A wealthy businessman arrested for murder after he stabbed a burglar to death during a knifepoint raid was spared the ordeal of reliving the tragedy in a courtroom today.
That’s nice. Pity he wasn’t spared the ordeal of being arrested and having his DNA taken too…
Today Mr Cooke and his wife Karen were due to start giving a days of evidence against Jacob’s accomplice Michael Thorpe who was charged with aggravated burglary.
But Thorpe, 33 changed his plea to guilty meaning Mr Cooke will not need to give any evidence.
Thorpe claimed Jacob was the prime mover in the attack.
So, all’s well that ends well?
Police have since now installed CCTV cameras outside the Cooke house to watch out for thugs.
Ah. How surprising.
Here in the UK, anticipation of decent law enforcement is abandoned to inexperienced optimists.
ReplyDeleteThis case was one of the rare ones, where I would approve of it being described as a 'burglary gone wrong'
ReplyDeleteI suppose that's Melvin at the top putting his usual negative spin on things.
ReplyDeleteAre we to assume that if the police pop along to a scene where someone has died and the stabber says "he broke in" then we just walk away and say "well done"?
What would you do Melvin (or Julia) differently to arresting him and investigating the incident properly?
Jaded
It is photo, fingerprint & DNA.
ReplyDeleteI can only hope that Vincent Cooke's legal firm chat to the bloke who successfully defended Stephen Gerrard after he 'defended himself' by thumping an aggressive bloke THREE TIMES! Once could be taken as self defence, possibly even twice but three times? I would suggest that Mr Cooke renew, or take out, his membership of Liverpool Supporters Club!
ReplyDeletePenseivat
XX he 'defended himself' by thumping an aggressive bloke THREE TIMES! XX
ReplyDeleteYou use as many as it takes to subdue the bastard and remove the threat. If that takes a HUNDRED, and it can be proved it was neccessary, then how many times someone gets punched, kicked, stabbed, shot, gets his nuts blown off with dynamite, is not relevant to the outcome of the case.
"This case was one of the rare ones, where I would approve of it being described as a 'burglary gone wrong'"
ReplyDeleteGone happily wrong! ;)
"Are we to assume that if the police pop along to a scene where someone has died and the stabber says "he broke in" then we just walk away and say "well done"?"
No, of course not. But faced with a respectable businessman with no criminal record and a dead well-known scumbag, it's not really something that'd tax Sherlock Holmes, is it?
"You use as many as it takes to subdue the bastard and remove the threat."
Agreed!
That always annoys me in movies, where the heroine whacks the serial killer over the head, then runs away. Make sure he isn't getting up, love!
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete..Are we to assume that if the police pop along to a scene where someone has died and the stabber says "he broke in" then we just walk away and say "well done"?
What would you do Melvin (or Julia) differently to arresting him and investigating the incident properly?
Jaded..."
When confronted with a respectable businessman, in his own home, with his family in such a situation, the law allows for you NOT to arrest him, but invite him in for an interview to "help with inquiries" at a convenient time for him. He is, in no way, a flight risk.
The ONLY reason to arrest him is to up your own arrest figures and harvest DNA.
If the SMT order you to arrest, you can legally refuse such an order, and tell them to come down and make the arrest themselves.
This is one of the reasons that the front line Plod are so disrespected by the ordinary (wo)man on the street.
Sort your shit out, use your brains and your balls, or you will end up on the wrong side of the barricades with only yourselves to blame.
Ah yes hindsight,my favourite type of sight.
ReplyDeleteYes we know now that this man is a respectable businessman.We now know the burglar is/was a shit.
Congratulations.
Next time i'm at a potential murder scene I will call you down so you can sum up what happened immediately using your years of policing experience.You clearly know this stranger is not a flight risk.You can gather all the forensic evidence at some time in the future,oh no don't bother he's a nice chap.
Imagine the outcry from you armchair generals if the police got it wrong and didn't arrest a guilty man.I can think of a couple of stories where first impressions were wrong.The burglar killed by a "homeowner" that turned out to be a cannabis factory break-in springs to mind.
Anyway got to go out now and be disrespected by ordinary people.I love sweeping generalisations,they make for great arguments.
Jaded
"This is one of the reasons that the front line Plod are so disrespected by the ordinary (wo)man on the street. "
ReplyDeleteSpot on!
Police with real judgement are replaced by box ticking automatons. Why should anyone respect that?
"Ah yes hindsight,my favourite type of sight.
Yes we know now that this man is a respectable businessman.We now know the burglar is/was a shit."
Jaded, I'm willing to bet the first cops to turn up on scene knew that then & there.