MP Eric Joyce
There has been a lot said already regarding the behaviour and sentencing of Labour MP Eric Joyce. Mr Joyce went into the Strangers Bar in the House of Commons. He was drunk. He was abusive and then attacked a number of people in the bar, headbutting at least two of them. He caused injury to more than one of them. When the police attended he resisted arrest and had to be forcibly restrained. He was charged with four counts of common assault, the lowest charge that can be put with regard to a criminal assault.
As we know, Mr Joyce has been fined £3000. He has to pay compensation of £1400 to his victims. He has to complete 12 months community work. He has a weekend curfew and he is banned from licensed premises for three months. In the circumstances the judge did pretty much all they could taking account of the charges.
Mr Joyce has announced that he has no intention of standing down as an MP and will continue in that role until the next election. Quite rightly commentators have expressed their outrage that Mr Joyce has not gone to prison and that he will remain in his job as an MP. Imagine the furore if a police officer behaved in this way and was still allowed to keep their job. It appears that law makers are not required to have the same morals and ethics as law enforcers. There is still one rule for those 'above stairs' and another for those 'below.'
The real issue regarding this case is that Mr Joyce was never going to prison once the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had ensured, as usual, that the charges preferred were at the very bottom of the scale. They are an integral part of the justice system that tries to keep our prisons empty and ensure deterrence and consequences are obsolete.
Mr Joyce could and should have been charged with Affray. He could have been charged with Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm, a more serious assault charge. He could and should have been charged with resisting arrest. Once the CPS had watered down the charges to four counts of common assault, Mr Joyce was never going to prison.
"banned from licensed premises"
ReplyDeleteI have read that Joyce has been banned from pubs and that he has been banned from licensed premises. My Concern is that the bars in Westminster Palace are not licensed and that as a member of parliament he may circumvent his punishment by drinking in the same bar in which he committed the offence.
If anyone knows exactly what his sentence was I would like to know. I will try Westminster Magistrates' court on Monday if I cannot find an answer online.
Perhaps the govt needs to raise the price of alcohol to stop drunken yobs fighting?
ReplyDeleteUnder the provisions of The Licensing Act 2003 .....
ReplyDeleteThe following premises are not required to have a licence for the sale of alcohol, the provision of regulated entertainment or the provision of late night refreshment:
■an aircraft, hovercraft or railway vehicle engaged in a journey
■a vessel engaged on an international journey
■an approved wharf at a designated port or hoverport
■a royal palace
■a premises permanently or temporarily occupied by the armed forces of the crown at the time the activity takes place
■any premises in respect of which a certificate has been issued by a Minister of the Crown on the grounds of national security.
Westminster is a Royal Palace and so is not a licensed premise. There is nothing to prevent Mr Jocye getting lashed up again in the House of Commons and intimidating victims and witnesses etc.
And a shagger of impressionable 17 years old as well....allegedly...
ReplyDeleteJaded
Give some people a bit of power and status and they turn into megalomaniacs. Joyce is one of these.
ReplyDeleteApart from treating anyone who doesn't agree with his politics with complete contempt, he will believe that planting his seed in any woman will be a distinct honour for them.
Earth to Lex, police "officers" do behave like that (and far worse) on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteToday I head-butted four MP's and shagged a 17 year old.
ReplyDeleteNormal day.
Mars to Ciaran -
ReplyDelete'police "officers" do behave like that (and far worse) on a daily basis.'
I've asked before for evidence to support your stupid allegations. Yet to have any. Perhaps you could give us a list of examples of such behaviour by police officers in the last week?
No, I thought not.
Chris Alder, Harry Stanley, Mark Duggan, Grainger, de Menezes. See what I did there?
ReplyDeleteCiaran - trotting out all the usual names that anti police lefties attach themselves to going back 14 years doesn't support your allegation.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, in case you missed the updates, here they are for you.
1998 Chris Alder - died of positional asphyxia. Five officers acquitted of manslaughter and misconduct.
1999 Harry Stanley - Two officers exonerated after specialist evidence showed they had told the truth from the outset.
2005 Jean Charles De Menezes - officers who shot him acted lawfully. Management was poor and Met prosecuted Health and Safety Exec.
2011 Mark Duggan - waiting for inquest but no evidence that officers acted inappropriately.
2012 Anthony Grainger - where is evidence of misconduct?
Where are the names of the people that the police, on a daily basis, have killed, assaulted etc. within the last week?
Policing is a difficult job. We make mistakes like everyone. Criticising us for just doing our job is an ignorant and bigoted trait. Grow up and get a life.
14 year old boy assaulted by police (in today's Telegraph, hardly a bastion of lefties). You seem intolerant of criticism, why is that? BTW trying to kill a member of my family a few years back is not going to endear me to plod. See what I did there?
ReplyDelete.I am middle-class,well educatid,drive an estate car,have three kids and a dog,live in in a semi in suburbia.
ReplyDeleteLet he who cast the first stone.......
ReplyDeletehttp://dreamcatcher-maximus.blogspot.com
Idiot at 17.26.I re-checked my post on IG.I spelt it all correctly. You must try harder.
ReplyDeleteThe real Jaded.