Caught In The Webbe

Claudia Webbe has lost her appeal. She never stood a chance. You cannot be acquitted of harassment. Two solicitors and a barrister have confirmed that to me, and I was told in writing that I would have no lawyer if I tried to plead not guilty. The crime consists in having made the complainant feel harassed. If she says that she was, then she was. That was literally the only evidence presented against Webbe. She was convicted, and that conviction has been upheld.

What matters is to be well enough connected that the Crown Prosecution Service will take up the case. That is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer. In any case, Magistrates rarely acquit, because that was not why they became Magistrates, and a District Judge is a salaried employee of the same State that brings the prosecution, sitting alone both to determine guilt and then to pass sentence. A District Judge, and the Chief one at that, for a single charge of harassment? Again, that is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer.

Webbe's suspended sentence was handed down in order to buy Starmer some time at Leicester East, where people are starting to wonder, or are preparing to say out loud, who funded Keith Vaz's two staffed offices. Those have had queues down the street since Webbe's trial began, on the assumption that he was already the MP again, bar the formality of a by-election. Knowing that his suspension would lapse with the dissolution of the Parliament that had imposed it, Vaz has continued to send a calendar of himself to every address in Leicester East, as has been his custom since 1987.

Webbe is on borrowed time. Once Labour was good to go at Leicester East, then she would be banged up for breach. All that they would need would be another complaint of harassment. You cannot be acquitted of harassment. Two solicitors and a barrister have confirmed that to me, and I was told in writing that I would have no lawyer if I tried to plead not guilty. The crime consists in having made the complainant feel harassed. If she says that she was, then she was. That was literally the only evidence presented against Webbe. She was convicted. She will rapidly be convicted again, and therefore imprisoned. What matters is to be well enough connected that the Crown Prosecution Service will take up the case. That is not a problem if you are Keir Starmer.