who are these people that can do this ?

[Deleted member 174758]

You can probably come up with another hundred "what ifs" yourself, "I forgot" is never an excuse, he had it in the first place, he broke the law.

Take one closer to home. You're a tradesman. You carry round a folding knife at work all day clipped onto your belt. You go home, forgetting that the knife is still there. You get stopped by the police in a check because a rear light bulb has broken. Are you carrying an offensive weapon? the answer is yes. The law brooks no excuse

 

[kjacko]

It seems like the judge was the only one who wanted to convict this war hero.

I find it abhorent, especially if that news report was telling the truth.

[rant]Use the glock on the judge.[/rant]

I'm not saying our war hero's should be above the law, but this situation doesn't seem very cut and dry.....and what will it achieve? His wife and kids may be homeless. Will the punishment sit to remind hit 'not to accept a glock 9mm as a gift from one grateful soldier to another, the watch his 2 best friends die, become mentally unstable and forget that he had the gun.
Yeah....that'll teach him....sucker'

That judge needs dog-knotting,i hope he gets plenty of negative attention for this, the w*****!!!

 

[AronSearle]

I'm not saying our war hero's should be above the law

The judge applied the law, and you are complaining.

funny.

 

[kjacko]

I'm not saying our war hero's should be above the law

The judge applied the law, and you are complaining.

funny.

Yes, i bloody well am. Judges use discretion often, and under these circumstances he should have done.
With the amount of high ranking officials complaining about it too, it almost seems like he deliberately went against the grain.

The judge applied the law, and you are complaining.

What an idiotic thing to say. You agree with every law in our land? He did NOT have to apply the law as written. He chose to ignore expert witness and evidence and send him down anyway.

 

[snico]

Lets just hope he has decent Judge Advocate for his summary appeal who will see what the right thing to do is.

 

[EddieM]

What snico said is correct. The law is just a guideline, the judge should have used discretion, sure an offense was committed, but the judgement was disproportionate.

IMHO the judge should be censured for not applying proportionate sentencing.

 

[ajrtd]

The judge did use his discretion.

2. The maximum penalty for committing a firearms offence under Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968, which includes “supply” and “possession” but not “possession with intent to supply” is 10 years’ imprisonment. The mandatory minimum sentence for those aged 18 and over is five years’ imprisonment, and three years for those aged 16-17 years. Under Section 16 of the 1968 Act it is an offence to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Of course he could have taken the advice of witnesses that said he would/could have forgotten that he had the gun safely stored away. Then again, he may know that many soldiers have a little something tucked away and thought he needed to send a message.

 

[ellal]

Anyone who has lived in a squaddie town would know that there's only one thing worse than a squaddie....and that's a squaddie with a gun!

Given his 'brain problems', what would be the comments be if he said 'sorry, I can't remember pulling the trigger'?

 

[gasbanni]

He didn't pack the gear up and send it back to the UK his sqaddie mates did, it had been unopened for three years...............whose to know he even knew it was in there ?????


It was discussed on radio 2 today and his wife was interviewed, only heard part of it will catch up with it on Iplayer.

 

[gas112]

says in newspaper article that it was sent to hereford then his home in 2007 then he was posted in 2009 where he suffered the memory loss . So 2 years without checking his kit which he would have needed more or less straight away.
He is SAS and their kit is very personell to them and just not off the shelf, also the guys that packed his kit know the rules.
Could prob find out more than most about this as the guys killed in the helicopter crash he came back to bury.
My mate who is SAS was sent in on the rescue mission to get the crew but by time they reached it the rag heads where already playing football with one of their heads.
These guys are true Heroes but they still know the law and its consequences

 

[calorific]

You can argue against it if you believe, as medical specialists do, that he was unaware of owning it.

Guns are illegal. Drugs are illegal. "oh, I forgot I had it guvner"

If you agree with gun laws, you should agree with this sentence, or you are just being a hypocrite.

I don't agree with the gun laws though. IMHO it's what's inside someone's head that determines the danger, not whether he/she owns a gun or not.

Thus, assuming his innocence for just a moment (if one dares to presume such a thing in the UK ) if he did have amnesia than he should not be permitted to own the gun since he might forget that he now lives in civvy street. But he should not be locked up for not knowing that he had the gun in the first place. There is a huge difference between not knowing and having forgotten.

 

[ajrtd]

Thus, assuming his innocence for just a moment (if one dares to presume such a thing in the UK )

I can't believe YOU typed that

 

[calorific]

I can't believe YOU typed that

Fickle is as fickle does

 

[AronSearle]

He didn't pack the gear up and send it back to the UK his sqaddie mates did, it had been unopened for three years...............whose to know he even knew it was in there ?????


It was discussed on radio 2 today and his wife was interviewed, only heard part of it will catch up with it on Iplayer.

Replace gun with drugs.

Now how many of you would allow this excuse to wash.

Would it even be in the papers, would we even be discussing it.

Hmmmm.

Yes, i bloody well am. Judges use discretion often

They cannot use discretion to determine guilty/not guilty.

They can use discretion to determine the sentence, which as pointed out, he is serving 1/6th of the possible sentence allowed.

 

[calorific]

Replace gun with drugs.

Now how many of you would allow this excuse to wash.

Would it even be in the papers, would we even be discussing it.

Hmmmm.

You can replace it with fairy cakes if you like. The principle is the same - assume he is innocent and prove his guilt.

There is a difference between "excuse" and "reason".