Upcoming Events

Antrim | Crime and Justice

no events match your query!

New Events

Antrim

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Loophole in Labour?s New Puberty Blockers Ban Will See Vulnerable Children Used As ?Guinea Pigs to T... Sun Dec 15, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred
Despite a ban on puberty blockers for children, a loophole will still allow minors to participate in clinical trials, raising concerns that vulnerable youngsters are being used as "guinea pigs" for dangerous drugs.
The post Loophole in Labour?s New Puberty Blockers Ban Will See Vulnerable Children Used As ?Guinea Pigs to Test Harmful Gender Drugs? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Bid to Build Britain?s Biggest Muslim Cemetery Sun Dec 15, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
The billionaire Issa brothers have provoked fury with their plans to build Britain's biggest Muslim cemetery, a colossal 45-acre site in Lancashire.
The post Bid to Build Britain?s Biggest Muslim Cemetery appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Number of Civilians Killed in Gaza ?Inflated to Vilify Israel? Sun Dec 15, 2024 15:00 | Richard Eldred
A damning new report has exposed how Gaza's Health Ministry inflated casualty figures by misclassifying victims and counting unrelated deaths, fuelling a false narrative that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians.
The post Number of Civilians Killed in Gaza ?Inflated to Vilify Israel? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Shock Revelation: The U.K. Doesn?t Have Enough Workers to Build Labour?s 1.5 Million New Homes Sun Dec 15, 2024 13:00 | Sallust
Labour's promise of 1.5 million new homes is a pipe dream destined to fail, says Sallust, with no workers, no skills and no plan to back it up.
The post Shock Revelation: The U.K. Doesn?t Have Enough Workers to Build Labour?s 1.5 Million New Homes appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Labour Gives Green Light for ?Activist? Councils to Rename Streets With Links to Empire Sun Dec 15, 2024 11:00 | Richard Eldred
Labour has given the green light for "activist" councils to rename streets tied to slavery and the Empire, quietly scrapping plans to let residents veto the changes.
The post Labour Gives Green Light for ?Activist? Councils to Rename Streets With Links to Empire appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

offsite link Israel Passes Law Allowing Four-Year Detention Without Trial or Evidence Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:27 | en

offsite link Jihadist Mohammed al-Bashir, new Syrian Prime Minister Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:24 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?111 Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:25 | en

offsite link Attempted coup d'?tat in South Korea Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:17 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Free Ronnie Biggs

category antrim | crime and justice | opinion/analysis author Friday July 03, 2009 16:25author by Sean Matthews-personal capacity - Workers Solidarity Movement Report this post to the editors

The refusal by British Justice Secretary Jack Straw to grant the great train robber Ronnie Biggs parole exposes the extent of injustice and corruption which underpins the class system.

Despite the Parole board recommending leave, Jack Straw rejected parole on the basis of Ronnie remaining ‘unrepentant’ for his role on the great train robbery in England 1963 which the robbers made off with £2.6 million- about £40 million at present day value.

Originally, sentenced to 30 years in jail, Ronnie escaped and fled to Australia before fleeing to Latin America. He returned to Britain in 2001. Biggs the 79 year old has suffered a series of strokes and claims he is unable to walk and can barely communicate.

Like most people, I was struck by the double standards between the recent expenses scandal where politicians received a slap on the wrist for engaging in legalised fraud and that of frail and ill pensioner who represents a threat to know one.

I suppose it is nothing knew whenever one observes the sense of British justice (injustice) down the years. Indeed, apart from the media frenzy over crime, the vast majority of prisoners are locked away for the crime of capitalism, which produces an inequality in wealth and power.

Take a look at the real gangsters who are running the country from bankers being paid off in the millions to Shell in Rossport, crushing local peaceful resistance with the violent assistance of the state. Take a look at gangster capitalism in operation in Afghanistan and Iraq or property developers rezoning working-class communities in the interests of profit.

As a friend once noted, it seems the rich can rob us all take our produce and have a ball, but when we take it back they call it crime.

author by lulupublication date Sat Jul 04, 2009 17:56author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Whatever happens about parole, Biggs will suffer now that his health is failing - should his family suffer as well? In a recent UK case, a girl with developmental difficulties was raped & dis-figured with acid, & the guilty got 8 years initially - now increased to 14, but still less than Biggs' 30 years for sinning against Property. With an election looming, Strawman wants to look 'tough on crime', despite the Parole Board's recommendation.

author by Maddog Wilsonpublication date Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:30author email mr_paulwilson2 at yahoo dot co dot ukauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Kh and Pete
I agree with the first point about the nature of the class system in regard to British Justice, however Biggs took part in a crime that led almost certainly to the early death of Jack Mills the train driver. This could not be proved medically at the time. There were more than a dozen gang members and there was no need for Mills to be attacked. Pete i doubt if Biggs was the actual assailant but he was an accessory to the act. He escaped and was happy to become a celebrity and poke 2 fingers up at justice. He never as far as i know expressed any remorse for what happened. Mills was just a working class bloke earning a crust for his family in a vital (at the time) nationalised industry. I have no personal sympathy for Biggs, he who lives by the sword ect.

author by Pete.publication date Fri Jul 03, 2009 19:43author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Even British criminals have a motto:

"Ya do the Crime. Ya do the Time."

Biggs knew THAT when he struch the train driver (or guard) and disabled him for life.

Another example of proper justice:

Madoff in the USA just got 150 years.

Good on the Americans....Madoff bankrupted thousands of charities.

Biggs will rot in jail too.........who cares.

.

author by kh - nmnpublication date Fri Jul 03, 2009 18:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This is taken from the comment page at newsmedianews.com
Ronnie Biggs—a vindictive decision
Forty-six years ago a gang of men robbed £2.5million from a Post Office train travelling between Glasgow and London. A few short weeks later Ronnie Biggs, one of those taking part was arrested, along with others involved in the robbery. It is on record that politicians and other high ranking government officials discussed the case in private member's only clubs in London before the men were sentenced for their parts in the crime.
The majority of those convicted of the robbery received 30 years jail—an unprecedented sentence for such an offence in the UK.
Fifteen months later Biggs escaped and fled to Brazil, where he lived for 30 years before voluntarilly handing himself in to the British authorities in 2001.
Now, eight years on and aged 79, Biggs is said to be seriously ill and close to death. The UP prison's parole board recommended that he be released on parole.
That recommendation was ignored by Home Secretary Jack Straw who commented that Biggs would “still be a threat” to the public of released.
Flying as it does in the face of the parole board's recommendations, whose very job it is to weight up such risk assessments, Straw’s decision can only be viewed as vindictive and without compassion. It reveals how much unfettered power UK politcians hold in the process of serving not the public but their own selfish interests.

Related Link: http://www.newsmedianews.com/comment.php
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy