To Crack A Nut?

Pity the poor Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency, their ostentatious efforts deemed less newsworthy than the result of a football match in the dead of night, in a country where most people had no idea that the tournament was being held. Pity the poor crew of the Smyrtos, no doubt going about their lawful business of implementing British government policy since last month, by importing diesel and jet fuel that had been made from Russian crude oil but refined elsewhere.

And pity poor Dan Jarvis and Shabana Mahmood, since the obvious intention of this act of piracy was to influence the Government, meaning that it could be sentenced as terrorism according to Judge Jeremy Johnson KC, previously noted for having knocked four months off the sentence of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon on account of a change in attitude that does not appear to have lasted very long.

If any criminal offence was committed in the course of an attempt to influence the Government, then it can now be sentenced as terrorism, which among other things makes you ineligible for parole, and which can never become spent. Disgruntled farmers, take note. Or anti-immigration campaigners, unless you came up before Judge Johnson.

Judge Johnson's sentencing remarks were astonishing. He recounted as fact the entire Prosecution case from both trials, including the details of the charges of which there had been acquitals. He then sentenced them for everything with which they had ever been charged, regardless of the verdicts. Tomorrow, expect the Court of Appeal to quote him when it upheld the proscription of Palestine Action, a proscription that had been imposed in order to prejudice the first trial.

Three of the Filton Four were convicted of nothing in relation to Sergeant Kate Evans, while it took a retrial to convict Sam Corner of having assaulted her, even then without intent, and only by a majority verdict. She walked unaided out of Accident and Emergency. Her hairline fracture could not be detected by X-ray, nor even by her first MRI scan. She was put on over-the-counter painkillers and told to take mild rest for six weeks. She was healed in three months.

And the sledgehammer belonged to Elbit's private security guards, insofar as those were a category distinct from the Police. Is it normal or even lawful for private security guards to wield such weapons? With their sledgehammers, and in the presence of sworn constables on duty, they inflicted far worse injuries on the protestors, including the fully acquitted Jordan Devlin. None has been charged. Think on.