4 yrs for cutting down tree, no jail time for rape

Have you read any of the transcripts coming out around this about the impact it has had on the national trust, locals etc or the reasoning the judge had for sentencing

because it did emotionally and financially have an impact that I suggest you look at - just because it doesn’t impact you doesn’t mean others aren’t affected

and let’s be honest being drunk shouldn’t be a good defence at any time but certainly not when something you can just do accidentally

we do have a real issue with the laws and implementation and sentencing (often by male judges)

that doesn’t make this sentence (by as an aside a female judge) wrong or incorrect because within the guidelines for criminal damage it is to to me appropriate

We’re here because you brought us here. You were the one who started this absurd debate.

What a stupid click bait thread. Conviction for rape carries a minimum sentence so OP is incorrect. I've looked at the links and they refer to sexual assault, not rape. Yes conviction rates are low and sentences are too light but if you are trying to bring about change you'd need to know what the words rape and conviction actually mean. This whole thread just makes the OP look stupid.

What a stupid click bait thread. Conviction for rape carries a minimum sentence so OP is incorrect. I've looked at the links and they refer to sexual assault, not rape. Yes conviction rates are low and sentences are too light but if you are trying to bring about change you'd need to know what the words rape and conviction actually mean. This whole thread just makes the OP look stupid.

I think it was too lenient personally.

Some of us think it was

Yes, we shouldn't give a shit about nature or vandalism because rape exists 🙄

So true. It was stupid, drunken behaviour. They should have been punished, but only when all the rapists and pedophiles are jailed, who predominately target females. Did you see that serial rapist on 24 hours in police custody who got ten years for multiple druggings and rapes. That means he will do about five years. Five years for god knows how many rapes. As a society, our mass silence that we have to hide our anger in the name of a civilised society, means we are just bystanders in the repeated abuse and oppression of our gender.

I agree with op. It’s an insult to victims of rape and sexual assault. Google Michael Linfoot, Thomas Rae and Callum Hesketh if you think sex attackers are being punished properly. The three of them live streamed a sex attack of a school girl in a van and the three of them walked away with suspended sentences.

Both crimes deserve to spend time in prison.
Convictions for sexual assault are extremely poor, victims are put on trial, if they're lucky enough to make it to court

I assume you’re not from the area? I am. It would have been better if they’d simply taken a chainsaw to the Angel of the North because at least that could be remade. The tree was absolutely iconic for people from the area but also for many from round the world too and it cannot be simply replaced. Perhaps more to the point, they damaged Hadrian’s Wall. If it were the Syphinx or the Sistine Chapel or the Great Wall of China would you not think they were deserving of punishment? Their actions were disgraceful, damaging of both the environment and of a historical monument and were deeply upsetting to a lot of people, myself included. They wilfully damaged my heritage and then lied about it, costing valuable police resources and money. It was not ‘just a tree’.

there is an epidemic of male violence and misbehaviour and I would love to know what the government is going to do about it. I don't care that many men say not all men, We know that but we want to know what is going to be done about those men who are so messed up.

Why did those men cut the amazing tree, changing the landscape forever. It was an act of entitlement and violence. They deserved the 4 years.

Yes, violent assault on women is a different thing altogether. I think that men who abuse women in this way should be given life imprisonment.

I voted YABU because I don’t think the two are related. Rape sentences should carry almost the same sentence as murder imo and to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t be all that adverse to knackers being cut off. The cutting down of the Sycamore Gap tree is a completely unrelated crime and yes, I do believe it deserves a decent length prison sentence. I think 4 years is an appropriate sentence for the tree but not for rape.

It was a national 200 year old landmark and a living thing. What they did was simply yobo behaviour. I’d have given them a lot more time than 4 years. You can’t compare the two crimes.

I'm glad they've got 4 years.
Rape sentences should start at 25 years.

They aren't full of people who have written something on social media. HTH.

You need to take that up with the judge.

My comment was that a suspended sentence and a conditional discharge are not the same thing.

Being working class doesn’t absolve people of all wrongdoing. It’s patronising to the working classes to suggest they can’t enjoy walking. The tree was important to the nation, it was iconic to millennials for its staring role in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, it was important to the wildlife living in it. The reason they got four years was because it fell on and damaged Hadrians Wall. I’d suggest most people with a brain cell regardless of class understand not criminally damaging national treasures because they belong to our children and grandchildren. Those ‘ordinary blokes’ also wasted police time and taxpayer money with their lies. If someone is willing to drive in the dead of night to a beauty spot to spoil it for everybody and have a right good laugh about it, then I really doubt that they are secretly a misunderstood and upstanding individual.

Yes, OP, I agree with you. It was a tree. You can't arbitrarily assign ridiculous jail time because it was an especially special tree.

Too bad there are no especially special women that seem to be worthy enough to actually get justice.

Also they did damage Hadrians Wall!