Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#1
From The Telegraph...
" SIR - On page one of last week's newspaper your headline read "Betrayal of jailed SAS hero". On the same page your second headline read "Cameron: salute bravest of the brave", in which he supported your Lest We Forget campaign.
I hope that judge advocate Alistair McGrigor reads last week's Sunday Telegraph and finds a way of correcting his decision in the light of these two headlines. As a nation we are no longer worthy of being described as "Great" Britain.
David Gwynn
Orwell, Cambridgeshire "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9684209/How-can-it-be-right-to-send-this-SAS-hero-to-jail-for-18-months.html
The background...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9685293/Sergeant-Danny-Nightingale-the-making-of-an-SAS-hero.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#2
That must be one of the most crass acts of legal stupidity I have ever heard. He should, as everyone (apart from that judge) has stated, be taken out of prison and re-instated in teh army and given his job and rank back.
I know that we are sceptical of British Justice, but this really takes the biscuit.
Roger
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,321
#3
I'm afraid many judges (and J.P's) are extremely blinkered. The law sadly is still an ass.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#4
i wasn't actually surprised when i read that which is a sad comment on the times we live in.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#5
I have received this, this morning from Pat Johnson, 38 Degrees member from Cheshire...
"...The Ministry of Defence are there to protect our troops, but they're failing Danny badly. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has the power to secure Sergeant Nightingale's release, but so far he's ducked the responsibility. He's starting to feel the heat though - MPs within his own party have publicly demanded he review Danny's conviction and are holding a Parliamentary debate about his case this Tuesday. [1]
But let's not just rely on his colleagues. Philip Hammond might be able to ignore other MPs - but he needs our votes to keep him in his job. A huge people-powered petition will leave him in no doubt that the public want him to act and he'll be forced to secure Danny's release.
Sign my petition calling for Sergeant Nightingale's release:
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/danny-nightingaleIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
#6
There was to bee a mandatory 5 sentence for being in possession of a gun
I feel sorry for this man, but he could have been licensed ,or had the gun deactivated
My dad gave up a Bren-gun from the war in 1960 and thousands like him
The forces have a strong policy on bringing guns back from a war zone, there are good reasons for this ,I think the forces may have demanded an example be set.
They can be like that
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#7
As odd as it may seem this gun was neither trophy nor memento, but was 'awarded' to this soldier as a mark of respect and indeed honour by a Police Commander in Iraq.
Yes, a gun is a gun and the law is the law, except that
the law is not quite the law.
This is the second time recently where military discipline has crossed-over to the civilian realm with dire consequences.
In both cases the accused was
advised to plead guilty, this along with the mind-set of soldiery - take it on the chin, get it all over with quickly and get back to doing your job etc. works against a soldier much more than against a civilian in broadly similar circumstances.
This may be the original story, which is not part of the link I gave in #1...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9669410/SAS-war-hero-jailed-after-betrayal.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#8
The wording on the petition is:
Dear Philip Hammond,
Sergeant Danny Nightingale, a war hero with 17 years service, has been unfairly sentenced to 18 months in military detention. He should be released immediately.Why is this important?
Danny was convicted of illegally possessing a pistol which his trainees in the Iraqi army had given him as a gift in 2007. He planned to donate the pistol to his regiment but soon after had to return to the UK following the sudden deaths of two of his closest friends. His colleagues packed all his belongings, including the pistol, in boxes which remained unopened until 2010 when police searched his house while investigating a complaint made against his housemate.
In 2009, Danny collapsed while on a fund-raising trek in Brazil and incurred serious memory damage. During his court martial, expert witnesses said he probably had no memory that the gun was in his possession The prosecution praised Danny's character as being exemplary.
Despite this, a war hero has been imprisoned and his wife and children are now facing being evicted from their home.
He has been unfairly imprisoned. Please release him immediately.
You can read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9669410/SAS-war-hero-jailed-after-betrayal.html
Roger
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#9
I would be a blow for common sense if he was out by Christmas. Admittedly he should not have bought his gift back to the UK but he certainly did not deserve to be jailed for that length of time. I wonder if this over the top sentence has adversely affected the morale of our troops out there.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#10
As you can see from the wording on the petition Jan, he didn't bring it back, it was packed into boxes by his colleagues over there.
Roger
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#11
Apologies, silly me.
, makes his sentence even more ridiculous.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#12
Thank you Roger for #8.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
#13
Crass Stupidity if you ask me, doesn't 17 years of loyal service to the crown count for anything anymore?
His sentence should be quashed, his rank reinstated with no loss of pay or pension, then compensated monetarily with a public apology
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#14
An update...
"...It's working. The petition to free Sergeant Nightingale has grown by nearly 40,000 signatures in just over 24 hours, and a number of MPs spoke up about his case in Parliament today. But Sergeant Nightingale remains unfairly imprisoned - so we need to keep up the pressure!
Sergeant Nightingale's lawyers have just called the 38 Degrees office to let us all know that his wife is going to court tomorrow to launch his appeal. We can use our petition to show Mrs Nightingale just how many people are 100% behind her and her husband.
Sign the petition now and help get it over 50,000 signatures:"
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/danny-nightingaleIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#15
" SIR - Perhaps the most disturbing question raised by the sentence (report, November 18) passed on Sgt Danny Nightingale for possessing a gun given to him in Iraq, is that the proceedings were presided over by a civilian judge advocate rather than, as is historically the case, by a military president sitting with a judge advocate to advise on points of law.
This is not to impugn the integrity of the court's decision, nor its validity, but there is an unspoken implication that the special circumstances unique to military service and military justice may not have been given the due weight that a military president could bring to bear in arriving at an appropriate sentence.
Lt Col W L Pender (retd)
Salisbury, Wiltshire "
" SIR - David Cameron has expressed his unhappiness with the outcome of Sgt Nightingale's case. Politicians interfere increasingly in the options available to judges. The law obliges a judge to impose a minimum sentence of five years in prison for possession of a firearm unless "exceptional circumstances" exist.
Do not blame the judge, who clearly felt that he had to impose a prison sentence, even if he was satisfied exceptional circumstances existed. Rather blame the politicians who would subvert the generations-old discretion of Her Majesty's judges to impose common-sense sentences in cases like this.
Similarly, the Crown Prosecution Service seldom exercises discretion in deciding when to charge - the only test being whether a conviction is likely. It is difficult to imagine, in easier days, that Sgt Nightingale would even have been charged.
James Cartwright
Temple
London EC4 "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9699549/We-must-free-Sgt-Nightingale-from-such-an-unjust-sentence.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
#16
Let us hope that he gets his appeal, sooner rather than later, and this whole embarrassing business (for the judiciary and the government) can be swept under the carpet, the sentence quashed, Sergeant Nightingale released and pardoned.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#17
"An SAS soldier who was ordered to spend 18 months in a military jail for firearms offences could be freed on Thursday when his lawyers contest the sentence in a hearing at the court of appeal.
They will argue the court martial was too harsh on Sergeant Danny Nightingale, 37, and that expert medical evidence showed he could have been unaware that he had 338 rounds of ammunition and a pistol among his possessions.
Lord Judge, the lord chief justice, Britain's most senior judge, is expected to give a ruling following a campaign led by the soldier's wife, Sally."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/29/danny-nightingale-appeal-jailed-soldierIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#18
This soldier has had his sentence suspended.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
#19
P.S.
Sentence reduced to 12 months, suspended. He was free to go.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#20
What good news
, common sense has prevailed even though in my opinion he should have got away with a just ticking off and never ended up in court in the first place. I guess around a hundred thousand signatures on the petition must have helped.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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