Nice to know the courts take domestic violence so seriously... not.

[McEdam]

man brands his wife with an iron and walks free

Outrageous. Apparently the judge said the husband was too busy working to do a community sentence, and wouldn't offend again because his wife had left him. Good grief.

[wolveschick]

Many magistrates courts now have specialist domestic violence courts with magistrates who have received training on domestic violence to try to eradicate this type of sentence being passed.

[policywonk]

Edam, in your email, what did you put as the date of the sentence? Was this yesterday?

[McEdam]

I put Monday, as I assume it was a Mon for Tues story ie in the paper the day after it happened. Gave the court and judge's details so shouldn't be hard to track down. Haven't had an acknowledgement yet, though.

[tribpot]

Edam, I'm going to email today. Haven't found the story covered in any other newspapers, I think?

[kerala]

Just read another one in the press today about a hospital doctor who beat his wife up hitting her 24 times. He had been verbally and physically abusing her for years. He got a £500 fine. He earns 100k a year.

[paolosgirl]

Does the shit still work for LEK Consultancy? Might be worth bombarding them with emails....

[whiskeyandbeer]

mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=2724&threadid=376621&stamp=070823171941

also nice to see that fellow posters on mumsnet take domestic violence so seriously.although perhaps because it is in a foreign country it doesn't count.

[Hurlyburly]

Oh whiskey! Of course we take domestic violence seriously. Of course we do. Don't get huffy.

The reason no-one explained is that no-one wanted to get into a fight over it. Basically it's mostly women that get beaten, isn't it? So when a woman lashes out (which can itself be a symptom of battered woman syndrome) in that sort of way there is an irony.

[whiskeyandbeer]

i'm not getting huffy but i'm just pointing out the ridiculous double standards from posters on a sight which has so many who seem to be on the moral high-ground.
as i said can you imagine the response if my first post on this thread was " bet she'll have the ironing done next time"

[policywonk]

paolosgirl - I tried to find an email address for LEK but could only find postal addresses and telephone numbers.

[McEdam]

Oh, I'm glad to hear that you are emailing too, Tribpot. No, I didn't see it anywhere else, which is odd.

[Nightynight]

This case makes me more angry than I can say. This woman showed huge courage going to court, and that is what happened.

[j20baby]

FFS, disgusting!

did you also know that up until a few years ago (1996 i think, feel free to tell me i'm wrong!) it wasn't illegal for a man to rape his wife! english legal system is fu**ed up.

[hatwoman]

I am absolutely stunned. it was the circumstances of the marriage that made him do it and now they're getting divorced he won't re-offend! what a ludicrous argument.

[McEdam]

If you are angry about this case, please email the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, to press her to appeal against the sentence. I've coped Lemonaid's helpful post:

What is the procedure for making a request to the Attorney General to consider referring a sentence?

There is a strict time limit of 28 days from the date of sentence for the Attorney General to apply to the Court of Appeal to refer a sentence. It is therefore imperative that any request to consider referring a sentence is made to this office well within those 28 days, in order for the papers to be obtained and counsel's advice sought where appropriate. There is no power to extend the 28-day period.

The request should be made in writing or by email [email protected] specifying the name of the defendant, date of sentence, Crown Court and offence(s), and the name and contact address for the person seeking the review.

(www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/sub_statistics_faq.htm)

[Callisto]

The email address for LEK Consulting is [email protected].

[Callisto]

Also three of their experts are Colin Farmer, John Westwood and Nick Holder so their email addreses are probably [email protected] or [email protected].

If I shouldn't be posting peoples email addresses on without their knowlege please delete this post or let me know and I will.

[lemonaid]

Not exactly "double standards", though, since so far as I can see the only posters these threads have in common are hatwoman (whose contribution to the other thread was to point out the undderlying social conditions in Russia) and you (and you weren't exactly rolling around in the aisles chortling).

[whiskeyandbeer]

very fair point lemonaid.

[whiskeyandbeer]

although hurlyburly's suggestion that their is some sort of ironic comedic value is on this thread and received no such condemnation.

[yoyo]

This was in today's Guardian.

[policywonk]

Thanks for the LEK email Callisto.

[Nightynight]

I have just emailed the correspondence unit at the attorney general - thank you for that address and info.

[gomez]

Thought you might be interested to hear that I have had a response from the AG and she can't request a referal to the Court of Appeal because the conviction - i.e. actual bodily harm - is outwith the scope of the scheme.

Very disappointing.

[McEdam]

Me too. Apparently the offence is 'not serious' enough.

"In this case, Colin Read was sentenced for 3 offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contrary to Section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. I am sorry to say that this offence is not one which is within the scheme, and so the Attorney General is unable to take any action on this case. Whilst I understand the concerns you have raised about the sentence, the Attorney has no power to intervene in relation to it."


I asked if they would warn the judge that the AG had received complaints, or whether judges have any training about domestic violence. And was told 'that's a matter for the Ministry of Justice'.

Clearly men and women are still not equal in the eyes of the law. Outrageous.