Posted on 07/01/2009 6:39:52 PM PDT by naturalman1975
An utter lack of remorse last night condemned Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs to an almost certain death behind bars. Jack Straw ruled that - despite the Parole Board saying the frail 79-year-old was safe to be released - he must stay in jail.
The Justice Secretary, whose shock decision divided MPs and legal experts, said Biggs had been 'wholly unrepentant' and did not deserve to be granted parole. Insiders admitted it was rare if not unprecedented for a minister to reject the advice of the Parole Board in such circumstances.
It prompted immediate accusations that Mr Straw was chasing headlines that he is 'tough' on crime. Tens of thousands of pounds of public money has also been wasted preparing Biggs for release, and finding him a £30,000-a-year place at a North London nursing home, where he was expected to see out his final days.
His Brazilian-born son Michael, who for eight years has campaigned for his release, lives close by. Tory MP and former home office minister Ann Widdecombe said: 'The prisons are bursting at the seams. The courts are being urged to let burglars go free, but one fairly doddery and very frail old man is being kept in prison. 'If you have got a prison place, for goodness' sake use it to lock up someone who is genuinely a risk to the public.'
But Mr Straw said: 'Mr Biggs chose to serve only one year of a 30-year sentence before he took the personal decision to commit another offence and escape from prison, avoiding capture by travelling abroad for 35 years whilst outrageously courting the media.
'Had he complied with his sentence, he would have been a free man many years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The man got thirty years. He should serve his sentence. I'm not opposed to parole in some cases - but he escaped and his supporters still seem to think he should be released after serving the same proportion of his full sentence, that those arrested with him and sentenced with him, served.
'Ede 'ave bin aht toot sweet".
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
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45 posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:41:31 PM by Jim Robinson (Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jimrobfr)
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