Did he have any previous convictions?
Yep, he torpedoed a yacht at Cowes in 2005 leaving to the removal of his submarine licence. He spiked a horse at Badminton trials in 2008 leading to an injunction from Princess Anne and in 2011, his highest profile stunt yet, he took a massive dump on centre court in full view of Princess Michael of Kent and Cliff Richard. Cliff fainted at the state of his cleggies. He was held in the tower pillorys for 3 days, during which time members of the All England Club were invited to serve tennis balls at his troublesome face. Only three managed full on strikes...
In his latest misadventure against our once great institutions, I think the judge would have been justified in sentencing him to transportation to Van Diemens Land for the rest of his natural!
in 2011, his highest profile stunt yet, he took a massive dump on centre court in full view of Princess Michael of Kent and Cliff Richard. Cliff fainted at the state of his cleggies
Ha ha! Brilliant! Surely such an act would be deserving of a knighthood no?
v8ninety - apologies if I offended you with my choice of language.
that would be screwing it up for one competitor and possibly more scorn worthy but still not 6months worth i feel, a better analogy would be walking onto a football pitch during play, everyone stops has a laugh and carries on. How many pitch invaders get 6months? or doesn't it matter cause it's not the pimms drinkers playing/watchingIf the same bloke had taken out Bradley as he rolled into Hampton Court for his gold then I daresay we'd look at the sentence as a bit more appropriate.
and what he saidI find the use of the term 'filth' both offensive and lazily stereotypical
How many pitch invaders get 6months? or doesn't it matter cause it's not the pimms drinkers playing/watching
Nail/head extreme interface there I reckon.
They couldn't just carry on like in football. They were halfway through the race, with all the expended effort that entails. Game over for both crews. He trashed the whole event, and a year's work for the athletes.
Really? I'm not a rower, but I'd be amazed if there's a sport which is so strenuous that you only get one go to compete in it in a year.
If they'd restarted, they'd both have the same handicap, so no problem.
[quote=martinhutch ]They couldn't just carry on like in football. They were halfway through the race, with all the expended effort that entails. Game over for both crews. He trashed the whole event, and a year's work for the athletes.
It [b]was[/b] restarted and Cambridge won.
He trashed the whole event, and a year's work for the athletes.
Don't be such a drama queen. It merely delayed it for a few minutes is all. And brought more media attention to the boat race than ever before.
Neil horan has caused far more trouble yet not been sentenced to jail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Horan
(He did spend two months in custody awaiting trial but has never been given a custodial sentence, despite actually endangering life and public safety, unlike Trenton)
He trashed the whole event, and a year's work for the athletes.
😆
Have a word with yourself will you?
Writes a book or gets a deal from the Newspapers..
What's the book going to be about? Once upon a time I went for a little swim? Hardly the stuff of an epic novel.
I still don't think there was any way he was going to beat those boats.
Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield had acted dangerously,
Only Dangerous to hime really... If you can't avoid an object in the river you're not really a top flight rower.
disproportionately,
Umm was he dressed as a full size T-Rex?
displayed prejudice in sabotaging the event which he regarded as elitist.
Doesn't Oxbridge keep banging on about how inclusive it is? Is this an admission that they're Elitist?
Should have been a civil case really, with the Public order arrest as a way to get him out of the water and give him a stern telling off.
Only Dangerous to hime really... [b]If you can't avoid an object in the river you're not really a top flight rower.[/b]
Not been in an eight, have we?
I cant see what the big deal is with his sentence.. Average sentence for a pitch invasion at footy is four months so six for this event was about right in my opinion.
Only Dangerous to hime really... If you can't avoid an object in the river you're not really a top flight rower.
Lets face it, the boat race would be much more entertaining if they did have to dodge obstacles etc
And sharks. With lasers.
mikeconnor - I think Neil Horran is a better analogy, or perhaps they guy who put tacks on the TdF course this year (or even the Caledonian Etape course a few years ago). Certainly you'll find people on here who would be happy with a custodial sentence for disrupting THEIR sport.
I'm not sure if the 'but football pitch invaders aren't sentenced so severely' is an argument that this sentence is too harsh or that football related ones are too weak. I do agree that the severity of disruption is probably different, and this appears to have been premeditated rather than spur of the moment. However it is not unheard of for pitch invaders to get significant sentences (although perhaps only in countries who are serious about football hooliganism!):
8 months SCOTLAND: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/football-pitch-invader-jailed-2354782.html
6 months NETHERLANDS: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/dutch-pitch-invader-gets-six-months-jail/story-e6frg7mf-1226233450734
4 months CYPRUS: http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/worldfootball/europe/11244-anorthosis-fan-jailed-for-invading-pitch-at-europa-league-tie
Sentencing has multiple purposes, one of which is a deterrent to others (and to the offender from repeating his activities). If the outcome here was 'trivial' it would invite every protestor to consider the same action to support their cause.
I guess his lawyer could have attempted that as plea in mitigation. I guess his professional legal advice might have been that was not a wise avenue to try and pursue!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?
The sentence hopefully wiped that smug look off his Chevy Chase.
STW inverted snobbery shocker!
Lets face it, the boat race would be much more entertaining if they did have to dodge obstacles etc
Like "We are the champions" only with better grades. Get me the phone number for university challenge - they're missing a round.
I've never been in a rowing boat and have about as much chance of being accepted into Oxford/Cambridge as I have of being chosen as the next Victoria's Secret 'Angel'. But, I just cannot understand the chippy mentality of those pathetic oxygen thieves who appear to revel in the disruption to this sporting occasion.
Do you know the background of each and every one of the rowers? Most of them aren't even Brits. Have you met them and conducted extensive questionnaires to determine the nature of their character? If you drop your instinctive hatred for those who come from (or whom you imagine to come from) a different socio-economic bracket to you, you may find that you start to enjoy your lives more.
I think a custodial sentence is disproportionate, but then I don't think people should be jailed for being dicks on the internet either, if they did they'd have to build a SuperMax just for this forum.
Look at it objectively. Did her break the law? Yes.
Whether you look at the boat race as top flite athletes competing in a traditional and prestigious competition or as a bunch of Ruperts splashing around spending father's money; a crime was still committed and should be treated as such.
The disruption was huge and whilst he has apparently been awarded 6 months, I am sure that this will translate into a far shorter sentence.
For info...
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.
She said: "You did nothing to address inequality by giving yourself the right to spoil the enjoyment of others.
"In doing so, you acted without regard for equality and contrary to the meaning of it.
"You made your decision to sabotage the race based on the membership or perceived membership of its participants of a group to which you took exception.
"That is prejudice."
Put it this way, if a crowd of fellows in red hunting jackets and horsewhips ran into the middle of the FA cup final halfway through and caused so much disruption that the game had to be restarted...
.......... What would happen ?
What would happen ?
I dunno, what do you think would happen? I can hazard that there'd be some inverted responses here though. 🙂
6 months in gaol seems lean.
If he had disrupted a football match he would get a football banning order and never be allowed back in a ground, have passport arrested when ever there's a football tournament on etc etc.
At least he only has to worry about dropping the soap for 3 months before being released for good behavior and then can happily go back to swimming in the Thames if he so wishes.
8 months SCOTLAND: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/football-pitch-invader-jailed-2354782.html
6 months NETHERLANDS: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/dutch-pitch-invader-gets-six-months-jail/story-e6frg7mf-1226233450734
4 months CYPRUS: http://www.insideworldfootball.biz/worldfootball/europe/11244-anorthosis-fan-jailed-for-invading-pitch-at-europa-league-tie
8 months for invading the pitch and assaulting the manager
6 months for invading the pitch and assaulting the goalkeeper
4 months for invading the pitch as part of a larger outbreak of violence.
So hardly comparable situations, and a pretty poor attempt to justify the excessive sentence in this case.
MSP - 8 months for invading the pitch and assaulting the manager
6 months for invading the pitch and assaulting the goalkeeper
4 months for invading the pitch as part of a larger outbreak of violence.So hardly comparable situations, and a pretty poor attempt to justify the excessive sentence in this case.
those were 3 examples that popped out of google. I'm sure someone with more time could find others. The first one is 8 months for the pitch invasion only, the jury acquitted him of assault. The second was an attempted assault (actually the keeper ended up kicking him) and the last link was as you say one of a group - not sure that makes it any more serious, indeed if anything it could have been a mitigation that he was caught up in peer pressure or dragged along?
However I wasn't trying to justify this sentence (I think the Judge did a pretty good job of that in her sentencing remarks http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/sentencing-remarks-r-v-oldfield.pdf). I was merely pointing out that pitch invasions can carry prison sentences contrary to earlier claims, and that since I considered this to be at least as serious it should too.
In similar news, i used to see the Cradle Of Filth "Jesus Is A Count"(minis o) T-Shirt everywhere.
If recent events are 'owt to go by, that would be jail time.
