To feel sorry for (and think the punishment is too long) for the 18 year old who threw the fire extinguisher in the protests

[LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake]

2 years, 8 months in jail

here

That's a looooong time. Is the reasoning supposed to be that it's a deterrent?

There are people with asbo's who cause no end of trouble and don't get sentences like this.

Also as soon as the media got video picture of this man he was on every 5 seconds. DO you think that may have been why he turned himself in?? I don't think it was his concience

That's pretty silly junkcollector. I think that it would have made very little difference.

"There seems no intent behind this"

Did he trip whilst carrying the fire extinguisher and accidentally lob it out of the window?

He should be counting his lucky stars that he's got off so lightly - what if he had killed someone? He'd be facing manslaughter/murder.

It appears to me it's a class thing - you seem swayed by an A level student with a bumbling hairstyle and very nice mother v your dog shit shoving asbo holders.

Or maybe it is the political activism turning your head - either way he is bloody lucky not to have manslaughter on his police file.

It's interesting how litle one needs to scratch beneath the surface for the true nature of the Left to appear - those equivocating about the length of his sentence are apologists for political violence and either do not understand parliamentary democracy or disregard it when its decisions go against their own interests.

I don't feel sorry for him as someone could have been killed, but I was shocked at how long the sentence was.

Edna - are you saying that dog-shit-shoving kids are unlikely to have nice mothers

Now, who's being judgemental

I've said nothing about the political activism, not one word.

I think a very steep fine and lots of community service would have punished him better. I thought people were getting fewer prison sentences if they're not thought of as a threat to the public, which I don't think he will be in the future. I have mixed feelings. Yes, he should have been punished somehow but he's more stupid imv than someone that will be long-term trouble (I would hope). The whole system needs bringing into line. I think there were 3 people given community service the other week for kicking some man's head in on the train. They were all 'young professionals' drunk and I think that should have warranted stiffer punishment.

"apologists for political violence and either do not understand parliamentary democracy or disregard it when its decisions go against their own interests."

He's a sixth former who did something stupid and reckless not an anarchist with plans to smash global capitalism. Get a grip.

Well no, but the picture you linked to showed him holding hands with his mum as he turned up to court.

I was surprised by the length of the sentence. And the cynic in me wonders whether he would have got such a sentence if he'd committed the crime on a drunken night out in his local town centre. Or whether this is a case of sending out a strong message on behalf of the government

narkypuffin - thank you for demonstrating my point so quickly.

YABU, he threw a fire extinguisher off a roof, what other intention could there have been but to hurt someone.

Check back Pascoe28. I have not equivocated about the lenght of his sentence. I supported it fully.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

YANBU - no one was actually hurt - he turned himself in - he is very young and did it in "a moment of madness", he wasn't logically thinking about the consequences.

Agree with Tabliope -
If someone had been hurt then yes, he should have had a custodial sentence in line with causing GBH or manslaughter. The drunk driver who killed my BF (who had previous convictions served less time than this - he killed again). This boy is not an ongoing threat to sociey and now his life is going to be hell.

I feel very, very sorry for him. Show some compassion. He is "being made an example of"

I don't know why everyone is sure he got longer because of the publicity. The judge may just have followed what the sentencing guidelines are and considered him to be a reckless arse who was quite prepared to kill a police officer.

It's not so much 'what could have happened' as the fact that in those circumstances he will be taken to have foreseen that he could kill somebody by throwing the fire extinguisher off the roof and have done it anyway-it speaks for itself that if you throw a heavy object off a roof into a crowd, then death or serious injury to someone below is a very real possibility. That's part of his conduct/offence for which he is being sentenced, and I think that's only right. People get convicted and sentenced on the basis of their intentions or outcomes they were clearly prepared to countenance all the time.

It's not so much that he got too long a sentence but that so many people get too little. Crimes against the person do not attract long enough sentences.

Mind you, where driving cases are concerned, people moan about insufficient sentences but when the law was different (not 'causing death by dangerous driving' but 'motor manslaughter') it was hard to get juries (most of whom would probably be drivers) to convict. So what to do?

YABU he was an idiot. It was sheer luck no one was killed or seriously injured.

He did a very, very stupid thing and these things have consequences. A good dose of reality has now hit home and hopefully he never gets to uni as clowns like this do not deserve the benefit of a good education.

What did he think would happen? It would do good if people like this are made to face up to the responsibilities of their actions.

I'd like to hope that someone who broke into a private building before attacking on duty police officers with a fire extinguisher or any other potentially deadly weapon would receive a similar sentence. And if they did not I'd say they deserved to.

Watch the footage again and see how close he came to killing someone, people have a right to protest peacefully.

I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest, it's not long enough.
Stupid idiot threw a fire extinguisher off building which could have killed someone, he deserves all he gets.
As for all other thugs, they deserve the same type of punishment, forget ASBO's they need this type of thing doling out, let's hope we start to see tougher sentencing in future.
YABVU.

Oh and nit get killed doing their job

he's an idiot-he could have killed someone- so I do think he deserves it.

YANBU, I too agree his sentence was a bit harsh. I think he acted utterly stupid and and his behavior was reckless without a shadow of doubt, but I think it may have been a moment of madness, heat of the moment thing with little thought behind it.

One act of madness will now shadow his future, career, travel for the rest of his life.

Quote from his solicitor referrring to the sentence

'This represents a genuine tragedy,' Mr Hossein said.

What nonsense, how can it be a tragedy that someone who through sheer luck avoiding killing an innocent person in the street below has to take his punishment.

From what I've heard on the news today he only handed himself in after it became clear that he'd been filmed and was identifiable.