Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Keying £100k Aston Martin

77 replies

drifter2015 · 04/09/2015 16:14

AIBU to think this man deserves prison time?

uk.news.yahoo.com/hackney-as...1.html#xADwGfs

I've been reading on other forums people saying "prison for keying a car?" and "as a single parent he shouldn't go to jail" but the way i see it is that its the amount of damage, the damage he did is no different from burning out someones 7k car, or knocking down someones 7k conservatory?

OP posts:
MsJamieFraser · 04/09/2015 16:16

I'm not sure about jail time, but defo community service of some sort.

Horrid man!

nottheOP · 04/09/2015 16:16

Yes, the value of the car is irrelevant IMO but keying anyone's car is criminal damage and vandalism and should be punished. Admittedly prison space are a bit on the tight side for a sentence for this sort of crime

wankerchief · 04/09/2015 16:18

He shouldn't go to jail.
Not saying it wasn't a crime or he shouldn't be punished but not jail

Palomb · 04/09/2015 16:18

People who commit this kind of spiteful damage to people's property for absolutely no reason deserve to get banged up. Perhaps
Our crime rates would be lower if these minor offences were punished properly.

It shouldn't matter if the car is an Aston Martin or a 15 year old Nissan micra.

TheFairyCaravan · 04/09/2015 16:19

I think he should only go to prison if he, or any one else, would get sent to prison for keying an old banger too!

Imo, it's all relative. DS2(18) has a 9yo Renault Clio, it took him a year to save up for because he works in a NMW job on a weekend around his studies. His car is just as valuable to him as that blokes Aston Martin is to them.

JeffsanArsehole · 04/09/2015 16:20

Dreadful to get jail time, totally inappropriate

I am surprised given the massive gap between rich and poor that this doesn't happen all the time.

I'm not saying it should or that I condone it in any way. Our society is so unequal though, I'm just surprised it doesn't happen a lot.

Original poster
drifter2015 · 04/09/2015 16:20

nottheOP, its not about the value of the car, its about the cost of the damage, which in this case is over £7k,

what if he had stolen a load of items from a shop to the same value? would you think he should get jail time then?

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 04/09/2015 16:21

He has committed a criminal offence, the value of the car is irrelevant to that.

Prison is a nonsense though - community service, no excuses.

ImperialBlether · 04/09/2015 16:21

If he goes to prison he won't do it again. If he doesn't, there's a chance he will.

HaydeeofMonteCristo · 04/09/2015 16:21

I think prosecution and some punishment but not prison. For one thing the cost to the tax payer is not warranted by this (unless he has many previous convictions or there is more to it than meets the eye).

Squooshed · 04/09/2015 16:21

Stupid jealous act.

He should be punished but he certainly doesn't need to be jailed.

Squooshed · 04/09/2015 16:23

If he goes to prison he won't do it again. If he doesn't, there's a chance he will.

Ya think?

People bounce in and out of prison all the time.

JeffsanArsehole · 04/09/2015 16:24

And there's no way he would even get a fine if this happened to an old banger

No one would give a toss, apart from the person who really needed their car and had saved for ages

This is ALL about the cars value and the worth of the pesos who owns it

Original poster
drifter2015 · 04/09/2015 16:24

Maybe not prison if he agrees to pay the £7k back, but what are the chances of that?

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 04/09/2015 16:25

Prison will teach him a wealth of new skills. Criminal skills. And likely make him more resentful of society and less inclined to obey by its rules.

I'd rather he was taught some respect of others property and life skills to take his own life further.

Squooshed · 04/09/2015 16:26

I agree that people wouldn't be half as outraged if he'd keyed a Nissan Micra.

nottheOP · 04/09/2015 16:27

drifter I'm not saying that prison wouldn't be a fitting punishment (quite frankly, I'd like to get a bit violent if it was my car, and I'm not violent), it's just entirely unlikely given the crime.

I think that if goods could be stolen from a shop for £7,000 without causing any kind of assault that there might not be a prison sentence there either?

RachelZoe · 04/09/2015 16:27

It does happen a lot JeffsanArsehole, this guy was just caught in the act so it's hit the press.

DH and I's cars have both been fucked with more than once (they're very fancy), we know other people who have had this happen too. Lots of things like this go on, our kids getting abuse hurled at them when they're walking about in their (private) school uniform etc, it doesn't bother them and we have insurance so no big deal at all but it does happen.

This guy shouldn't go to jail though, the last time my car got "attacked" I was pissed off, and although they didn't get caught, I wouldn't have wanted prison if they had, community service or something would be better. Sending someone who is spiteful and angry enough to do that to prison is only going to exacerbate how they're feeling and probably make them more likely to reoffend, not going to help anyone.

FrancesOldhamKelseyRIP · 04/09/2015 16:28

There has to be a better way of punishing him that doesn't involve the huge expense and disruption of incarceration. We wouldn't exactly be quaking in our beds if he were free to walk the streets would we? We need a way of giving community sentencing more bite.

PacificDogwood · 04/09/2015 16:29

Nope, I disagree, it's a frigging horrible, nasty, sneaky thing to do to anybody's car.

Equally, if it was an old banger, it would not cost 7 grand to repair the damage - I am sure an Aston Martin respray is very expensive.

Yes, he should contribute to the cost. I don't see why my car insurance should go up. But again, how is prison going to achieve any of that? Still, no to prison.

Squooshed · 04/09/2015 16:30

We need a way of giving community sentencing more bite.

Agreed.

Original poster
drifter2015 · 04/09/2015 16:30

so what level of property damage in pounds does everyone think warrents a prison sentence?

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 04/09/2015 16:33

I'm not sure that a pound value makes any sense - it's all about context IMO.

Stealing the equivalent of somebody's state pension when that's all they've got, it worse than keying a car to the tune of 7k IMO.

Why are you in favour of custodial sentence in this case, OP?

TheFairyCaravan · 04/09/2015 16:33

My parents have a secondhand car sales garage. Years ago they had about 12 cars keyed on one night. The police couldn't have been less interested.

JeffsanArsehole · 04/09/2015 16:36

I don't think any monetary value is worth a prison sentence unless for example someone is harmed by it like old lady ripped off

I think prison should be for violent crimes/arson etc or crimes where people are harmed by being ripped off. Insurance (even though it's a massive pain in the arse) makes that mans car better.