What's in the News?

[eddyk]

Sure some of the larger news stories warrant their own threads, but this is the thread for the smaller ones.

This one caught my eye just now.


Ex-landlord jailed over smoking ban at Bolton pubs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8540651.stm


This man refused to enforce the smoking ban at his pub and encouraged punters to light up. In the end after many warning he lost his pub. He fought the £3000 fine he received and racked up a bill of £7000 in costs.

So a man who thought he was being big and clever is in Jail, and all those punters are nowhere around to help him pay his fine.

[belfastuniguy]

One from a couple of days ago.

Dungannon couple jailed after £4.5m tax fraud


A County Tyrone couple have been jailed after admitting a tax fraud of more than £4.5m over a 17 year period.

Patrick Gerry Small, 56, and his wife Mary, 50, of Cullenramer Road, Dungannon ran a business under the name of Greystone Builders' Merchants.

Belfast Crown Court heard they stashed millions of pounds in offshore bank accounts. Mr Small was jailed for three-and-a-half years and Mrs Small for two-and-a-half. The Public Prosecution Service confirmed this was the largest case of its kind to come before the Crown Court in Northern Ireland.

Mr Justice Hart ordered the couple, who have three children, to pay nearly £4m by way of compensation. The court had been told that the couple siphoned off cash and cheques from their business and salted the money away in undeclared off-shore bank accounts.

Mansion

The Smalls, who at one stage alleged their annual earnings amounted to less than £30,000 and claimed family tax credits to get by, used their gains to build 20 new homes, including their own 12,000 sq ft mansion.

At one stage their property portfolio, including the houses, unbuilt housing and building land was worth nearly £7m, although it was accepted "these assets are now somewhat less" given the "severe economic downturn".


The court also heard that when Revenue officials raided their home they found nearly half a million pounds in cash stuffed into a safe. Jailing the pair Mr Justice Hart said that given the aggravating facts a "custodial sentence" was inevitable, although he accepted the hardship it would pose, particularly in the case of Mrs Small.
In all Mrs Small admitted three charges of cheating the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and nine charges of false accounting.

Mr Small pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating.
The Inland Revenue opened its inquiries because of concerns about money being concealed which helped fund the couple's lifestyle. The defendants were arrested in November 2005.
At that time, Mrs Small denied the existence of other accounts either in Northern Ireland or offshore when interviewed by a tax official.


'Neurotic'

The court heard business records were systematically falsified to conceal what they were doing. The judge said Mr Small, who uses a wheelchair and has health problems, had taken charge of building their many properties.
Patrick and Mary Small

Patrick Gerry Small and his wife Mary were guilty of NI's biggest tax fraud

"They were equal partners in the business, legal and matrimonial sense," he added. Mr Small suffers from diabetes, hypertension and is morbidly obese.
Mr Justice Hart said he had a neurotic personality.

"His apparent belief that he is suffering from dementia and has only a short time to live is not well-founded and instead he is someone who, whether deliberately or otherwise is immaterial, has convinced himself that his mental condition is deteriorating to a much more significant degree than is in fact the case," he said.

The judge added that in the case of Mary Small he considered that her co-operation throughout the case, her genuine remorse and the effect of her imprisonment upon her children justified a more lenient sentence than that imposed upon her husband.

However, he said "the amounts involved were very large indeed and there was systematic concealment of money by various means over many years, as well as deception of the tax authorities when she was interviewed on a previous occasion."

[eddyk]

It's not if they catch you...but when.

[eddyk]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...de/8546834.stm
One of Jamie Bulgers killers is back inside under a breach of his bail conditions.


I was thinking about these 2 just the other day, where they were now and how they are doing.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4048957.stm

Also is James Bulgers mum bloody mental?
I understand how she might have had words fed to her by a news of the world journalist...but saying you tracked him down and when you saw him you wanted to go up and 'punch him'.

She should just stay away and bloody just drop it.

[Nightjar]

It's important for the media that people like Jamie Bulger's mother remain as victims for their entire lives - that way the story can remain 'hot' when events like this happen.

The very idea that victims can come to terms with personal tragedies and even - God forbid - understand and/or forgive and move on is unacceptable.

Victims must stay in a state of perpetual misery, bitterness and rage - any rehabilitation is a betrayal of the media's basic right to channel human misery for the moral 'good' of the people.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by eddyk

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...de/8546834.stm
One of Jamie Bulgers killers is back inside under a breach of his bail conditions.


I was thinking about these 2 just the other day, where they were now and how they are doing.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4048957.stm

Also is James Bulgers mum bloody mental?
I understand how she might have had words fed to her by a news of the world journalist...but saying you tracked him down and when you saw him you wanted to go up and 'punch him'.

She should just stay away and bloody just drop it.

Well maybe if you had born a child who was so savagely murdered you would be qualified to speak.

[Octoman]

I have no problem with him returning to jail for the rest of his life. He is a fithly piece of shit. Hopefully he is identified by the other inmates and repeatedly raped and beaten until the day he dies.

His mother will never get over it. I certainly couldnt. Having a young child myself I know exactly how at the age of 2 they would view 10 year olds as adults and place 100% trust in them. All they want to do at that age is please. That boy would have died wondering what he did to upset his mum and these boys so much that they cut off his ear and smashed the bones in his hands with bricks. The thought of what went through his mind is sickening. Imagine knowing that those were the final thoughts of your 2 year old defenseless son who doted on you and trusted you to protect him? I think living with that would drive me insane. Quite frankly I am surprised she didnt kill him. Credit to her for that, she clearly has better self control than me.

[eddyk]

Originally Posted by Bones

Well maybe if you had born a child who was so savagely murdered you would be qualified to speak.

I'm not saying she should give up remembering her son...but she should certainly drop all the hatred she has inside her. It wont do her any good.

[Nightjar]

Originally Posted by Octoman

I have no problem with him returning to jail for the rest of his life. He is a fithly piece of shit. Hopefully he is identified by the other inmates and repeatedly raped and beaten until the day he dies.

Good grief Octo - two wrongs make a right do they?

[Octoman]

Originally Posted by Nightjar

Good grief Octo - two wrongs make a right do they?

In this case I am inclined to say they do.

These sort of situations really get to me. The Baby P scandal was the same. I find I have a strong empathy with the victims despite thankfully never having encountered anything like that personally. But I think its that there is something so un-natural and grotesque about crimes against children (particularly very little ones) that they can never be forgiven or forgotten. I have the same feelings towards that sick bitch who abused the kids at the Plymouth nursery.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by eddyk

I'm not saying she should give up remembering her son...but she should certainly drop all the hatred she has inside her. It wont do her any good.

To do that would be to stop loving her murdered child.

These children who murdered him should have been executed at the time so as to send a strong message out that everyone is responsible for their actions.

[Paws]

Originally Posted by eddyk

Also is James Bulgers mum bloody mental?
I understand how she might have had words fed to her by a news of the world journalist...but saying you tracked him down and when you saw him you wanted to go up and 'punch him'.

She should just stay away and bloody just drop it.

I'm amazed she only wanted to punch him, if I was in her postion I'd have wanted to do a lot worse than that. Think about what he did for a second....the guy is fucking evil.

[Octoman]

Originally Posted by Zim Flyer

These children who murdered him should have been executed at the time so as to send a strong message out that everyone is responsible for their actions.

These kids were / are pure evil and I would feel no sadness if they were put down like dogs for what they did. But its too easy. The reason I dont support the death penalty is because its a cop out. I would prefer to see them banged up in an adult jail ,preferably in the high security wing full of sex offenders and violent psycopaths and the prison guards told to turn a blind eye to what goes on.

Look at how the Bolivian jail system works. That is exactly what would happen there.

[JackSwan]

obviously all this happened when i was much younger, but even at the time i remember being struck by the cold and devious nature those two boys exhibited. not just the coaxing the child away, but to lay bulger's body out on a railway line when they'd finished so as to make it look like just a terrible accident...for a pair of killers, just kids themselves, to be so calm and calculating...blimey. evil isn't a word i like to deploy when describing criminals, but there was something about this case that chilled me more than usual.

[Nightjar]

Originally Posted by Octoman

These kids were / are pure evil and I would feel no sadness if they were put down like dogs for what they did. But its too easy. The reason I dont support the death penalty is because its a cop out. I would prefer to see them banged up in an adult jail ,preferably in the high security wing full of sex offenders and violent psycopaths and the prison guards told to turn a blind eye to what goes on.

Look at how the Bolivian jail system works. That is exactly what would happen there.

Good God Octo - this is the most dismal thing I've ever read on SSC.

[Octoman]

Well I may be employing a bit of rhetoric there. But my point is that the whole mindset we seem to have got ourselves into of people who do evil things not being responsible for one reason or another is draining and repressive for broader society. Perhaps they were too young to know what they were doing (I disagree) so its not their fault, perhaps they had a bad upbringing so it their parents fault, perhaps their school or social worker let them down so its societies fault, perhaps they were impoverished so its the tax systems fault. This mindset leads us down all sorts of avenues of self flagilation and hand wringing ultimately leaving us with a feeling of obligation to heal them and fix the wrongs that led them to the act. Thsi mindset can apply of course to a multitude of situations. Its why we are wasting time and money on that vile creature Sutcliffe right now.

Well how about looking at it this way instead. These kids were evil little fucks who planned carefully the abduction, torture and murder of a toddler and the subsequent cover up. They knew exactly what they were doing and moreover committed an act so utterly repulsive to right thinking people that nothing they ever do or say since will ever make ammends. Our obligation for their happiness and wellbeing is therefore dissolved. Our only obligation to keep them away from civilised people by whatever mechanism we choose be it jail or death.

So you see, its not dismal at all. Its a liberating mindset. Some people really are just bad or rather there are some acts that are SO bad they are unfogiveable.

[The Hunted]

Originally Posted by Zim Flyer

To do that would be to stop loving her murdered child.

These children who murdered him should have been executed at the time so as to send a strong message out that everyone is responsible for their actions.

You would have children executed by the state?! I don't get why people assume that the death sentence is a deterrence, it never has been, so why would it work now?
I would just put them away for the rest of their lives.

[mexico86]

criminals should be made to 'repay' society materially, in the form of slave labour. Get them to build a new hospital for 1p an hour, or something like that.

[Noostairz]

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/offb...man-100303-apx

[belfastuniguy]

Originally Posted by Nightjar

Good God Octo - this is the most dismal thing I've ever read on SSC.

I'm inclined to agree. Yes what they did was utterly horrific, but allowing or ignoring institutional abuse is just as bad as what these boys did. Such a thing has and will continue to lead to disgraceful abuse in prison, most of which is carried out against people unable to defend themselves. It's abhorrent and completely uncivilised.

I'm a firm supporter of harsher prisons, but not to the extend that their basic human rights are wilfully ignored and where they suffer terrible abuse that will do nothing but cause them mental harm which could led to violent behaviour if released.

It's a rather depressing state of affairs if the masses support such a position and telling of our obvious inability as a society to progress and evolve.