Posted on 08/20/2007 9:45:39 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
Widow 'devastated' by decision to allow man who stabbed headteacher to live in Britain · Gang member cannot be deported, court rules · Prisoner expresses his sorrow to family of victim
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The widow of the London headteacher Philip Lawrence said she was "devastated and demoralised" by the decision not to deport her husband's killer. Learco Chindamo is to stay in Britain after immigration judges allowed his appeal against deportation, it emerged yesterday. Chindamo, 26, who came to Britain from Italy with his family at the age of five, is serving a life sentence for stabbing Lawrence to death outside his school in Maida Vale in north London, in 1995. His 12-year minimum prison term is due to end next year. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lawrence, 48, was killed as he tried to defend a 13-year-old pupil who was being attacked by Chindamo and several other boys outside St George's Roman Catholic comprehensive. Chindamo was part of a gang whose members were linked to other assaults in the mid-1990s. These included the near-fatal stabbing of John Mills, the husband of the then director of public prosecutions, Barbara Mills, in 1995 by six gang members, and the rape by eight teenagers of an Austrian tourist on a canal footpath in 1997, although Chindamo was not involved in those offences. His mother is a Filipina and his father an Italian mafia gangster who served time in prison for throwing acid into a woman's face, but both are now in Britain. Judges at the immigration and appeals tribunal ruled that sending him back to Italy would breach Chindamo's right to a family life. The home secretary can order the deportation of prisoners to another EU country only if they pose "a fundamental threat to the interests of society". The case is yet another controversy connected to the Human Rights Act which was introduced into British law in 1998 to offer protection for the rights of the individual against the power of the state but critics have since argued it has ended up putting the public more at risk. Chindamo, who it is believed was told of the ruling at the weekend, was said to be "pleased" because his "family and life were in the UK". In a statement he said he hoped the decision would not "cause grief" to Lawrence's widow or to the rest of his family and expressed his deepest sympathy. Frances Lawrence, the headteacher's widow, said in a statement: "I am devastated, demoralised. I'm unutterably depressed that the Human Rights Act has failed to encompass the rights of my family to lead a safe, secure and happy life. "I feel that I have always been a staunch advocate of the Human Rights Act but there is a missing term in it. It must encompass some responsibility. "This isn't just about me and my family. I am not solely thinking of me. I may be a mother but I am a human being as well. I feel I can't fight any more. I feel I can't survive this." Chindamo's solicitor, Nigel Leskin, said it would be "disproportionate" to deport him because he had no connections with Italy and did not even speak the language. He said that his client was a reformed character who was unlikely to offend again. "He was involved in a gang when he was young. He was a kid trying to act up big. He was out of control and he thought he knew everything. He now realises how wrong he was. "He has spent time in prison speaking to other people who have come in, younger people quite often, who he sees have committed offences of violence, trying to tell them how stupid they are, they shouldn't throw their lives away like he has thrown his away. " The Home Office said last night it was disappointed that the courts had not upheld the decision to deport Chindamo. Home Office minister Tony McNulty said the government would appeal "robustly" against the decision, arguing that Chindamo had forfeited his rights because of the crime he committed. "We think, given the nature of this crime, actually the individual has forfeited his right to remain in the UK and should be deported as we asked for in the first place. I think the core principle must be absolute: that foreign nationals living in this country have rights but there are incumbent responsibilities that come along with them." The Tory leader, David Cameron, claimed in the aftermath of recent stabbings that there is now "anarchy in some parts of the UK" and blamed Gordon Brown for undermining family life. Downing Street tried to calm the growing political furore over knife crime, saying crime overall had fallen and that the punishments for carrying a knife were now much tougher. The Home Office strongly criticised crime figures quoted at the weekend showing that robberies at knifepoint had doubled in three years. A spokesman said the analysis by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies was misleading and the conclusion flawed. "The figures are based on a crude extrapolation of British Crime Survey figures. The BCS does not show a statistically significant increase in the use of knives in violent incidents," the spokesman said. The figures were said to show that while 10% of robberies (25,500 cases) - involved a knife in 2004-05, that proportion had reached 20% (64,000) by 2006-07.
Um, sorry, I really messed this post up somehow. I hope you can read it.
Chindamo, 26, who came to Britain from Italy with his family at the age of five, is serving a life sentence for stabbing Lawrence to death outside his school in Maida Vale in north London, in 1995. His 12-year minimum prison term is due to end next year.
Lawrence, 48, was killed as he tried to defend a 13-year-old pupil who was being attacked by Chindamo and several other boys outside St George's Roman Catholic comprehensive.
Chindamo was part of a gang whose members were linked to other assaults in the mid-1990s. These included the near-fatal stabbing of John Mills, the husband of the then director of public prosecutions, Barbara Mills, in 1995 by six gang members, and the rape by eight teenagers of an Austrian tourist on a canal footpath in 1997, although Chindamo was not involved in those offences.
His mother is a Filipina and his father an Italian mafia gangster who served time in prison for throwing acid into a woman's face, but both are now in Britain. Judges at the immigration and appeals tribunal ruled that sending him back to Italy would breach Chindamo's right to a family life. The home secretary can order the deportation of prisoners to another EU country only if they pose "a fundamental threat to the interests of society".
The case is yet another controversy connected to the Human Rights Act which was introduced into British law in 1998 to offer protection for the rights of the individual against the power of the state but critics have since argued it has ended up putting the public more at risk.
Chindamo, who it is believed was told of the ruling at the weekend, was said to be "pleased" because his "family and life were in the UK". In a statement he said he hoped the decision would not "cause grief" to Lawrence's widow or to the rest of his family and expressed his deepest sympathy.
Frances Lawrence, the headteacher's widow, said in a statement: "I am devastated, demoralised. I'm unutterably depressed that the Human Rights Act has failed to encompass the rights of my family to lead a safe, secure and happy life.
"I feel that I have always been a staunch advocate of the Human Rights Act but there is a missing term in it. It must encompass some responsibility.
"This isn't just about me and my family. I am not solely thinking of me. I may be a mother but I am a human being as well. I feel I can't fight any more. I feel I can't survive this."
Chindamo's solicitor, Nigel Leskin, said it would be "disproportionate" to deport him because he had no connections with Italy and did not even speak the language. He said that his client was a reformed character who was unlikely to offend again.
"He was involved in a gang when he was young. He was a kid trying to act up big. He was out of control and he thought he knew everything. He now realises how wrong he was.
"He has spent time in prison speaking to other people who have come in, younger people quite often, who he sees have committed offences of violence, trying to tell them how stupid they are, they shouldn't throw their lives away like he has thrown his away. "
The Home Office said last night it was disappointed that the courts had not upheld the decision to deport Chindamo. Home Office minister Tony McNulty said the government would appeal "robustly" against the decision, arguing that Chindamo had forfeited his rights because of the crime he committed.
"We think, given the nature of this crime, actually the individual has forfeited his right to remain in the UK and should be deported as we asked for in the first place. I think the core principle must be absolute: that foreign nationals living in this country have rights but there are incumbent responsibilities that come along with them."
The Tory leader, David Cameron, claimed in the aftermath of recent stabbings that there is now "anarchy in some parts of the UK" and blamed Gordon Brown for undermining family life.
Downing Street tried to calm the growing political furore over knife crime, saying crime overall had fallen and that the punishments for carrying a knife were now much tougher.
The Home Office strongly criticised crime figures quoted at the weekend showing that robberies at knifepoint had doubled in three years. A spokesman said the analysis by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies was misleading and the conclusion flawed. "The figures are based on a crude extrapolation of British Crime Survey figures. The BCS does not show a statistically significant increase in the use of knives in violent incidents," the spokesman said.
The figures were said to show that while 10% of robberies (25,500 cases) - involved a knife in 2004-05, that proportion had reached 20% (64,000) by 2006-07.
His right to family? What utter and complete absurdity. Western civilization may not yet have gone down it, but it is certainly circling the drain in a downward spiral.
Reminds me of the Youtube video my husband showed me this weekend—satire but unfortunately true to life:
Village sniper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHYC4ekzg60
When is the funeral for the UK?
I suppose he would have to have the black palgue to be such a danger in Britain, the courts now controlled by liberal moonbat socialist judges.
One wonders what will happen when the Islamic fascists in Britain begin their rampage of rapine murder and genocide against British Jews? They will be kept inside Britain also rather than being deported to the seat of the 12th Imam and his 72 Virgins.
All of Britain seems to have gone Aft Gone Agley.
That is too funny.
‘When is the funeral for the UK?’
This is not the UK, it is a few judges. The UK govt has now appealed against the decision.
Sometimes it just takes one.
Thanks. My computer skills are primitive, at best. :-)
That is hysterical... or it would be if it weren’t so true. Musn’t blame the perp, you know, or defend yourself. It might hurt his feelings.
Does The Guardian require excerpting? If so, you can’t legally post the whole article further down.
I didn’t know anything about that. Thanks for the tip. If this is illegal, perhaps the moderator would remove it.
") 4. Copy the text from Word and paste into FREEP Voila!
Pretty easy, actually.
1. Copy the text to a Word document
2. Change all double paragraph returns to a single return (Search "^p^p" / Replace "^p")
3. Change the now-single paragraph returns to a paragraph return with an HTML paragraph return (Search "^p" / Replace "^p <p>")
4. Copy the text from Word and paste into FREEP Voila!
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