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A THUG jailed for nine years for battering a grandad to death is being let out for home visits – after serving just two and a half years.
George Wright, 20, joined three others in a frenzied attack which left Bryan Drummond, 51, dead.
Now the furious family of his victim have been told he is eligible for home leave and work placements after being assessed as low risk.
Last night Bryan’s son Eric, 32, said: "This animal killed my dad in cold blood in the street and he is getting out on home visits already.
"It’s a scandal. I want to know why this is being allowed to happen."
The family have received an official letter informing them that Wright had been transferred from tough Glenochil jail in Stirling to Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee to prepare for freedom.
Wright, 20, of Kilwinning, Ayrshire, and his brother Jason, and their pals James Hood, of Drumchapel, Glasgow, and Craig Nimmo, of Hurlford, Ayrshire, were hanging around a row of shops in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire when they encountered Bryan on his way back from his local pub.
Bryan made the mistake of asking them: "How are you doing boys?"
When he put an arm round one of their 15-year-old pals, Hood said: "Who’s that paedophile?" Then labourer Wright felled Bryan and all four kicked, punched and stamped on him.
He suffered a ruptured spleen, five broken ribs, a punctured lung, bleeding on the surface of his brain and bruising.
Bryan died next day in Kilmarnock’s Crosshouse Hospital after an operation to remove his spleen.
The gang were originally charged with murder, but later admitted culpable homicide and were caged for nine years each at the High Court in Edinburgh in November 2006.
Last night, their victim’s son Eric, also from Kilmarnock, vowed to write to Glenochil governor Dan Gunn to vent his anger at the decision.
He said: "We were absolutely disgusted and shocked when we got this letter from the prison service.
"Where is the justice? It beggars belief.
"What gives the Prison Service the right to decide that a nine year sentence means nothing and that a killer should be allowed back out on the street after only a few years.
"The letter said he had now been granted low supervision and was eligible for unescorted release. This is the justice system gone mad yet again."
Eric called for a change in the law to stop killers being released into the community before they have even served a quarter of their sentence.
He added: "It is a scandal and the law has to be changed. We have all got to fight for justice because it is happening too often.
"The justice system has continually let us down and I want to know why this is being allowed to happen."
This is the second scandal to surround the case.
The Record revealed Wright’s co-accused Craig Nimmo, now 19, had his electronic tag removed and went on a sunshine holiday to Bulgaria while awaiting trial. At the time, the case was still classed as one of murder.
The story caused fury at Holyrood and led to a change in the way future cases were handled.
Under new guidelines, the Crown ruled that bail would now be opposed in every murder case.
Last night, Bryan’s ex-wife Janice, 51, said: "We thought it couldn’t get any worse when one of them was allowed to go on holiday while awaiting a murder trial – but we were wrong.
"We are sickened by this latest blow and we will fight it all the way.
"What is the point in giving killers nine years when a governor can just decide it doesn’t matter."
The Scottish Prison Service last night said they could not comment on individual prisoners.
The story just about sums up the state of so called "justice" in this country.
What sort of deterrent is it where some low life can kill a man and know he will be allowed out to walk the streets in a couple of years?
But of course we must not interfere with offenders human rights otherwise the hand wringing do-gooders will be up in arms.
Whilst I fully accept the US legal system is far from perfect – by all accounts life in prison over there is no picnic and should be used as a model over here. Prison is a punishment there and involves hard physical work. The same should apply here – prisoners should be doing hard, physical work.
I also believe the sentence given is the sentence that should be served, so if a criminal is given nine years they serve a minimum of nine years. If they "behave" in prison and follow the rules then they are freed in nine, if not their sentence is extended by 25%.
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When a life has been taken, those proved guilty (beyond any doubt) forfeit their right to be considered human.
Well, that’s how things should work anyway.
It’s hard to know who to feel more sorry for in this sort of situation – the family of the deceased, who have to conitune their lives in the knowledge that they could run in to ‘those people’ at any time, or the family of the next victim of convicted killers who should, by the letter of the law, still be in prison.
I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t cope well if put in the position of the affected family in this case. Whilst I appreciate that two wrongs rarely make a right, I’d have absolutely no hesitation in seeking retribution and the consequences would be of little concern (although you could almost guarantee that the act of revenge would likely be punished more severely, such is the ‘justice’ in this country).
The fact is those connected to victims are almost pushed in to seeking an alternative means of closure, because the legal system in the UK lets so many people down. My brother was attacked in Loughborough not too long ago, walking to the local Tesco on his way back from university. Two chavs flanked him on a deserted road (a main road, just no-one around) and threatened to beat him with a wheel brace if he didn’t give them his mobile and all the cash he had on him. My brother’s not the bravest person you’ll ever meet and duly handed over everything he had (though he managed to hold on to his laptop which, given the circumstances, was a miracle), but they had a crack at him anyway. After knocking him to the ground with three swings at his knee, they kicked him the head twice before doing a disappearing act.
All of this was actually witnessed by a woman watching through her living room window, but she refused to help as my brother scrambled to the end of her driveway. We guided the police to the house and they did absolutely nothing, treating us to the almost predictable ‘it is a problem, we’re aware of it, it will more than likely happen again but we can’t catch them’. And that was that.
Well, my uncle and I certainly had no problem finding them (I have a real problem when anyone causes trouble for those closest to me) and I’m almost glad the police were so inefficient. That’s just the way things are.
To be fair it is not just Scotland – it is all the UK.
I have just seen this on the PA newswire
Almost 1,000 criminals who should have been returned to prison are still at large, it has been revealed.
954 recalled offenders at large Among those still on the run are 20 murderers, 15 rapists and 140 burglars, the Ministry of Justice said.
But officials refused to name those still at large, despite police forces issuing detailed wanted notices on some cases.
The Ministry of Justice said that at the end of March 954 offenders were still at large in England and Wales who had been recalled to prison for breaching the terms of their release.
Among them were some criminals who should have been returned to prison up to 25 years ago. A total of 19 offenders recalled between 1984 and 1999 remain at large. A further 142 have been on the run for between five and ten years and never apprehended.
Police and probation services were criticised last month when it emerged delays meant sadistic killer Dano Sonnex was free to kill French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez despite being recalled to jail.
The data – released for the first time – revived fears serious criminals are being allowed to roam free instead of being behind bars.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said: "The whole point of releasing prisoners on licence is that they can be monitored and returned to prison if they breach. The public will be shocked that the Government has lost track of almost 1,000 criminal fugitives – including murderers, paedophiles and sex offenders.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation union, said: "It is of real concern that nearly one thousand offenders who have been recalled to custody have gone missing. Many pose a threat to the public."
MoJ officials rejected requests for details of those on the run for more than a decade, saying it would not be "appropriate" for them to be identified. A spokesman defended the department’s performance on recalls as "creditable" and said police had an "action plan" in place to deal with outstanding cases.
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.. there’s actually no point in looking for justice in cases like this one, you are better off just getting revenge yourself. He’d be eating his chicken nuggets through a straw, forever, if someone did something like that to one of my family.
Just shows the Biggs case up for what it is really.
Just shows the Biggs case up for what it is really.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
It just happens they have got it right with Biggs – it is the other ones which are wrong
Biggs doesn’t pose a threat to society, this thug always will, well maybe until he is 70 .. a which point he should be released.
Not posing a threat to society is a term that is extremely overused. A hell of alot of people who commit the most serious of crimes are drunk or on drugs. Once they sober up many of them ain’t a threat to society, so do you let them all out the next day ? You have to remember that sentences are about accountability aswell.
Biggs doesn’t pose a threat to society,
I could not give a toss if Biggs poses a threat to society or not – he has not even served one third of his sentence.
If he had not done a runner he would have served his sentence and been free a long time ago.
Biggs doesn’t pose a threat to society,
I could not give a toss if Biggs poses a threat to society or not – he has not even served one third of his sentence.
If he had not done a runner he would have served his sentence and been free a long time ago.
.. very Old Testament of you ..
, if you don’t mind me saying.Biggs doesn’t pose a threat to society,
I could not give a toss if Biggs poses a threat to society or not – he has not even served one third of his sentence.
If he had not done a runner he would have served his sentence and been free a long time ago.
.. very Old Testament of you ..
, if you don’t mind me saying.Don’t mind in the least Dave – I take it as a compliment
I’ve been trying to avoid the news recently because i could do without the negativity, These two incidents just take the biscuit aswell really.
A COUPLE blasted a judge today after he freed a loan shark who had lent them
£500
— and forced them to repay a staggering
£88,000.
Robert Reynolds, 39, gave the cash to Debbie Wilson so she could buy a computer for her kids for Christmas.
She couldn’t afford to repay the loan so callous Reynolds kept extending it with more interest piled on until her monthly repayments were eventually £2,000
The stress of keeping up the repayments — at an annual interest rate of 2,500 per cent — for SEVEN YEARS
nearly killed her when she suffered two strokes and a brain haemorrhage.
Reynolds finally faced justice after admitting harassment at Newcastle Crown Court — but
escaped with a suspended sentence.
Furious Debbie, 40, said: "I am devastated he didn’t get sent to prison. What he did to our family is despicable and I was sure he would get a couple of years inside at least."
Her husband Kevin, 41, added: "It’s completely the wrong result. He nearly destroyed our family.
"He’s been allowed to stick his hand in our wallet and purse and get away with it. The judge should have thrown away the key."
For full story see
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2572658/Ruthless-loan-shark-walks-free.html
Three years for this hit and run driver who killed a young mother
A “DESPICABLE” hit and run driver who was travelling at twice the speed limit when he knocked down and killed a young mum-of-three has been jailed.
Athif Faiz, 23, was at the wheel of a hired Vauxhall Astra when he hit Amanda Bailey, 33, in Leeds Road, Nelson.
His front seat passenger Mohammed Zaman, 19, and the backseat passengers Mohammed Rashid, 24 and Rafhan Sarwar 19,
all fled from the scene, failed to get medical attention for the victim and left her to die from multiple injuries
, Burnley Crown Court heard.
Faiz, who was jailed for three years, was driving at 60-mph, twice the speed limit, and may have been trying to catch another car when he struck Amanda.
Full full story see
I was going to say that the judges are just a part of society, but, rather, I think it is the class they are drawn from which has actually led the country to this godless, moral abyss: essentially the political class.
I said my 92-year old mother the other day, (on the phone, since she lives in Oz):
"You know, in this country ambulance drivers, paramedics, fire-fighters, nurses, doctors, workers in the emergency services, generally, are quite likely to be stoned or otherwise assaulted by a mob, in some areas of our towns and cities. Maybe by children. They even have a mini-police station in hospitals!
Can you imagine the Teds, the "bad boys" of the fifties, carrying on like that, doing that sort of thing?" She laughed aloud.
The fact is, our society has become a freak show, beyond belief. My favourite cameo of this country was the drug-addled lout urinating over a woman who had collapsed and was dying in her doorway. It’s what was bound to happen when a relatively advanced society subordinates everything to economic profit. Our leaders know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Without the overarching system of morality provided by Christianity being taught in the schools, every individual will make up his own morality – and probably call it proof of diversity, inclusiveness, etc.
Of course, you can’t force people to believe in God, nor was it ever God’s intention that they should, but the fact is that having it taught in schools and hearing scripture read during morning assembly subliminally inculcated certain minimal standards of behaviour, beyond which even the worst people wouldn’t even have thought, still less countenanced. And they’re not words you ever completely forget. All the old Commies and Socialists who fought in the Spanish civil war – great programme about theScots contingent tonicht, also at 4 pm tomorrow – apparently said the 23 Psalm at the burial of all their fallen comrades.
But including all personal views of morality as of equal value means that none of them will have any value for promoting the genuine inclusiveness of an overarching social cohesion. Only the West has an utterly irreligious culture, with scarcely any moral constraints.
Yet the homosexual lobby seem intent on marginalising all other viewpoints that don’t bow down to theirs as somehow especially sacrosanct. In the old days, they weren’t "in your face" all the time and determined to call the tune the nation lives by, and provided some great men.
For obvious reasons the Daily Mail recently did a hit-job on John Maynard Keynes. He was, apparently a practising homosexual, yet he played a major role in bringing the world out of the Great Depression. And his searing indictments of our godless capitalism are more pertinent than ever, today.
Here are a couple of quotations from him:
"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."
"For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still."
And I believe the insight about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing was Oscar Wilde’s.
Drugs and pornography, particularly hard-core, seem to have been playing a major role in the breakdown our society, as well.
Christianity does not have a monopoly on morality.
It is quite possible to have a strong moral code without invoking superstition as the lynchpin for their justification.
Are you suggesting that because I do not believe in any form of deity I live a morally corrupt life?
Absolutely teach a moral code in schools but it does not need to be wrapped up in a religious psycobabble.
You state "But including all personal views of morality as of equal value means that none of them will have any value for promoting the genuine inclusiveness of an overarching social cohesion." – but what gives anyone the right to say their particular "moral code" is superior to any other and that is the one that should be imposed.
Are you suggesting that brainwashing children with a Christian / Judeo moral code is better than a non-religion based moral code. I’m sorry but that sounds terribly arrogant to me.
Christianity does not have a monopoly on morality.
It is quite possible to have a strong moral code without invoking superstition as the lynchpin for their justification.
Are you suggesting that because I do not believe in any form of deity I live a morally corrupt life?
Absolutely teach a moral code in schools but it does not need to be wrapped up in a religious psycobabble.
Back of the net, Paul. I was brought up a Lutheran but would maintain that the more societally agreeable values I practice are predicated as much on common sense and humility as they are the honouring of any religious edict.
Although still a religion with a recognised credo, the Pantheism I converted to some 15 years ago is as close to a laissez-faire, religion-with-a-small-r religion as you can probably get. Little Brother Column went further still and declared himself an unabashed Atheist a year or two prior to that. Neither of us feel any less moral beings, for want of a better expression, than we did before our respective decisions.
Some people are, by any recognisable matrix, naturally just "good people".
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
, if you don’t mind me saying.
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