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Garry Newlove
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No justice for the law-abiding
Vic Barlow7/ 5/2008
FOR ALL those police officers, magistrates, judges, solicitors and politicians who believe public scorn in the criminal justice system is unwarranted: read on.
The night Garry Newlove was murdered outside his Warrington home began, like many others, with a spate of criminal damage.
Mr Newlove’s widow said the perpetrators, who were vandalising her car, knew police would not respond quickly. They were proved right.
When the violence escalated, the Newlove family called Cheshire Police to be told they were "15th in line". Mrs Newlove watched in horror as her husband was kicked to death for remonstrating with a gang of mindless thugs.
Now, you can spin it any which way, but if law-abiding residents can’t get police assistance in a time of genuine need, then we don’t have an emergency service. Mr Newlove paid for that irrefutable fact with his life.
Adam Swelling, the leader of this violent gang, was freed on bail by magistrates only hours before the attack on Mr Newlove, despite admitting violent assault on a police officer.
Swelling had a long history for breaching restraining orders. Nevertheless, magistrates turned him loose with yet another meaningless order to stay out of Warrington. A few hours later, he attacked Garry Newlove in that very town.
Is it any wonder residents feel betrayed by the forces of law and order?
An incident that could have been avoided by conscientious magistrates and a responsive police force escalated into murder.
How many Garry Newloves must die before we have a criminal justice system that protects the law-abiding from the lawless?
The views on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express
Most recent 2 of 21 user comments
Go on Gerry, explain why you feel so?
14/05/2008 at 04:35
Got an opinion you want to share?Should GPs have to undergo an annual test of competence?
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You will acknowledge that at critical times people find it very difficult to get through to the Police and get them round - have you ever thought of starting a blog, or a web site, in which people could get in touch with you? ( Difficult one as it could become a full time job in itself. I have a monthly column in the Macc Express and regularly ask people to get in touch if they want me me to comment on certain issues. It rarely happens so my column tends to be topical to what I am currently dealing with. I am happy to contribute to sites such as this as I feel it is important to do so. Longer term it may be possible to introduce a blog and video footage of police interventions into the force website. Again I would be more than happy to develop that in terms of striving to ensure that everyone would know who to contact, for what and how )
No, this wouldn't solve the problem highlighted - but it just might be a really good way to cement the links between police and those who live in these at-risk street ( Totally agree )
And the closer those links are, the more we are all going to achieve ( Again, agree completely )
14/05/2008 at 21:34