ATTACKING STEPHEN LAWRENCE'S MOTHER OH, AND OF COURSE THE McCANNS

Elizabeth Smith
Yesterday I was appalled to read that Doreen Lawrence had been made a life peer.

I expect it will be Kate and Gerry next; like Ms Lawrence they have made a comfortable living out of the death of their child ( there is no doubt but that Madeleine is dead) but they have not yet damaged society.

To mollify Ms Lawrence the rule against double jeopardy has been abolished ( you can be tried for the same crime twice) and an already poisonous climate of political correctness made infinitely worse.

Her son was tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time; and it was their lawyer ( who has certainly been suspended from practice if not actually struck off the Roll for a time) who prevented the police from doing their job properly.

Elizabeth Smith Like the McCanns, she's made money at it. And the abolition of the rule against double jeopardy damages us all; it was a fundamental right not to be tried for the same crime twice.

Elizabeth Smith We'll agree to disagree, then. But her compensation claim destroyed her credibility and she is just another professional victim.

Elizabeth Smith
Ok I have taken the posting down but for my own sake as I get bored with emotionalism. The historian Sir Max Hastings did his best to get Ms Lawrence's name off the list of "great" Britons of the last 61 years and I agreed with him.
Her legacy is twofold:-
A person can now be tried for the same crime twice. An acquittal is no longer an absolute defence. If such a fundamental change is to be made to the rights of all it should be after extensive consultation and research, not to satisfy an emotional demand that two or three individuals be convicted of a particular crime, come what may.
Secondly, public agencies including the police are now fearful of taking action against minority groups, however terrible their conduct. In sentencing the Oxford and Rochdale paedophile rings, the judges in both cases criticised police and social services for failing to act for fear of being deemed racist. Thus many young girls suffered needless abuse, and I suspect it could be a factor in why social services didn't take adequate action in the Pelka case tried this week.
That isn't a legacy I would like to leave .....in that sense I apologise to the McCanns.  

Elizabeth Smith Other police forces. The individual concerned has since passed away.

It's very clear only Paula has appreciated my point regarding the potential civil liberties issues arising from both of these cases. It is a well known truism that hard cases make bad law.
2 minutes ago via mobile · Like

Linda Hutton I can't believe what I am reading here, is this a wind up to make it look as though this group targets families of victims?