Staff attempted to save Aherne...His crime? Glad you asked:
He had stabbed Mrs Ryder, later bragging about it to a friend, because she asked him to pick up a chip wrapper he had dropped in the street in February 2003.The world just got a little bit more pleasant.
'Nuff said, case closed, I hope.
ReplyDeleteI´m trying to feel sorry for him.... nope, can´t!
ReplyDeleteHave just looked up the Court Service review of the case. (cache copy)
ReplyDeletehttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mLhU9M9aEzoJ:www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/144_5308.htm+Stuart+Aherne+kill&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.co.uk
The strange thing is, he was only serving about 10 (maybe 12) years so he was already half way through the minimum term.
The sticking point is this: Aherne pleaded not guilty to murder and insisted he was not the killer. He admitted the earlier wounding for which he was serving 5 years. He had "confessed" to a friend, he said, for the peculiar reasons some youths pretend to have done things.
Without admitting the murder, Aherne would not have been considered for parole and would have had to serve the full whack.
The jury found Aherne guilty of murder, which is possibly a demonstration of "if you can't take a joke, don't do a wounding in the first place".
The evidence against him was not strong. Yes, he was in the area at the time but the ID evidence was poor. There was no DNA evidence linking him to the victim; just one of his old beer cans in a bin. The victim was in her own difficult relationship which provided a stronger motive for murder than an argument over litter. At the trial the prosecution did not dwell on the reason for the attack, although later news coverage did. Furthermore, her partner's clothing matched the descriptions given by witnesses.
Aherne's confession was deeply damaging but the person to whom it was made still didn't think it was a true confession; more like a story.
The ID evidence based on what Aherne was wearing (shown on the off licence CCTV) did not match what witnesses who saw a man and the victim together, said. However, the witnesses were not in agreement as to what they saw.
The sentence review is abrupt; it is not open to the reviewer to question a jury. They were in court and they saw the defendant.
"A can of lager with the defendant’s DNA was found in a bin at the bus-stop where the deceased had been seen with a man. When the murder was reported publicly the defendant told his girlfriend that he remembered giving a lady a sip of his drink one evening, although the evening when this occurred was not clear to her. In evidence, the defendant said he had no recollection of seeing the lady on 21st February and had no special recollection of the evening. His evidence about the remark to his girlfriend was not satisfactory and probably influenced the jury against him."
My sympathy is not deeply engaged on behalf of Stabby McChav, just sayin', that's all.
A Prison Service spokesman said: "As with every death in custody, the prisons and probation ombudsman will conduct a full investigation" ..
ReplyDeleteI hope that the investigation is a rigorous one and that "lessons will be learned" ..
Lessons which might be used to influence other scumbags to do likewise ..
That's what I call a suspended sentence.....
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction is: "Swing you little Shit, SWING"
ReplyDeleteBut then maturity and common humanity set in, usually, and I find myself wondering if there were times when, say, Stefan Kiszko felt like topping himself, if the Guildford Four thought of ending it all.
Not saying Aherne was innocent or 'rail roaded' or was so terminally stupid as to confess to a crime he didn't commit but the fact he killed himself makes one think.
We are always very quick to believe that a Guilty verdict has its basis in fact...and yet time and time again the opposite has been shown to be the case.
"The strange thing is, he was only serving about 10 (maybe 12) years so he was already half way through the minimum term."
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought that was odd too. The prison equivalent of the 'seven year itch'..?
"... and probably influenced the jury against him.""
Yes, funny how those sort of remarks tend to do that...
"That's what I call a suspended sentence....."
SNORK!
"...and I find myself wondering if there were times when, say, Stefan Kiszko felt like topping himself, if the Guildford Four thought of ending it all."
Good point.