Wednesday 27 January 2010

The NuLabour Generation

Billy-Joe Kenney, 19, and two brothers aged 16 and 17 are accused of harassing disabled grandmother Carol Sainsbury, 48.

They openly giggled and laughed as the court heard how they subjected Miss Sainsbury and partner Dean Porter, 45, to six months of 'unbearable' torment.

The youths even answered back when District Judge David Meredith reprimanded them at Hinkley Magistrates Court, Leicestershire.

He asked them: 'Which bit do you find funny,' to which the 17-year-old replied, 'Everything really'.
Undaunted, the judge persevered, unable to quite believe his eyes at what was standing in his dock:
Judge Meredith then said: 'I have listened to it and I don't find it funny,' to which the lad replied: 'She's not talking about you though, is she?'
You see, the judge seems to believe that what he has in the dock is a normal human being, someone who has possibly done wrong, but who will, no matter how poor his demeanour outside court, quake when confronted with authority.

But this isn’t just any yob; this is a NuLabour yob…

He’s grown up totally unaffected by any kind of authority, either at home or at school. If he has had other run-ins with the law, they will have been dismissed or amounted to little more than a caution or a fine (which the State will pay from their own, or their parent’s, unemployment benefits). Or, of course, will be paid for from the proceeds of petty crime.

In fact, far from curbing their behaviour, the authorities will actually protect them from the decent families that have had too much of this kind of behaviour:
The harassment of Miss Sainsbury and Mr Porter allegedly began when Kenney moved into the area last June.

Mark Williams, prosecuting, said the bullying got steadily worse until it happened daily and was 'unbearable and antagonising'.

Miss Sainsbury sobbed as she told the court how she and Mr Porter were bullied up to eight hours every day between June and December last year.

She said the yobs played loud thumping music until the early hours of the morning despite repeated requests for it to be turned down.

They then 'screamed and shouted' from inside their house, which was next door, until 3am on some nights.

On other occasions Kenney and the two youths hung out of windows and shouted obscenities at the couple.

The court was also told that up to ten youths gathered outside the couple's house and swore at them 'almost every day'.
And, of course, when the distress got too much to bear, the inevitable happened:
However, it was Mr Porter who ended up getting arrested when he confronted them on October 3 when his son Royston and two-year-old grandson came to visit.

He was driven to a station, where he received a caution for threatening behaviour.
So, we can see that the police have helped to reinforce these thugs’ opinion of themselves as untouchable.
Carol's neighbour, Linda Pegg, told the court residents were powerless to stop the two brothers making their lives a misery, and claimed the police didn't help 'because they were too busy'.
No, not too busy to arrest the victim, were they?
She said: 'The two brothers had been fine up until six months ago when problems started.

'There were loads of children in the street when the Fiona Pilkington case was on going. Other neighbours complained about then loitering in the street.

'They gather on the street every weekend with others who are making a racket all night. The language they use to people is appalling.

'Carol Sainsbury would come out when the youths were shouting and ask them to stop. Her partner would ask as well.

'The police didn't do anything because they were too busy. What's the point in calling them because they never came.'
Well, they came soon enough when the complainant was the yob, didn’t they?

I suppose arresting an essentially law abiding man who they knew wasn’t likely to spit, swear and be an obnoxious pain in the backside proved too tempting…

Naturally enough, the defence is in full on blame-the-victim mode:
Cross-examining Miss Sainsbury, John Hallissey, defending, said: 'I suggest that the complaints you describe are an exaggeration.

'Is it possible that your description of the music is another exaggeration. Not only have you exaggerated you don't have any idea who has played it.

'Another of your complaints is that a group of youths were playing with their bikes, that's about the size of it.

'Do you think that you might be a little over sensitive to this?'
I tell you what, Hallissey.

Why don’t you move in to this estate, stay a few months, and then you’ll know, won’t you? In fact, take Judge Meredith with you. It’d be nice for him to see a bit of the world…

15 comments:

Oldrightie said...

Not just broken but a shattered society.

Anonymous said...

Surely the clue was in the name....Billy-Joe. My God I can hear 'duelling banjos' from here!

Furor Teutonicus said...

No, not too busy to arrest the victim, were they?

Quite. And is it just me, or does it appear to be getting WAY beyond coincidence that this seems to happen nearly, if not EVERY time someone eventualy "snaps" and actualy has the cheek to DEFEND themselves?

Furor Teutonicus said...

Oh aye, and something I forgot, WTF happened to 30 days for contempt of court?

Rosie said...

You mention that fines will probably be paid out of benefits - I doubt it. In my experience they don't get paid at all here in Leicestershire.

A couple of years back our street had a problem with drunken teens damaging cars - my car had all 4 tyres slashed. I was 'awarded' £100 compensation - I've never seen it, but I did receive a letter from the court a year after the incident informing me that the person responsible was on benefits and did not have the means to pay me so it was cancelled!

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

Furor, since Mr Justice Meredith appears to have overlooked that point, we can only assume he has no more respect for the court than the defendant has. This clearly isn't very much, and the defendant is quite right about that.

It would, therefore, be entirely correct for the Judge to jail himself for contempt, but sadly I don't think that very likely.

MTG said...

Foundations start to crumble when good manners are forsaken, Furor.

Mike said...

the clue is in the description 'yob'

a yob in private company is acceptable but in public, ahem!

swearing, loud music I hear that all day, do I call them yobs, no.

The police are the worst culprits in all this, they actually arrested a man who by all accounts did not, could not and would not harm a fly. In my book flies are quite annoying as are wasps and deserve a good slap. The problem is as soon as I slap I am then subject to the panic of public scrutiny for slapping a breach of the peace.

I know Julia, wasps and flies are good for the environment.

What we need is a police force that is more interested in keeping the peace than doughnuts and judges that punish criminals rather than pander to the law.

Stewart Cowan said...

It's the same M.O. over and over again. I find it hard to believe that most coppers would rather wait for an ordinary, harassed member of the public to fight back so they can have an easy arrest and tick a few boxes, than get stuck in and sort out the baddies.

Are the police now as big a bunch of snivelling snot-rags as the criminals, or are they being prevented from doing their jobs by all the lunatic liberals and PC consultants who are their overseers?

Eckersalld said...

Victims tend to be more docile than aggressors, and with a bit of jiggery-pokery can be used to reach those important targets (the target of helping people not being that important apparently).

It's things like this that will drive social collapse - Camerons wrong about the yobs being the sign of a broken Britain, it's how the yobs are allowed carte blanche that's the sign. And I can't see him being someone who'll deal with it.

Until the yobs get some deeply unpleasant physical manifestation of societies view of them, they'll just get bolder and younger. We all push our boundaries, especially when young, and if the state has any function it's to push back where necessary.

If it refuses to do that, then I suspect it's outlived its usefulness and needs replacing.

Robert said...

Obama msupporter makes headlines in Toledo.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwIm_MxaYaQ&feature=player_embedded#

Ollie Cromwell said...

How did we let this happen?

English Viking said...

I hear a lot of people talk about 'broken Britain'. They talk as though it is need of some kind of maintenance, as though, if some certain actions were taken, it can be fixed.

Sometimes, a thing is so utterly devastated by deliberate damage that it cannot be fixed.

Britain falls into this category.

Anonymous said...

Ollie Cromwell says: "How did we let this happen?"

By not standing up to these yobs in the first place. If some little scrote(s) came to start trouble in my street outside my house, I'll start with the parents. If they won't/don't do anything then they'd best hope the little scrotes likes soup...because that's what the'll be living on for a long time after I've done with them.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Ollie Cromwell says: "How did we let this happen?"

By not listening to the warnings.

We started telling you this when we were in the sixth form and listening to the prats who where, at the age of 16 or 17., proposing JUST the criminal "justice system" you now have, who were quite delighted to have no immigration controls, because, according to them, British culture was corupt and not worth saving, in fact quite the opposite, they wanted it actively destroyed. Their dream was no more whites, but a sludge coffee coloured shower of no good bastards with no historical identity. They wanted the Police to be accontable for EVERY second of their day.

What heppened to thee scrotes?

They alöl joined partys, from the British communists, to SWP, to labour.

The one thing they ALL had in common was, they are all now labour, and THESE ball bags are the ones running your local and county councils, and are the same type of arseholes who are now "Cptn Queeg" Browns psychophants in Parliament.

YOU DID NOT LISTEN. THAT IS HOW IT HAPPENED.