Throughout the trial Cooper had incensed the family of Mrs Smith by leering and gurning at them from the dock whenever the jury were absent.
The jury found him guilty unanimously after two hours and 30 minutes of deliberation.
The sentences don't really reflect the effort everyone put in to get this pair behind bars, though...
The 17-year-old will serve three years and eight months and Cooper will serve six years and six months, both in Young Offenders institutions.
And words fail me, reading this:
Judge Dennis did not invite Mrs Smith's son, Adam Smith, to speak of the impact of her death on him and his family.
He said: 'I do not invite speeches in relation to impact statements from the victim's family. I have already read the impact statements in full and I take into consideration the age of the defendants, their mental health and welfare.'
Their 'mental health and welfare' is a lost cause, Judge, and if you can't see that, you shouldn't be on the bench:
A day before their attack on Mrs Smith, video footage from the pair's phones showed Cooper egging-on the 17-year-old to attack a woman in Ilford town centre. Ms Stonecliffe said: 'A young woman is seen walking towards the camera that Mr Cooper was holding. The 17-year-old was holding a long pole. He used the pole to lash out and strike her as she was putting her hands up to shield her face.' Cooper was heard in the video shouting: 'Smoke her, smoke her bro.' When the woman lay on the ground said: 'Boot her in the face. Just one tap in her face bro. Go on, do it, one boot on her face bro.' The 17-year-old hit out and the pair were seen walking away leaving the woman on the pavement behind them.
For this attack, Cooper received six weeks in a Young Offenders institution. The 17-year-old received a four-month Youth Rehabilitation Order.
Perhaps if they'd been caught and dealt with appropriately for this, Mrs Smith might still be alive. Why did the victim not report it? Why did CCTV not catch it? Is it because such behaviour is now considered so common it's not worth mentioning?
It's a shame the parents can't be prosecuted for failing to drown their offspring at birth.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
I really do feel that Singapore's use of the rattan is the best way to deal with this.
ReplyDeleteFlogged publicly of course.
These are the little scamps police are not allowed to stop and search or use hurty words in their presence in case it upsets them.
ReplyDeleteJaded
"It's a shame the parents can't be prosecuted for failing to drown their offspring at birth."
ReplyDeleteI note that the parents of the school shooter in Serbia were immediately arrested...
"I really do feel that Singapore's use of the rattan is the best way to deal with this.
Flogged publicly of course."
It seem that's against their 'universal human rights'.
"These are the little scamps police are not allowed to stop and search or use hurty words in their presence in case it upsets them."
Correct! Even while, as we saw uesterday, they are stabbing one another in Hackney, Dagenham, Chadwell Heath...
Why did the CCTV not spot it??? Oh come ON, that much vaunted CCTV and the mushrooming numbers of cameras, aren't for mundane stuff such as public safety, they're for issuing fines and fleecing motorists
ReplyDeleteKhan isn't spending north of £52 million for crime prevention or "saving the planet, it's ALL and ONLY about money, or rather stealing ours.
Crime is out of control, we have undisciplined scum roaming the streets, where their Tick-tock videos come first, knowing too that if, rather than when, if ever, they're caught, some leftwing activist "judge" will make excuses and give them a "sentence " that punishes the victims. The rot really set in when Blair and Campbell started their politicisation and vandalism of everything they touched. I don't expect any improvement as the Tories are too busy fighting themselves.