A documentary film-maker was hauled into court on a charge of stealing electricity worth 0.003p.Why would a man be persecuted like this?
But by the time the ludicrous case was dropped, the bill to taxpayers was more than £5,000.
Mark Guard, 44, had to appear at two separate hearings before the Crown Prosecution Service finally saw sense.
Well, here's a clue:
Mr Guard, who makes documentaries about crime and the homeless...Heads should roll for this...
Both made low budget films around the same plot lines - an army of cops mistakenly hounding the solitary, intrepid hero.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference between Mark Guard's police and Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops, is intelligence.
Nine police officers turned up within, what, 15 minutes? How often does housebreaking or burglary produce this sort of stellar response?
ReplyDeleteWhoever at the CPS pushed this to a prosecution needs to be fired, now.
Fired? A pretty hefty chunk of the police force and CPS need to be fired, all right. Wood-fired. The anencephalic mattress-stains that thought persecuting this guy was a judicious use of public funds need to be instructed differently via the application of excruciating and life-ending pain.
ReplyDeleteI am so sick of reading, even from 8000 km away, of how malign the State has become in the UK that I am afraid to even set foot back there, lest I get nicked by some jumped-up Gauleiter for an imaginary infraction. And every time I reassure myself with the thought that that is just paranoia, I read something like this and think again.
I know how this feels. Unfortunately I do not believe that the CPS will publicly be held to account and have to admit I think the police were only following orders. While the orders may have been wrong, coppers are only coppers when they follow orders. Bit of a catch 22 when someone wants to be a copper and they are ordered to do something antisocial.
ReplyDeleteI think the clue is in the name CPS. A service that acts to prosecute wherever a conviction could possibly be brought on behalf of the crown and act in the public's best interests that rightly expects people to be treated as innocent until proven guilty. Again, not exactly symbiotic drivers.
"The only difference between Mark Guard's police and Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops, is intelligence."
ReplyDeleteYou'd think the CPS would have an eye to their budgets though, wouldn't you?
"Nine police officers turned up within, what, 15 minutes? How often does housebreaking or burglary produce this sort of stellar response?"
If you're a Minister, probably it would...
"I am so sick of reading, even from 8000 km away, of how malign the State has become in the UK that I am afraid to even set foot back there..."
Can't see it getting better under Dave's mob either, having seen his plan to combat the 'drinks culture' this morning.
I suspect part of the reason this went so far is that... Stealing electricity is pumped up to be a vastly more serious crime than it appears on the surface. There is a cute reason for this. Before they could frame legislation against hackers that is what they used to prosecute them under. And yes the amounts were similarly ludicrous. Pennies and often much, much less.
ReplyDeleteOh and how come a night in the police cells costs 385 quid!
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of hotel room or suite with room-service and everything costs that much?
A very bloody nice one.
"You'd think the CPS would have an eye to their budgets though, wouldn't you?"
ReplyDeleteThey may well have but clearly no interest in any budget that is similarly funded by the public but not signed for by the CPS.