lucia's: London riot sentences 'absolutely right'

Monday, January 30, 2012

London riot sentences 'absolutely right'

Leading prosecutor supports stiff jail terms given to rioters, saying many excuses given in court are no form of legal defence

One of the country's leading prosecutors has defended the stiff sentences handed out to hundreds of rioters in London last summer and derided the excuses given by some of them in court.

Alison Saunders said the sentences were "entirely in line" with the guidelines given to judges and magistrates for violent disorder. In at least one recent case she considered a four-year jail term to be too lenient and has referred it to the attorney general, asking for an increase.

Saunders, who is in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service in London, said her team had dealt with 2,000 cases in six months, and fresh ones were being referred to them by the police.

"The sentencing guidelines were often quoted. People were saying the sentences were outside the guidelines," she said.

"They weren't. When you look at them, you can take in aggravating features. This was sheer lawlessness on a large scale. That was a pretty massive aggravating feature ? the prosecutions were absolutely right.

"It was people taking advantage of the situation, it was widespread criminality, and there is no excuse for it. Some of the defences we are now seeing in cases going to trial ? people saying they were curious: 'I just happened to go into Currys and pick up this TV because I was curious'."

"They have mentioned duress, and some people are saying they got caught up in the heat of the moment. But that is more mitigation than a defence. It is not a defence to say: 'I did it because everyone else was doing it.'

"If it hadn't been stopped, who knows where we would have ended up."

Saunders said that, during the first days of disorder, she saw "speedy justice".

Of the first 83 cases before the courts, almost all of the defendants (88%) pleaded guilty, a higher proportion than usual.

Saunders said:"It was interesting getting people to court very quickly, while it was all still fresh in everyone's mind, with the evidence, and seeing how many people pleaded guilty.

"There is something to be learned there about speedy justice ? making sure you get the right evidence into court. There is none of this playing the system so everyone forgets, or witnesses don't turn up."

The CPS in London has prosecuted 1,371 people so far and there are 610 defendants still in the court system.

"We have dealt with 2,000 finalised cases, but every time we get rid of some, more come into the system. We are still getting cases charged and coming in every week.

"We are still running at the same pace that we have been since the disorder last year. We set up a specialist unit to deal with [the riots] and our caseload has not been falling."

Saunders referred to the recent prosecution of Adam Khan Ahmadzai, 20.

"It was a man who started from one end of Croydon High Street, where we had a picture of him, to the other end, where we had his DNA.

"In between those two points he committed 16 different offences. Either burglary, robbery, violent disorder or egging on the crowd.

"He had no previous convictions. There was no excuse for his behaviour at all. It has nothing to do with 'He doesn't trust the police, he doesn't like the police.'

"He was sentenced to four years and we have referred it to the attorney general's office as an unduly lenient sentence."

Saunders said that at the height of the disturbances, she was called at 3am and asked if she had any more prosecutors available to staff Highbury magistrates court in north London.

She didn't, so went to the court herself. "That was the first night we had overnight courts. It was actually really exciting. I hadn't been in court prosecuting for seven years but it's a bit like riding a bike, you don't forget.

"Most of my senior management team happened to be there. Me, my two deputies and then the director of public prosecutions [Keir Starmer] came down to check we were all right. You could not have got a more overly qualified prosecuting team."

Saunders said they have been doing trials of live links to court ? where police officers give evidence from their police stations, rather than having to go to court to give evidence.

They have also been using video links between police stations and courts so suspects do not have to be transferred for first appearances.

Both should be ready for use during the Olympics should there be any trouble, Saunders said.

Nick Hopkins