Caught "red handed"?
By the "long arm of the law"
Did he have to "stump up" his bail money?
Was he released due to him being 'armless?
He should heed the old addage... Forewarned is "forearmed".....
.....Fine, i am getting my coat!
Armless getaway driver leads police a merry dance
An semi-armless teenager who acted as getaway driver on a jewellery heist, driving at 100mph during a police pursuit "despite needing somebody to change the gears for him", has escaped jail, the Telegraph reports. John Smith, 18 - who has no arms below the elbow - was in charge of a Ford Focus during the robbery of Ernest …
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Monday 14th September 2009 09:36 GMT dunncha
I was surprised to see this was in the UK
These types of stories are usually from some strange Russian country that nobody has every heard off.
Nice to see PLOD earning their keep. Of course if they wanted to stop them under Anti-Terror legislation and search their camera's for information useful for a terrorist then it was just lucky I guess.
Or maybe this will pop up as an example of how it works
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Monday 14th September 2009 10:26 GMT The Original Ash
Sigh...
A man driving other than in accordance with a license, without insurance, and not being in a fit state to remain in full control of the vehicle, should be put in jail. His recklessness and disregard for public safety makes him a danger to society. This is the very reason for which we have prisons; To remove dangerous people from society.
It is the *definition* of incarceration.
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Monday 14th September 2009 10:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
Sentencing lottery
We don't have the full evidence and case notes the judge / jury saw but it seems he got off more lightly than others have in similar cases. Whether disability should be a mitigating factor in punishment will no doubt be a contentious issue; not taking part in the robbery itself though hasn't saved other getaway drivers.
I'm surprised with a high-speed chase and a driver obviously incapable of controlling a vehicle that he was not also charged with dangerous driving and related offences.
Mine's the short-sleeved one.
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Monday 14th September 2009 10:55 GMT Andy Miller
@The Original Ash
And we can save a whole load of money by doing away with all these "courts" & "judges" & "juries" & "evidence" & "sentencing guidelines".
Why waste all that time looking at the facts of the case and the defendants, and worrying about what course of action has the highest chance of stopping this individual repeating his crimes?
No, lets just sentence people based on Ash's reading of an article on the Reg about a report in the Mail and Telegraph.
We might save enough money to pay for all those new prisons we're going to need.
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Monday 14th September 2009 12:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Not exactly the Italian Job
I would have loved to have been at the planning session for that one. I mean, what possible mindset can there be for such a decision?
"Ooz gonna drahv the mo-tah?"
"What baht John?"
"Nice one. E's perfeck, on accahnt of not 'avin any arms, in'ee?"
OK, the Dickensian / Morporkian accents are in my head, but they add a little something to the whole farcical affair.
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Monday 14th September 2009 12:55 GMT Tony S
@Sarah Bee
Perhaps we should have a "Miserable Git" award - you can name & shame all of those that demand "where's the IT angle" and everyone can vote for their favourite to be ritually humiliated. We could have a panel of celebrity IT judges to make caustic remarks about their IT skills (or should that be skillz?)
And in case anyone from TV land is reading this, I reserve to right to be considered the author of this idea, so anyone thinking of turning it into a programme, I want 10%
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Monday 14th September 2009 15:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
He's well known to police
One-fingered Johnny has been in crime since he could walk, his brothers figured the social services always got him off so put him in the windows to open the house doors to burgle.
He could not be put in an ID line up as they needed find three other people like him, hence he couldn't be identified by his victims.
He was always riding stolen mopeds around the Marquess estate with his "gang", taunting police, again when caught the social services got him off....he has a reputation as untouchable by the law due to his disability...as one neighbour put it "if he's this bad now, what would he be like with hands?"
the whole family are in and out of remand centres and prison, local drug dealers and muggers the lot.
defiantely a failure on child services and a good candidate for care in the community not working
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Monday 14th September 2009 15:41 GMT James Micallef
So you get....
... at the very most, 32 months (minus time off) for breaking and entering and stealing a 6-figure sum?? While the police tie themselves in knots to prosecute possession of consensual adult 'extreme' porn, arrest photographers for being too tall, and shoot Brazilian electricians for having a middle-eastern skin tone???
Good to see someone has their priorities right
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Tuesday 15th September 2009 00:34 GMT Colin Wilson
politically correct b*llocks yet again
"his disability and the fact he did not take part in the raid itself enabled him to suspend the custodial sentence"
Hang on, this scrote was the getaway driver for "armed" robbers - throw the book at him. Anyone else driving like him even without the robbery aspect would be in jail. Conspiracy to commit theft should be an additional tariff on top of any other sentence.
ESC - because that's what he appears to have done !
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
