene before it was “too late. But those who had the statutory duty to protect the child from harm failed to see it, and failed and failed and failed.

So reminiscent of so many cases…

Teachers, health workers, police and social workers all failed to either act swiftly enough, or act at all despite a catalogue of warning signs, the report concludes.

What a pity he didn’t have the ‘wrong’ beliefs, though, eh, instead of being too handy with his fists?

A social worker said the nature of the values and beliefs of the English Defence League were "immoral". And she had said the nature of the "offences" the man had committed against the 13-year-old girl when 17 were "immoral".

I guess murder isn’t immoral enough for our ludicrously well-paid public sector leeches to do their job…