A security van was sent on a 120-mile round trip to move a prisoner 200 yards to avoid breaching his human rights.
Mark Bailey, 35, was taken to a Crown Court but after a brief hearing sent immediately to the magistrates' court across the road. Police said Bailey could not be walked across the street in handcuffs because it would breach his human rights - so a van was scrambled from 60 miles away for the 30 second journey.
Campaigners and MPs branded the decision "a shocking waste of money" and said it was "no wonder" Britain's criminal justice system was in such a state of chaos.
Bailey appeared from custody before Northampton Crown Court Tuesday morning charged with stealing cable from a railway line. A judge decided it was better dealt with by magistrates and Bailey was ordered to appear the same day. However, by this time the prison van had gone. Police refused to walk him across Victoria Road, which separates the buildings, so a van was called from Cambridge, 57 miles away, to pick him up and drop him off.
He finally arrived at the magistrates' court two hours and 40 minutes after the van was called. Charged with theft and going equipped, Bailey, from Northampton, was remanded in custody. A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire police said it would "not be appropriate" to walk a prisoner down a public street. She said: "Once a person is in the courts system, they are no longer in police custody and police are not responsible for their transportation.
"It would not be appropriate for prisoners to walk in a public area while in custody for many reasons, including public safety issues, as well as the safety and human rights of the prisoner.
"Until someone has been convicted of an offence they are innocent in the eyes of the law and it would therefore be inappropriate for them to be escorted across a busy main road in handcuffs."
Brian Binley, Conservative MP for Northampton South, said: "I've never heard such nonsense. Why we should have to suffer such ludicrous incompetence, and pay for it, is beyond me.
"In my view, Bailey should have been escorted across the road but if they were worried about him absconding, they could have put him in a squad car - the police station is just around the corner."
Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: "This is absurd and a total waste of money. No wonder our prisons are in such a state of chaos, if they can't even manage to escort a prisoner 200 yards between buildings.
"If anyone had shown a bit of initiative this could have been sorted out in five minutes, but instead taxpayers had to foot the bill for this wasteful trek."
A barrister at the court - who wishes to remain anonymous - said: "The transport of prisoners to court is ludicrous and a joke."
A spokesman for Global Solutions Limited, responsible for the movement and security of prisoners, said: "It was an unplanned movement and the van had gone to do other things. It is not a taxi service and has a range of duties to make best use of taxpayers' money. It is more efficient doing it this way than having a load of vehicles sitting around outside court just in case." He said he did not know whether the van came from Cambridge. Well, the govt took care of this guy. Unfortunately, the citizens and crime victims get no protection. What about their human rights?
And while we are full of indignation, what about the carbon dioxide spewing out of the van for 120 miles? Global warming criminals. Everyone should have gone into the van to jail. It is a mad hatter's tea party.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/06/2008 12:58 ||
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#1
Must be something in the water over there. A British company bought a local factory and now, in order for the test lab in the local factory to obtain a run sample for testing they must follow the following procedure:
1. The local test lab must dispatch a request for a sample to an office 600 miles away.
2. Upon approval the office 600 miles away orders that a sample from the local production line be set aside for testing.
3. Said sample is then boxed and sent to the shipping department of the local factory.
4. Said sample is dispatched from the shipping department of the local factory via UPS.
5. UPS takes said sample approximately 100 miles north from local factory to a sorting facility where it is duly sorted and later returned to a shipping facility 60 miles south of the local factory.
6. UPS delivers the sample to the shipping department of the local factory where it is then delivered to the local test department.
Keep in mind that the local shipping department, test facility, and production lines are all under the same roof and that none is more than 300 yards from the other two. And Europeans wonder why they're not competitive.
Two men opened fire on a marked patrol car Tuesday night, Phoenix police said. Police said the men fired at the two-man patrol car from a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe around 10:40 p.m. in west Phoenix.
The officers followed the Tahoe about 5 miles before the men stopped the SUV and fled on foot into an apartment complex, police said. Officers set up a perimeter in the area and used K-9 units to search for the men. Police said both men were taken into custody, though one was bitten by a police dog.
The men initally gave police false names, but were later identified as Juan Beltran Nunez, 29, and Ricardo Hurtado, 24.
Neither of the officers in the patrol car was injured, but police said they found bullet holes in the hood and passenger-side roof of the car. Police said they recovered the Tahoe and a rifle.
Nunez was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault, possession of dangerous drugs and unlawful flight. Both men were charged with being prohibited possessors of a firearm and were placed under holds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I am truly surprised that they were taken alive.
#1
True, very surprised they are still sucking our air. No doubt cartel thugs who are starting to operate on this side like they do down south. Cop elimination is their current favorite sport. What's needed and is available on the border is gunships. If you looked at the gun camera video from the Apache you see what happens when we get serious. I guarantee that a couple of episodes of shredding a few Mex Federales/ drug runners would clarify the issue in Mex all the way down to Columbia. Just takes a President willing to defend our border. Which we do not have.
#4
If you looked at the gun camera video from the Apache you see what happens when we get serious.
But so far, you're not, cf. the several instances of HMG-armed military cars venturing several kilometers INTO the US territory to protect drug runners, and even on occasion facing down local police and having them back off.
#5
"Police said both men were taken into custody, though one was bitten by a police dog."
Poor doggie - hope its shots are up to date. Wouldn't want it to catch anything from criminal cooties.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/06/2008 13:45 Comments ||
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Eventually, there is going to be a massacre on our side of the border. Most likely some Mexican army types will slaughter a bunch of US policemen, and despite the desperate attempts of the US government to hush it up, it will become known.
A happily married couple in northern India got the shock of their lives when they learnt they had divorced 10 years ago, the Times of India reported on Tuesday.
Meena Verma, a mother of two children, tried to file a case against her in-laws for violence, only to be told by a court in Haryana state that she had been divorced for a decade. Her husband Virender told the Times of India his brother, a lawyer, had apparently forged the divorce a decade earlier, when the couple were contemplating making a similar complaint. "It seems the divorce was doctored to defeat Meena's possible complaint," he said.
The couple filed a petition accusing Virender's brother, Surinder Verma, and four associates, of forgery. Surinder denied the accusation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The 2008 Ford F-150 gets about 14 miles-per-gallon in the city, but a small bird found a shiny, red F-150 with a lift kit in the parking lot of the Ford of Orange dealership to be environmentally friendly.
Workers at the dealership, located at 1350 W. Katella Ave., noticed the bird had built a nest at the base of the windshield when the truck was delivered to the lot last week. After further inspection, Floor Manager Paul Corrigan said the bird had laid two eggs.
"That's probably never going to happen again in a lifetime," Corrigan said. "I've seen rabbits and possums, but for a bird to build its nest right there is something special."
Corrigan said the dealership won't try to move the nest and won't sell the truck until the eggs hatch. . . . Until the eggs hatch, the truck has been roped off and has become a conversation piece for salesmen and shoppers.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/06/2008 06:53 ||
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I'm waiting to pass the guy, in front of his big truck, standing at the intersection holding the cardboard sign reading "Will Help Move for Gas".
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/06/2008 9:52 Comments ||
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FOr me, every morning lately my NISSAN truck has to be cleaned due to heavy leaf droppings from an antiguitous nearby tree . AS MUCH AS I LIKE TREES, PERSONALLY AND AS PER HISTORY-LANDSCAPING BUFF NUANCE, CLEANUP > D *** NG IT, FOR TWO CENTS I'D CUT THE OLD TREE DOWN JUST BECUZ I CAN [but won't]!
ION, the lack of OWG-NWO in AMERIKA is STILL causing US femme teachers to have sex wid their minor students.
#8
The State Supreme Court of Oregon has declared such moves to be protected speech. But dag nabbit! we don't have a subway. Portland has light rail. Does that count?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/06/2008 9:48 Comments ||
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Just wait until the Muzz Purity Patrol finds out about this.
A rare form of tuberculosis caused by illegal, unpasteurized dairy products, including the popular queso fresco cheese, is rising among Hispanic immigrants in Southern California and raising fears about a resurgence of a strain all but eradicated in the U.S.
Cases of the Mycobacterium bovis strain of TB have increased in San Diego county, particularly among children who drink or eat dairy foods made from the milk of infected cattle, a study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases shows.
#1
queso fresco is delicious - crumbly and tart on mexican food (which is served in heaven, I believe, mmmmmm)....but...."unpasteurized and 'street corner' anything"-dairy should be avoided. I get mine at Albertsons :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/06/2008 17:57 Comments ||
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I can't wait to hear Lou Dobbs coverage of this story.
As I've repeatedly noted, The Detroit Newsistan is the only major newspaper in the country, whose editorial page editor (Nolan Finley) gives an agent of Hezbollah and the Government of Iran a regular column in which to spew his hate and propaganda in the name of "diversity" (what--no, David Duke?).
I had a good laugh, this morning, as I quickly paged through the usual thin (in reporting, substance, and tangible thickness) hard copy of today's Detroit Newsistan. Here's why--nope, it's not a photoshop:
#1
CNN POLL > claims 54% of registered Democrats want BARACK to pick HILLARY as his VEEP??? Looks like the meeting at DIANE FEINSTEIN's house is still on-going - ASIDE FROM DIANE F., NO NEWS ATT ON WHETHER OTHER DEM BIGWIGS ARE OR WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
