NORTHERN IRELAND IS DIFFERENT!

Magistrates`Courts in Northern Ireland are run by District Judges.  Recent history in that province has seen the death, literally, of at least one J.P. and the institution per se. With that in mind I have reported here from time to time some strange or unusual court decisions there.  However merely to fine a drunk driver who was more than five times over the legal limit and not to have imposed a community penalty never mind a custodial sentence suspended or otherwise is breathtaking [no pun intended]. 

Considering the recent abortion decision perhaps decision makers in Ulster are on the road to the 21st century in their thinking.  But with sentencing as above there is still some way to go.