Why Should He Show Emotion..?

Brandon Ali stared across at the press bench in court. Defiant, dishonest to his core, and completely unrepentant, he showed no reaction as he was sentenced to 21-years in prison for murder, in the summer of last year.

Four months later, Ali simply shrugged as he was handed an 11-month jail term for posting a radio stuffed full of drugs to an inmate in August, 2020. That sentence runs alongside his current 21-year minimum term, meaning he spends no extra time behind bars.

Three months after that, Ali stood staring at the press bench once again, as he was brought out of his cell to attend court. This time he was given a three-year prison stretch, after a shotgun with his DNA all over it was found buried near a children's park.

After all, this is no horrifying fate. It's 2023, not 1823, and he'll probably have a cushier life behind bars than on the other side of them. 

There has never been a hint of remorse shown by the former Hemlington drug dealer - although he must surely regret his actions now he has days on end with nothing to do but think, whilst holed up in prison.

Must he? Why? And why would he turn to crime, when he's not even good at it?

Ali is the antithesis of a clever or sophisticated criminal. He killed a man in front of people on a residential street. And he left his DNA all over a shotgun, and on the drugs inside the radio.

But he has never shown any emotion - not when he was handed a life term in prison, nor when the harrowing details of Mr Eland's fatal injuries were read out to a courtroom, packed full of the victim's family and friends. His mother, who has attended all of his court cases, shouted "see you son" as he was last led out of court. 

Ah. QED.