The swimmer that disrupted The Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race has been gaoled for six months, burglars get community sentences…. though we can shoot them now!

PC nonsense gone mad, ridiculous sentence, or did he deserve it? Have we become a police state? Debate

And why does this forum try to force me to use an American English spelling of Gaol (Jail)

Jail

does seem a bit harsh.

PC nonsense gone mad, ridiculous sentence, or did he deserve it? Have we become a police state?

With that sort of trolling, you could take over the lunchtime slot on BBC Radio 2.

How so?

prison is too good for him

trial by ordeal would be a fitting way to deal with this
IMHO

trial by ordeal

well he floated so he’s clearly a witch.

Gweilo Not sure there’s any spell checking facility on STW. Probably your web browser.

druidh -maybe we could share the slot and Junkyard involved to make sure we get a balanced view 😀

Gaol and Jail are both acceptable English, both are derived from French, while Jail is the only one recognised in American, both have always been used in English (but spell checking is done by the browser not the forum).

6 months is a stupid overreaction sentence, but oxbridge represents the system, so its no surprise.

If other recent harsh sentencing is anything to go by, he’ll probably appeal and get out with 100 hours community service or other far more appropriate sentence. Jailing him at public expense is farcical.

Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously, disproportionately, had not shown what he was actually protesting against, and displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which he regarded as elitist.

Ironically, tjailing him has given his ‘protest’ far more media exposure, as well as displaying prejudice by the sentencing judge. Just daft. As for ‘dangerous’; only to himself really.

And why does this forum try to force me to use an American English spelling of Gaol (Jail)

It’s actually old English – the Americans have continued to use a lot of old English ways of spelling things which we no longer commonly use.

Hooray for the UK justice system!

Say something stupid on TwitFace? JAIL

Get in the way of a rowing boat? JAIL

Beat up a teenager using his crutches? WARNING 😕

I’m just waiting to see what Nick Griffin gets for inciting homophobic crime on twitter.

Another example of “don’t mess with upper class establishment”

If he’d ran onto a football/cricket/rugby pitch and stopped the game for a wee while he’d be seen as a bit of an a**e at worst and thrown out with a warning. But because it was the posh boys rowing match he gets jailed.

F*****g disgrace.

Swear at a policeman if you’re an MP? Get off scot-free.

taser a blind man carrying a walking stick? Just apologise and it’s ok.

Kill an innocent newspaper seller on his way home from work? get away with murder.

sorry last suggestion should have been to cranberry…. i really should use me specs.

Good point Hammerite I’m using Chrome, I must complain bitterly to Google about their poor choice of dictionary lol

Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously, disproportionately, had not shown what he was actually protesting against, and displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which he regarded as elitist.

And by giving him this sentence, the judge has re-inforced that view.

Good point Hammerite I’m using Chrome, I must complain bitterly to Google about their poor choice of dictionary lol

Or even install the UK English dictionary?

Say something stupid on TwitFace? JAIL

Get in the way of a rowing boat? JAIL

Beat up a teenager using his crutches? WARNING
Kill homeless alcoholic on video in broad daylight in the middle of london? SCOTT FREE

You really have to look into both the jury and judges background before claiming “upper class”, but for the purposes of STW I’m happy to run with it.

6mths, reduced to 2 for good behaviour..

Writes a book or gets a deal from the Newspapers.. QuidsIn.. 😆

Swear at a policeman if you’re an MP? Get off scot-free.

taser a blind man carrying a walking stick? Just apologise and it’s ok.

Kill an innocent newspaper seller on his way home from work? get away with murder

Say something stupid on TwitFace? JAIL

Get in the way of a rowing boat? JAIL

Beat up a teenager using his crutches? WARNING

I wonder if the countries judges etc realise how stupid they look in the light of the daft and onconsistent sentencing they collectively dish out?

Did he have any previous convictions?

The swimmer that disrupted The Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race has been gaoled for six months, burglars get community sentences…. though we can shoot them now!

PC nonsense gone mad, ridiculous sentence, or did he deserve it? Have we become a police state? Debate

they should ask for the Arts Council grant he got back as well as that is clearly “elitist”

To be fair to the judges, a lot of the stupid sentencing during the riots was encouraged/pushed for by the politicians, before most of the sentences were overturned for being disproportionate.

I know you’ve got to look at contributing factors and base each case on it’s own but how the hell can interrupting a boat race by just being there (ie not blowing shit up or waving guns around) get you 6months

You really have to look into both the jury and judges background before claiming “upper class”, but for the purposes of STW I’m happy to run with it.

Why the jury?
They surely only have to deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty on the evidence presented, what input do they have on the sentence in this case?

Completely over the top.

These sentences for seemingly trivial things (swimming in the boat race, cut-and-pasting jokes onto your own facebook page, jokes on twitter) do seem to be getting more ridiculous.

I think Nick Griffin’s twitter post is an example of something that *does* warrant prison. Can’t see how it can be avoided given previous sentences for facebook/twitter stuff

Stupid sentence.

Can’t see how it can be avoided given previous sentences for facebook/twitter stuff

I can, coz he’s a politician innit? Whilst he may be some dreadful oik you can’t start using the same rules for politicians as you do for the commoners, where would it end?

It does make all the political bleating over the Pussy Riot case in Russia look hypocritical.

jota180 – Member

Or even install the UK English dictionary?

Excellent and helpful suggestion. Just a shame that its already installed and Chrome states it can’t use it for spell checking when you select it in Settings…..

But thanks anyway 😕

Oh, and some other background. He was initially charged with a section 5 public order offence. This was changed to the common law charge of “public nuisance” under political pressure, as section 5 doesn’t carry a custodial sentence.

70% of the cabinet are Oxbridge graduates.

they should ask for the Arts Council grant he got back as well as that is clearly “elitist”

How? I don’t think you actually understand what ‘elitism’ means.

class law in action– message is dont **** with us !

Good point Hammerite I’m using Chrome, I must complain bitterly to Google about their poor choice of dictionary lol stop being a pretentious twit and accept the far more common use of the word

Yes, good idea.

Now please excuse me whilst I perambulate to the water closet before quaffing my flagon of ale at the public house. 🙄

I tend to agree with some of the posts above, a violent thug, based on his previous record, employed by the Filth gets away with beating a newspaper seller and Killing him. Another yob in the Filth Tasers a crippled old man and gets away with it, but you go swimming in the Thames and spoil a race off to gaol with you

Somethings very wrong there if you ask me – which of course you didn’t 😀

I have no time for the boat race but…

He was Jailed for being a Public Nuisance which is pretty clear cut. The fact the nuisance he was causing impacted a large number of pim’s drinking toffs on the river bank and people watching on TV who really should have something better to do is irrelevant. It is a pretty large scale event and he cocked it up for all concerned. It comes down to proportionality – did his right to protest outweigh the right of everyone else involved and interested to see the event progress uninterrupted. He made a massive misjudgement and I think an appropriate message has been sent out.

did his right to protest outweigh the right of everyone else involved and interested to see the event progress uninterrupted

If we’re going to start judging cases on their entertainment value, then what about all the people who massively enjoyed watching a boat race go wrong?

If you used the term prison instead of gaol, would Google try and change it to penitentiary?

He made a massive misjudgement and I think an appropriate message has been sent out.

Yet a serving police officer with a history of violence made a ‘massive misjudgment’, and walked free after unlawfully killing an innocent man.

If we are to have policing and justice by Consent, then the application of Law must be fair, unprejudiced and proportionate. Otherwise the whole issue of ‘Consent’ is thrown into querstion, and Justice suffers.