Jonathan Coode, defending Jason Stanmore, said: “He maintains and has always maintained that Mr Qureshi has not been entirely frank. He was a customer of (Annette’s) that he followed in to the park and that they were just about to engage in a sexual act when he arrived.Does it? Does it really?
“He was angry, more with his sister than anything else. I am not for one moment suggesting it was justified, it just explains how he got involved.”
He added: “The background to all this is drugs. It always has been with Jason Stanmore. It’s always drugs, always trying to get off them and then trying to get some money when he finds he cannot manage to stay off drugs.”No doubt the ‘legalise drugs to solve this problem!’ crowd will suggest, at this point, that we…errr, legalise drugs.
But even if we did, does anyone think that this wretched excuse for a human being would then become a model citizen? Anyone? Bueller?
Lucy Tapper, defending Annette Stanmore, said her client, whose partner Devon McPherson was murdered in East Oxford in May 2009, had dreams of becoming a dancer but was “blighted with drugs from a very young age” and had been a sex worker for eight years.‘Blighted with drugs’. They just happened to her. It wasn’t her fault, you see…
She said: “She’s now clean of methadone and has not reached that point for eight years. She’s very pleased with herself and rightly so.”She’s ‘rightly pleased with herself’…
That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it, about the attitude of the people who derive their living from dealing with the criminal underclass…?
What this country needs is a large "clean-up" force, to tour these areas & rid us of such feral, bestial, druggie, recidivist wastes of DNA .. permanently ..
ReplyDeleteThe legalise drugs crowd, of which I am one, would never expect legalisation to solve this. It's not the point.
ReplyDeleteLegalising drugs means the selling and taking of drugs is no longer a crime. Everything the Stanmore peasants did from then on is still a crime, and should be prosecuted properly. Stops police and courts wasting their times prosecuting users UNLESS they commit proper crimes against person or property.
What Tim said. If this sort of thing wasn't happening under prohibition but would if you legalised then you would have an argument. As it is, this sort of event is no great advertisement for the current system.
ReplyDeleteWhat we do need to do is to stop making any allowances in behaviour on the basis of taking drugs. You must be just as culpable regardless of whether you are sober as a judge or off your tits, (provided that ingestion was voluntary).
Falco: "What we do need to do is to stop making any allowances in behaviour on the basis of taking drugs. You must be just as culpable regardless of whether you are sober as a judge or off your tits, "
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. Responsible for your own actions - every time.
Falco: "(provided that ingestion was voluntary)."
OOOOPS...there's your Get Out Of Jail Card right there. ADDICTION. Negates personal responsibility - every time.
@ anon. I had a rather stricter definition in mind, (were they aware they were ingesting an intoxicating substance), and you do need to make some allowances as doping people, while uncommon, does happen.
ReplyDeleteThe importation, possession & use of Drugs account for the majority of crime in this country ..
ReplyDeleteEliminate the importers, eliminate the pushers, eliminate the users .. eliminate most of our crime, at a stroke ..
The Police, Courts, Prisons & NHS would all save masses of time & money .. All the "outreach" workers could be fired .. all the Dependency Clinics closed down ..
The dirty, run-down, neglected areas frequented by Druggies would then become available to decent, ordinary people again ..
There's no down side to it ...
I practised criminal law, briefly, at the long-ago beginning of my career. In defence of my learned friend, let me observe that his job is to present his client's case as best he can (however ludicrous it may be). Every criminal I met was inordinately fond of the passive voice. In using it here, I am sure Mr Coode was faithfully retailing his client's wares.
ReplyDeleteCriminals, you see, never do anything; stuff just happens to them. "I was doing so well, Mr Paine," they would remark, "and then this happened". "The "this" being caught on the roof of an electrical appliances shop, looking for unlawful ingress (or whatever).
I have suspected all who over-use the passive voice ever since (except barristers, who are just reading from their notes). It is so often a sub-conscious denial of responsibility for one's actions.
"What this country needs is a large "clean-up" force, to tour these areas & rid us of such feral, bestial, druggie, recidivist wastes of DNA..."
ReplyDeleteSadly, with the news yesterday that they should be offered 'overdose kits' on release from prison, it seems we have too many vested interests relying on them for employment!
"What we do need to do is to stop making any allowances in behaviour on the basis of taking drugs. "
Agreed!
"Eliminate the importers, eliminate the pushers, eliminate the users .. eliminate most of our crime, at a stroke .."
Can you ever eliminate the former? Cigarettes are legal, yet taxed so highly black markets and smuggling are common.
Would it not be the same with legal drugs?
"I have suspected all who over-use the passive voice ever since (except barristers, who are just reading from their notes). It is so often a sub-conscious denial of responsibility for one's actions."
Given that these days there's often are few consequences, we'll know we are doomed when they stop, perhaps?