Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek
Nope the sentencing is entirely within the guidlines.
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/s...lent_disorder/
Lets have a look at the aggravating factors.
Busy public place. = Yep
Large group, = Yep
people put in fear. = Maybe
Vulnerable victims, = OK I'll give him this, he's lucky the Royal protection officer didn't shoot him
weapons, = Yep
fighting between rival groups. = Nope
Planning/organisation. = Hmmm, he just happened to have surgical gloves and face covering to hand 
Racially/religiously aggravated. = Nope
Injuries/damage. = Luckily no
Violence towards Police. = Yep
Disguises. = See above, face covering and rubber gloves.
Seeing he could have got up to 5 years the 16 months seems fair. He was involved in looting Top Shop and tried to set fire to a building during his drink and drug fuelled binge.
Impulsive action. Provocation. |
Well, according to the
Independent, the actual charges were throwing a bin at the car carrying royal protection officers, as well as kicking a window at Top Shop.
Quote:
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udge Price made it clear that Gilmour was not being sentenced for swinging from a flag attached to the Cenotpah, an act which caused public outrage but did not constitute either of the two violent disorder charges against him. Instead he was sentenced for throwing a bin at a car carrying royal protection officers and for kicking the window of a nearby Top Shop store.
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Hardly running battles, and it doesn't seem to me that anyone was actually at any risk of injury (apart from himself/his foot). Don't get me wrong, I do think he deserves some punishment, it just seems that sending him to prison seems disproportionate and serves little purpose. It's not like he was fighting running battles with the police and throwing stones. I'm not sure if I'd class a bin as a weapon either. As I said earlier, the average city centre sees worse violence on an average weekend, and that doesn't seem to attract the same level of punishment.