Prolific offender Daniel Valentine and co-defendant Matthew East hugged each other tightly in the dock as they were sentenced for conspiring to stop Mary Walters from giving evidence at her 20-year-old son Jake Foxall’s inquest.
Grinning and nodding his head, serving prisoner Valentine was told he would be locked up for a further 18 months but celebrated, shouting to his family: “I’m out in the same year.”
Someone can't count, or is - hopefully in vain - relying on the automatic discount...
Sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Ian Pringle QC told Valentine he was becoming institutionalised after the convict revealed he thought time behind bars was ‘wicked’ and claimed it had ‘been his life’ since he was about 15.
The judge said Valentine was ‘nervous’ about what Ms Walters would say at the inquest, fearing he would be incriminated, and called on former HMP Bullingdon cellmate East.
During the pair’s trial earlier this month, jurors were told Foxall killed himself while on remand at HMP Glen Parva, in Leicestershire, in November 2015.
He had committed a robbery with Valentine, snatching jewellery and cash from a woman at knifepoint, and making off in her car.
Foxall, who confessed to his offending when arrested, was due to give evidence against Valentine at trial and was remanded in the prison.
Judge Pringle told the court: “You put some pressure on him [Foxall] by messages, no doubt, getting through to him.”
And this 'pressure'? How did it come to light?
Prosecutor Naomi Perry told jurors Valentine called East, while serving a five-year jail term for the robbery, telling him to stop Ms Walters, of Chilton, near Didcot, from giving evidence at the upcoming inquest at Leicester Town Hall.
In one conversation, Valentine was recorded telling East: “If she gets to that inquest, I’m on charges.”
In another phone call, East said: “You want her off the road, smash and run then? Something like that?”
Valentine replied: “Something like that. Matty use your discretion. Remember this is a prison phone so I can’t tell you what you’ve got to do.”
Clearly, two criminal masterminds here...
3 comments:
Attempting to pervert the cause of justice, which is what they were doing, carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Perhaps this should have been pointed out to these two obnoxious shits before telling them the bench will retire to discuss a suitable punishment. Remember those 'nail biting' moments on TV before an answer is given? Extend this by a factor of 10 and then return and tell them they will serve a minimum of 3 years before parole, and then watch them hug each other (in fact, it will be Big Bubba who hugs them, if there is any real justice).
Penseivat
That distinctive spoor of hypocrisy....my God....is it you again, PC Penise?
"Perhaps this should have been pointed out to these two obnoxious shits..."
Well, quite. I thought the courts always took a very dim view of this?
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