Ok, how are you on white collar computer based fraud? I hear that the sentences are pretty meaningless, so if I could get a couple of million hidden in off shore accounts it might be worth the 3 weeks community service that I would get.... (joke)
That of course being the closest judges get to the heights of sparkling wit...
Mind you, now that they're considering letting TV cameras into court, does this mean that we get to see you doing your Rumpole/Perry Mason impressions?
The Judge was getting his revenge because he had got a fair bit of stick when she absconded 6 years ago after he'd granted her bail before the Sentencing hearing. He asked the Prosecutor yesterday: "Did I impose a surety condition to her bail which she must now forfeit?" (knowing that he hadn't) "I'm afraid not your Honour." (grinning away) "Shame, shame!" The journalists loved it!
As for the TV cameras - I think they're still quite a way off, but by then I should be more experienced and hopefully dealing with more newsworthy cases so maybe... =)
The Judge did not say it sternly - it was a jocular come-back as there's no evidence that she actually has been running brothels in Thailand (hence "She was earning a living in Thailand and one can only suggest what that living was.")
Reasonably so - I'm in London and all over the Home Counties for 98% of my work, but I have been to Northampton and Winchester a dozen times, Gloucester three times, Birimingham twice, Cardiff once and Nottingham once.
A couple of senior members of Chambers have even had the odd case in Leeds and Sheffield so there's always the possibility that I might cover a pre-trial hearing of their's up in God's Own County.
Well, I have to say I'm awfully glad you didn't get her out of extra time...! ;-)
Worst thing is, the poor girls she trafficked in have no legal rights in Britain, as they are illegal immigrants. The least we could do is use assets stripped from the criminals to give them support at this end and something to go home with, rather than just booting them straight back with less than they started with which is a pretty harsh punishment for essentially being naive and vulnerable.
I was extremely unlikely to do so - when you receive a conviction for Failing to Surrender, the sentence is almost always made in addition ("consecutive" - as opposed to "concurrent") to the sentence for the original offence. But I was quite pleased that, despite all the aggravating features (deliberate absconding for a long time, leaving the jurisdiction and fighting the extradition back etc.) I managed to keep it down to 9 months (the maximum being 16 for a guilty plea to a Failure to Surrender being treated as Contempt of Court). My main points of mitigation were her guilty plea and the horrendous 5 months which she spent in a Thai jail before being extradited.
And you'll be happy to know that Confiscation Proceedings against her and her husband start in the new year... =)
I am sure that five months in a thai jail are nothing like as bad as five weeks in a UK brothel, having been possibly mislead and tricked into being here and then finding out that you are nothing more than a sex slave with no rights when you do. Not sure how this is one of your greatest moments old boy - despite getting a mention on the BEEB
Oh come on, it's hardly Jule's fault. As I understand it, Barristers have to take the cases that they're given, and then have to make the best of it. And I think if I was on the Beeb I'd want the world to know about it as well.
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Print it out and put it in your scrap book :-)
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I've favourited it for now. =)
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(joke)
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Mind you, now that they're considering letting TV cameras into court, does this mean that we get to see you doing your Rumpole/Perry Mason impressions?
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He asked the Prosecutor yesterday:
"Did I impose a surety condition to her bail which she must now forfeit?" (knowing that he hadn't)
"I'm afraid not your Honour."
(grinning away) "Shame, shame!"
The journalists loved it!
As for the TV cameras - I think they're still quite a way off, but by then I should be more experienced and hopefully dealing with more newsworthy cases so maybe... =)
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How big is your 'patch' if you cover all the way out to Northhampton? Or is it "have wig, will travel"?
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Reasonably so - I'm in London and all over the Home Counties for 98% of my work, but I have been to Northampton and Winchester a dozen times, Gloucester three times, Birimingham twice, Cardiff once and Nottingham once.
A couple of senior members of Chambers have even had the odd case in Leeds and Sheffield so there's always the possibility that I might cover a pre-trial hearing of their's up in God's Own County.
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Worst thing is, the poor girls she trafficked in have no legal rights in Britain, as they are illegal immigrants. The least we could do is use assets stripped from the criminals to give them support at this end and something to go home with, rather than just booting them straight back with less than they started with which is a pretty harsh punishment for essentially being naive and vulnerable.
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But I was quite pleased that, despite all the aggravating features (deliberate absconding for a long time, leaving the jurisdiction and fighting the extradition back etc.) I managed to keep it down to 9 months (the maximum being 16 for a guilty plea to a Failure to Surrender being treated as Contempt of Court).
My main points of mitigation were her guilty plea and the horrendous 5 months which she spent in a Thai jail before being extradited.
And you'll be happy to know that Confiscation Proceedings against her and her husband start in the new year... =)
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