Britain - The Official Thread

[UKMikey]

This seemingly prescient New Statesman clip from 30 years ago was doing the rounds a couple or so months back:

Spoiler: nsfw screenshot at end

 

[Liquid]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

 

[HenrySwanson]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

It's awful.

 

[CrookedPanda]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...mitting-accessing-indecent-images-of-children

"As he handed down the sentence, the chief magistrate said he had accepted evidence that Edwards had no recollection of viewing the indecent images owing to his mental health issues at the time of the offences."

Seems... convenient.

 

[Famine]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

Seems it got more and more horrible as it went along.

Originally it was exchanging pics with a 17yo which is... illegal but they could legally bone and it's one of those bizarre technicalities that doing the act is fine but filming or photographing the act is bad.

Then it was that he'd been exchanging messages with a guy who sent him pics that included CSAM after he'd said not to include CSAM - where the "making of" was simply the act of viewing them because the device created a local copy (which is how things work).

Now he actively agreed to seeing CSAM and commented on it and the request not to send more was later on.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

Par for the course. I had a friend who also was found guilty of three counts of 'making' Cat A porn against him, and he basically got the same, plus 100 hours community service. This was a couple of years ago. Like it or not, custodial sentences don't seem to be the favoured way of dealing with this.

 

[TheCracker]

Like it or not, custodial sentences don't seem to be the favoured way of dealing with this.

Prisons are also full at the moment - thanks to the recent imigrant riots and the subsquent ongoing rapid trials of those charged, so the courts are not sending people down who normally would be for this level of offence.

 

[Fezzik]

Par for the course. I had a friend who also was found guilty of three counts of 'making' Cat A porn against him, and he basically got the same, plus 100 hours community service. This was a couple of years ago. Like it or not, custodial sentences don't seem to be the favoured way of dealing with this.

Meanwhile the ecoterrorists get 3-5 years. Crimes against kids, ok. Crimes against the economy, PRISON.
Not to mention all those still stuck in jail for many years past their original sentences because of IPP.

The whole system is a complete mess. You'd hope the present government could do something about it with a former DPP in charge but I very much doubt it, to them it would not be worth anymore bad press about releasing people.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Prisons are also full at the moment

As I said, my mates conviction was a couple of years ago, that had been delayed over the Pandemic, and at that point it was ongoing for 1-2 years already, and the offence was committed something like 18 months before that. I don't think Edwards's seemingly lenient sentence is anything to do with the current situation, beyond the fact that the Police and Judicial systems are under resourced and have been for years. I have another friend who worked for West Midlands Police catching online sex offenders, from what he said it likely wasn't even the UK police that original caught my mate - he reckoned it (my mates IP) was flagged up by the Americans and that was why it was a year and a half between him accessing the file and the Police turning up on his doorstep.

I have to say, having seen the process up close, knowing the person for 20 years, and having chatted to my police friend about it (who's seen some properly terrible stuff), we're terrible (as a society) at reacting to it in a sensible fashion, and that likely hampers prevention, detection, punishment and potential 'rehabilitation'.

 

[Dave A]

Suspended sentence for Huw Edwards seems... lenient.

Yet he has still received a more sever punishment than the man who was supplying him with the images. Definitely lenient, to them both.

I think the judge in this case has followed the guidlines on sentencing based on the situation and case as it has been presented. I don't think overcrowded prisons are the reason for this, it's the current sentencing guidance for this type of offence married with the defence and guilty plea.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Yet he has still received a more sever punishment than the man who was supplying him with the images.

6 month suspended sentence for Edwards (reduced from 12), 12 months for Alex Williams. Williams's sentence looks like it should have been more since it appears to qualify as distribution, for which 2-3 years is the recommended minimum. Perhaps he got a reduction for assisting the investigation into Edwards.

 

[Dave A]

6 month suspended sentence for Edwards (reduced from 12), 12 months for Alex Williams. Williams's sentence looks like it should have been more since it appears to qualify as distribution, for which 2-3 years is the recommended minimum. Perhaps he got a reduction for assisting the investigation into Edwards.

I stand corrected, I mixed up it being suspended for 2 years as a 2 year suspended sentence.