Over the last few weeks my posting has been looking at magistrates courts through what some readers might consider perhaps the wrong end of the telescope. This was not the intention. Public events appeared to be of some significance for us all. Perhaps in popular jargon the observations of the last month or two might be described as having been commenting from a macro point of view on the justice system. However from the position of a magistrate, the micro position faces similar conflicts as I faced for seventeen years with considerably more flexibility than those currently on the bench. Magistrates in the last century were certainly in much greater control of their situation than now. We were free to discuss in our opinion what truly mattered to us in private meetings three or four times a year. Whether that freedom made us better at the job is not for me to opine. So, returning to what has actually happened in our courts recently the sample of cases below is not necessarily typical of a days sitting and they are but a tiny example of the thousands of cases weekly which generally stimulate little public interest.
A police officer on duty is bitten by a woman who says she has aids and assaults another. Her custodial sentence is suspended. Seems that for all the bluster from government on the protection of police officers and other public servants the reality is that owing to a broken jail system the bench had no other option [possibly after advice from their legal advisor]. The sentencing guideline for the offence is here.
Stalking became a specific criminal offence in England and Wales on November 25 2012 through amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Before this date stalking was often dealt with under the more general harassment laws but the new legislation created separate, specific offences for stalking. I cannot remember sitting on such a case but I was around when measures to protect a witness giving evidence were in play. So congratulations to the bench in Haverfordwest who were able to decide that an alleged victim`s live evidence was essential for a case to continue despite CPS protestations. When justice so often puts the "victim" before common sense and innocent until proved guilty I would opine that it takes a strong and well led bench to act as that bench has done.
The numbers of trading standards officers have been cut to the bone in many{most} boroughs with the result that children find it fairly easy and risk free to source a retail outlet where tobacco and alcohol products are available. Hartlepool is no exception. There is no public register of how many such people are employed by that borough. A Hartlepool committee agenda (Neighbourhood Services Committee 4 Nov 2024) lists staffing in the Trading Standards section and includes 3 × Senior Trading Standards Officers and 1 × Graduate Trading Standards Officer. Information seems to being deliberately withheld or almost impossible to verify. That being the case I am certain the council were pleased to read the following report. As is so often the case in such matters the lowly shop worker is chastised and the owner, private or corporate, goes scot free.
In the Tony Blair era government brought in the gone but not forgotten ASBO primarily to enable the scourge of unruly neighbours to be confronted by the civil law a breach of which was a criminal offence. It was replaced in 2014 by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act which spawned Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs), Civil Injunctions, Community Protection Notices (CPNs), Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) and Dispersal Powers. This offender in the Isle of Wight must have been as the devil incarnate for his neighbours and in a society which offered adequate resources for the mentally disabled might have avoided his decline which affected those living nearby. The District Judge[MC] uttered comments which we as magistrates were strongly advised to resist, do not say anything which might indicate a future sentence by a future bench.
In Cornwall the local reporter has relayed to the public reading CornwallLive a masterpiece of court reporting; reporting as it used to be in the 20th century before the age of the internet. Thomas Hammersley seems, as many others, to have been the recipient of a sentence not meeting the seriousness of the crime. Even if the image is generic a baseball bat with nails in it is a deadly weapon.
It seems the composition of Swansea Council’s Trading Standards team is a secret known only to those who pay their wages. My guess is that like so many other towns, boroughs, counties and cities the department of trading standards has been pruned to the limit resulting in only a tiny percentage of infractions being acted upon never mind being charged. What is reported in Swansea is an indication of what serious repercussions can result when we the public are sold contaminated or unsuitable food.
If ever there was an example of why dog owners should have thought as to how to secure their pet when driving this is it. Sentencing has been postponed. I wonder if that will be another example of the tail of the prison cell shortage wagging the dog of justice.
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