Friday 5 December 2014

Yet More Of That ‘Care In The Community’…

A nuisance neighbour who bombarded the emergency services with more than 260 calls in a year and then set fire to her flat twice has been given a community order.
Lucky old community, eh? I bet they can’t wait to welcome her back with open arms…
At Johnson’s sentencing at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, Jacqueline Carey, mitigating, said she had turned a corner in her alcohol consumption since her time in jail and had been clean from drinking for nine months.
Judge Jonathan Black sentenced her to a two-year community order, which will also see her complete a six-month alcohol treatment course. He said: “These are serious offences and you must realise the court has to treat this with the upmost (sic) severity.”
I rather think that’s somewhat incompatible with the sentence you’re imposing, don’t you?
“It is to your credit you accept you were the person who started the fire. I have been told by probation you have abstained from alcohol. I am not 100 per cent certain that is the case.”
Is that for some specific reason in this case, or because you just don’t believe any mitigation any more?
The court previously heard, although the damage was minimal, a fire officer said the blazes could have been “very serious” , particularly as her neighbour Andrew D’Allesandri’s door was directly above Johnson’s door, which had the potential to block his family’s only escape route.
Mr D’Allesandri 53, who also had an application for a restraining order against Johnson turned down, said in a statement he had “a lot of sleepless nights and stress” when emergency services attended her address.
After the sentencing, he said: “My wife and I have lived here for three years, but had we known what she was like, we wouldn’t have moved here.
“She would call the emergency services a lot which not only wasted taxpayers’ money, but stopped them going to emergencies. Thankfully it has stopped since she has been locked up.”
Well, she’s not locked up now. I wonder if we’ll see her again?

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