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Victims guilty until proven innocent
By Joe Giltrap
 THINK
about this for a minute.
Imagine that it is the early hours of the morning and you wake up to find
an intruder going through your possessions.
What exactly would you do? Does any one of us honestly know how we would
react? Recently in Manchester a man named Patrick Walsh faced such a problem.
According to the report Mr Walsh and the intruder argued — I suspect
that was the polite interpretation — before the intruder smashed
a window and climbed out on to a narrow ledge from which he fell to the
ground some 30 feet below.
Mr Walsh phoned police and the unfortunate burglar was taken to hospital
with serious head injuries.
What happened next is exactly what we have come to expect in this crazy
world.
Mr Walsh who is 56 years old was arrested on suspicion of having caused
grievous bodily harm to the 43-year-old burglar.
He was released on police bail and will have to wait until November to
find out if he will be charged.
This is just another one of these cases where the homeowner is required
to prove his innocence in an almost impossible situation.
I don’t like to see anybody get injured but if it comes to a choice
between a homeowner and a burglar then as far as I am concerned there
is just no contest.
How can somebody commit the criminal act of breaking into another person’s
home in the middle of the night and still claim to have rights?
What possible rights could they have?
As far as I am concerned they left their rights outside.
Whatever happens to them after that is down to their own criminal acts
and they have no right to whinge about any misfortune that might befall
them as a result of their actions.
Nobody forced the man to break into Patrick Walsh’s home.
Did he know or care who was in the top-floor flat?
What exactly would he have done if a terrified young woman had confronted
him instead of an able-bodied man?
Would he have tried to escape through a window or would he have taken
another course of action?
It seems to me that in spite of all the waffle about the rights of homeowners
the end result remains the same. If somebody breaks into your home you
run the huge risk of prosecution if you have the courage to defend yourself
and your property.
This is madness and does nothing to deter criminals.
It also destroys public confidence in the police and the whole justice
system.
Whatever happened to that ex-Prime Minister bloke’s promise: Tough
on crime tough on the causes of crime?
What a joke.
Since the time of writing police have confirmed that no further action
will be taken against Mr Walsh. The burglar, Terence Sandiford, died as
a result of his injuries. He had been on bail and awaiting trial in relation
to another attempted burglary after police found him in possession of
bolt cutters, a screwdriver and torch.
Victim Support is wheelie proving its worth
STILL, a note of optimism is always welcome.
It is reassuring to know that all is not hopeless when it comes to support
from the forces of law and order.
A man in Middlesbrough recently received a letter from Victim Support
after his name was passed on to them by Cleveland Police who are obviously
at the cutting edge of crime.
The reason for the letter was wait for it the man had mentioned to a
neighbourhood beat officer that his wheelie bin had been stolen.
The precious wheelie bin by now is probably making a new life for itself
as a handy cement mixer in Poland.
I suppose you can readily understand how such a major loss could lead
to a complete breakdown requiring long-term counselling can’t you?
I mean after all, practically everything nowadays requires counselling.
I don’t know how I manage to get up in the morning without it.
I loved the bit where the Victim Support Muppets said that it proved the
system was working.
Which part of the system was that I wonder.
It was probably the bit that does not require any brain whatsoever. |
