We have had at least two high-profile incidents
in recent weeks where people,
facing serious charges, have been
given bail and thus given the opportunity
to commit other grave crimes
while free.
The police officer Garry Weddell,
accused of the murder of his wife, was
granted bail and then went on, it is
assumed, to kill his mother-in-law (who
was to have given evidence at his trial)
before killing himself.
And Adam ('Swellhead') Swellings was
granted bail on a charge of common
assault, and within hours was one of a
gang of thugs who kicked father-ofthree
Garry Newlove to death.
Many people are now suspicious that
judges and magistrates are under pressure
to grant bail, rather than remand
a suspect in custody, so as not to make
a bad situation in the prisons any
worse.
That, if it is true – and one is driven to
the view that it is true – is outrageous.
Judges and magistrates should not be
compelled to act against their better
judgment just because the
Government cannot run the prison
service properly.
The two cases I mention above, are
almost certainly just a fraction of the
number of cases where courts have
reluctantly granted bail to people who
have gone on to commit other offences.
If anyone should suffer as a result of
the Government's inability to maintain
an adequate prison service, it certainly
should not be innocent people.
It may be hard on the prisoners, but if
discomfort has to be endured, they
should be the ones to endure it.
It would not go amiss either, if some
Home Office and Justice Ministers,
who have shown themselves incapable
of resolving this problem, might be
dumped and replaced by others who
might make an effort to tackle it –
before yet more innocent lives are lost.
¦ SOME very penetrating questions
need to be asked about the missing
laptop which contains the personal
details of 600,000 military recruits.
It seems inconceivable that a Naval
officer however senior – or junior –
could have been reckless enough to
leave such a sensitive item in his car
overnight, whether or not it was in the
boot of his car.
Most people with a grain of common
sense would not have been happy to
have left this document out of his sight
or custody for a single moment. And
what was it doing outside the office at
all?
If this was no more than an individual
officer disobeying orders (which is bad
enough) then he will have to face the
music.
But if the rules are so lax that laptops
containing this kind of information can
be moved around willy-nilly, then
someone needs to take a long, hard
look at the rules.
And if that was not embarrassing
enough for the Government, we discover,
at almost the same time, that
sheaves of confidential medical records
have been littering the grass verges in
Devon.
Fell off the back of a lorry, no doubt.
Perhaps if they lost a few ministers
(preferably without trace) it would be
less worrying to us all.
In fact it would cheer us up, no end.
¦ A HUGE scandal is blowing up over
the European Union's ill-fated, not to
say useless, Galileo space programme.
It is not pleasant to have to accuse people
of telling untruths in Parliament or
elsewhere – whether it is by design or
sheer ignorance (not much better), but
it is difficult to square what Lord
Bossom of Brighton, the relevant minister,
told the House of Lords the other
day with what the EU vice-president
Jacques Barrot told a press conference
in September.
Mr Barrot admitted then that most of
the money to be diverted to Galileo
was to come out of "the EU's agricultural
budgets for 2007 and 2008".
But when Lord Bossom was asked in
the Lords how much cash had been so
diverted, he categorically denied that
any money had been taken out of the
farm budget for this purpose.
Well, somebody's telling porkies.
As is so often the case, we have to turn
to the veteran and fearless Labour MP
Gwyneth Dunwoody to bring a bit of
common sense and, if I may say so,
honour, to this whole sorry affair.
What is apparently the case is that the
extra funding needed for what has
been described as "this crackpot project"
is to come from allegedly
"unused" farm subsidies which the EU
withheld from Britain as a result of the
Government's shambolic handling or
rather non-payment of those subsidies
to British farmers.
Mrs Dunwoody has labelled the Galileo
project as "not one pig flying in orbit,
but a whole herd of pigs with gold trotters,
platinum tails and diamond eyes".
A perfectly accurate description, I
would say. If somewhat under-stated.
Two Night Breaks In
Fermanagh From £50
This week in the News Letter, Fermanagh
Lakeland Hotels Association are offering you,
the reader, the opportunity to enjoy a two night
break in Co. Fermanagh or Co. Tyrone.
For further information on events and what's on in the
Fermanagh area, contact Fermanagh Tourist Information
Centre, Enniskillen: 028 66 323110
E: info@fermanaghlakelands.com
W: www.findfermanagh.com
How The Offer Works: A token will be printed each day in
the News Letter until Saturday 26th January 2008. Simply
collect four out of the six tokens printed and attach them to
the booking form which will appear in the News Letter on
Thursday 24th January 2008. One set of tokens entitles two
people to book a double or twin room.
How To Book: To book you may call your chosen hotel now
and make a reservation quoting News Letter Reader Offer,
but you must confirm your booking by posting the official
booking form complete
with four tokens within 14
days direct to the hotel. A
deposit may also be
required. Reservations must be made by phone before
posting the booking form. All bookings must be made by 1st
March 2008.