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Was justice served for this victim

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pfabc123 | 18:09 Sun 28th Jun 2009 | Criminal
15 Answers
Please take a look at this and tell me your thoughts.
My own view is that this was a total miscarriage of justice and that the sentence of 16 months SUSPENDED sends the wrong message to anyone that as been a victim of violence.
He was charged and pleaded guilty to:
GBH section 20 x 1 involving a champagne bottle
ABH section 47 x 3 involving CS Gas, Claw Hammer, and a Whiskey tumbler glass to inflict injury of broken bones and serious psychological problems of PTSD.
Affray involving a gun in the prescence of a child.
The courts accepted his please of guilty to the violece and agreed that they would frop the charges of over 20 rapes with 2 sample charges laying on file. On Friday of last week he was given a �500 fine and the judge actually empathised with this monster. The judge showed no regard for the victim or her family what so ever.
Link:
http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4462546.Abusive _prison_officer_Gary_Bridge_escapes_jail_sente nce/
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It all depends on your interpretation of that mysterious word "justice", doesn't it?

This was clearly a complex case and not straightforward, as your link proves. It had a multitude of mitigating factors connected to it and the Judge would no doubt have taken every influential and pertinent piece of evidence and information into consideration before reaching his verdict.

The Law is often perceived to be weak but it is there not only for victims but for offenders as well. Without knowing the exact facts of this matter, and having only a newspaper report to go by, it's impossible to give a properly informed opinion.
Paraffin has once again hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, the public mainly see press reports of sentences handed down - and the press often do not report the full facts. The only way to get the full facts is to sit in Court during the whole of the case and to hear the case from BOTH sides.

I was saw a case where the press reporting of the situation was so one sided as to be misleading. The defendant was accused of kidnapping a 12 year old girl. The sensationlist press had him down as a paedo, danger to children etc, whereas he was in fact a relative of the child and she had run away from home and sought solace at his house (with his partner) from a violent step father. She came to no harm there and wanted to remain there, but because he did not admit to the police that she was there when they came knocking, he was charged with kidnap (later reduced to obstruct PC). The press were ALL over him. Anyone reading it would have thought that he was a danger to the child and any other and I suspect he was unable to remain in his home much longer.

I was once told you believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.........
to be a judge in modern politicaly correct britain you have to have a certificate proving you have had a full lobotomy, hence the barmy decisions.
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Hi Paraffin and Barmaid. The victim is my wife and we were the one's in court that shouted out at the verdict. Everything in the press advert is 100% right but the actual crimes were a lot worse than described.
This monster actually stalked us for the last five years also and we had to move 5 times from the north east to the north west then to two different addresses in London and we are now on to our sixth move. My partner has been that ill with fear and anxiety that she attempted to take her life on two occasions because she would rather I and her daughter lead a normal life rather than being a carer for her. The final straw was when he turned up at our London address. The press and other members of the court were absolutley agassed when the summary of his crimes were read out. \he got charged with false imprisonment which carries up to 10 years, 3 x ABH sec 47 which carry up to 5 years each anf a GBH sec 20 which carries up to five years along with an affray with up to 2 years and a threats to kill with up to 2 years. There was no fight back and no provocation, this guy is quite simply unhinged and because hw was a senior prison officer of 20 years and my wife is an ex offender for commiting a fraud against the banks 14 years ago he has been given a pass. The ironic thing is that she was sent to jail after pleading guilty straight away and she got 2 and a half years. Her nightmare started when she met him inside prison.
Incidentally he is 17 stone and my partner is 9 stone and he is trained in restraint. What person in their right mind tortures someone for hours, repeatedly rapes them and beats them to within an inch of their lives. Believe me, I speak the truth. We even took the Guardian reporter to court with us. His comment was that it absolutley stinks.
Look out for much press activity on this one. The monster may well have gotton a pass from going to jail but he is going to be exposed in the media for what he is.
Kind regards
Question Author
Hi prudentia, I agree.
| forgot to mention also that we had to have an emergency panic alsrm installed by the police and bars on our rear windows and we had to go to the family courts to get an emergency non molestation injunction order and again to get a life long one. The barstard even had the kneck to turn up to defend against it a month prior to him pleading guilty which was incidentally 10 minutes prior to the jury being sworn in. Thats justice for you. Kind regards
Well pfab, I apologise. What can I say - it was clearly horrific for you and your wife. Unfortunately though, the rape charges were dropped (I have no idea why). The main sentencing would have been the GBH - chances are the other sentences of 3xABH and affray were sentenced concurrently since the Judge has to have regard to the totality of the offending behaviour, lesser offences are often sentenced concurrently.

Have you made representations to the CPS? In limited circumstances the CPS may refer matters to the Attorney General for them to seek a reference as to whether the sentence was inadequate. You must have a police liaison officer with whom you can talk?
cps,'criminal persons sympathisers,' to hell in a handcart with the rest of us law abiding citizens, you may face jail if you thump a violent burgler
Prudentia - you are talking out of your long dead bottom.
barmaid, stop drinking and get real.
Question Author
Hi barmaid, thanks. With ref to the rapes he was charged and then at court on the day of the trial they (CPS barrister)did a deal with the defence to have the rapes lay on file if he plead guilty to the violence. Unfortunately in this country the victim no longer has the final decision as to whether or not the trial should go ahead. My wife had overwhelming medical evidence for every incident that he was indicted with and incidentally the grabbing of the throat in the press article was actually him strangling my wife while he broke her ribs with the weight of his 17 stone body pressing down on her chest just prior to him raping her again while her daufgter lay in the next bedroom. He even waivered his data protection to his medical records and the police established that he had confessed all to his psychiatrist. He even disclosed how he was going to chop her body in to six pices and dispose of her body. He came eqipped on the hammer attack might i add with plastic sheeting, nylon ties and a jig saw. What the hell. Hopefully I have given you a flavour to the behavior of this animal. We are still in shock. I used to think that these kind of justice decisions by judges were like paraffin says, well thought through and that there must have been other mitigating factors. Believe me its not the case and this was a blatant miscarriage of justice that will be exposed for what it is. kind regards
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Hi all, I forgot to mention that I believe any jury would have convicted him of the rapes also. It had to pass the CPS threshold test for him to be charged in the first place so why drop it other than to save the money of a lengthy trial or simply to press ahead with the miscarriage of justice. Incidentally barmaid, we have no right to appeal because that is only open to capital offences and sexual ones. The CPS managed to pave the way for that also. Kind regards
Prudentia, you are the one who harps on about being long dead from the Eyres of Hassop (or wherever). And you don't face jail for thumping a violent burglar. Far from it. You need to get real.

pfab - I can't comment on why the barrister for the prosecution decided to accept the charges of violence in return for dropping the rapes - there may well have been things that I (and you) do not know (for instance, you will not know what is in the defence case statement), which may have pleaded consent (I am not for one minute suggesting your wife DID consent, but if it is in the DCS, and there is enough doubt, prosecutors will often remove it from the jury to prevent the woman having to go through the hell of giving evidence and having her sex life open to public scrutiny).

All in all it sounds horrific for the pair of you. I suggest talking to your police liaison officer with a view to talking to the CPS to see if they will consider an AG Ref.
I am proven by the best academi c brains in the western world to be real, whats our on your cv, double e in truancy

Question Author
Thanks Barmaid.
The AG will be one many that we will write to. Thanks and kind regards
He's part of the establishment, that's why he was let off.

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