a World gone mad

[Troll]

A shopkeeper has been fined £250 and given a criminal record because he fought back when he was attacked by shoplifters.

Jacob Smyth chased three youths out of his hardware shop in Penzance, Cornwall, when he was set upon. When he was kicked in the groin by one of the hooded youths who had stolen cans of spray paint Mr Smyth hit back.

Police issued fixed penalty tickets to the shoplifters but charged Mr Smyth and a colleague with assault.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to assault at Truro Magistrates’ Court. He claimed after the hearing that he had been advised to plead guilty because otherwise he could have faced a six month prison sentence.

The court was told that Mr Smyth, a father of three, caught the youths stealing the spray cans in October last year. Two of them turned on him and he was kicked in his groin just weeks after a vasectomy operation. He retaliated and punched 18-year-old Craig Spiller to the ground.

speechless

[pisces]

Should have pleaded NG. The judge may well have backed him up.

Silly man

[Kyajae]

speechless

Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.

Weak on bollocks, weak on the causes of bollocks.

[vetran]

handcart in hell a.

Brewery, occasion social organise.

Labour incompetent.

[Cooperinliverp00l]

if you would have known you were going to get done for it i would have gone to town on the Chav's face.....go to jail for a real reason not a scratch

[zathras]

speechless

I read somewhere that he had kicked the little twerp when said twerp was on the ground, hence the charge.

The really silly thing about this is that the twerp and his mates get a fixed £80 penalty and the shopkeeper who is just defending his property risks 6 months behind bars.

Given that the average cost of goods stolen is £200 and the fixed penalty is £80 is it any wonder that shop keepers are now turning to their own form of justice since it is not going to come from society.

[lilelvis2000]

Is there a way to dismantle that Liberty group, legally. And perhaps also get that chakrabarti lad a decent haircut?

[Ardesco]

I read somewhere that he had kicked the little twerp when said twerp was on the ground, hence the charge.

If he had kicked me in the knackers just after i'd had the snip I'd have probably done a bit more than that. The shopkeeper was very restrained IMHO.

Again it just shows how useless our justice system currently is. Your average upstanding member of the public who gets pulled into court will normally go down for a minor infraction, wheras your systematic offender who knows the system inside and out will probably get away with a slap on the wrists after the judge takes pity on him because he had a bad life and is really trying to be a better person honest guvnor....

[Flubster]

I caught a burglar in my house a few years back. I gave the tw@t a bit of a slap and had him in an arm-lock on the ground for 20mins while the police turned up.

I explained to the police exactly what happened at which point they said I should've kicked him harder and not to worry...they won't include the 'assault' in their notes. It seemed the toe-rag had a violent history and had previously had form of assaulting police officers....

I later got a thank-you letter from the police for 'vigilance'. I think that should have ready 'vigilanty'.

[lilelvis2000]

A similar sencario happened to an acquitance of mine. He was out one night waiting for a taxi. A young man came along and tried to mug him. My pal held him off and gave him a couple extra. He restrained the man and called the police. The thief was let go with a misdemeanor. My pal was charged with assult - but the case was later dropped.

I did also hear of a case of a burgler who was beaten up by the homeowner. The burgler fell out of the window he came in and was injured. The police charged the homeowner with assault. great!

It truely has become a world gone mad. I wonder sometimes if someone was to attack my family what could I do?