On Monday Mike Amesbury, the Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was imprisoned for 10 weeks after assaulting a man in the street. Today his appeal was heard and the court decided to suspend his sent
Were the rapid hearing of his appeal or the suspension of his sentence the result of special treatment for an MP? Alan Robertshaw, barrister at law, considers those questions in this video and concludes that the answers are a) no and b) not really.
As ever, Alan provides a gentle education in the law and how courts operate.
A recall petition can still be launched against Amesbury and, of course, he can still resign before that happens and retain a little dignity.
Whilst I would agree he should do his 'stint' in jail I would like to know what was said to him to provoke his actions?
ReplyDeleteThe appeal judge commented on how chastening Amesbury had found it to be in jail for a short period. Now, when Geoffrey Lane was Lord Chief Justice, he was quite keen on the “clang of the prison gates”; the very short sentence which was basically enough to put the fear of God into the offender who hadn’t been to jail before, but not long enough to wreck a person’s life. I think there’s a lot of merit in that idea.
ReplyDeleteLong ago, sitting in the County Court, I dealt with a wife-beater who thought he could flout an injunction. I remanded him in custody for a week. There was absolutely no repetition of the breach of the injunction!!