Justice?

What a day I had yesterday. A friend of mine has been rather naughty and extremely stupid. The net result of this is that he's on remand in a prison in Oxford. Yesterday he was due to be sentenced. He has pleaded guilty (because he is). Sadly for him, some of his associates haven't and a full trial has been set for September. Due to the circumstances, at the commital hearing in March it was decided that the members of the gang who had pleaded guilty would be sentenced yesterday, assuming the trial judge agreed. As a couple of the gang had a minor role and were previously of  good character, there is a good chance that if the sentencing is delayed until September they will have suffered that rare injustice in Great Britain, they will have been in prison for too long.

So I picked his girlfriend up from Mill Hill East station at 7am and drove to Oxford. We got their to find that the sentencing hearing was at 2pm at the earliest. We had the joy of sitting around until around 2.30pm. Then we went in only to be asked by my friends barrister to come outside. There was a problem. The court hadn't appointed a trial judge, so the hearing was pointless. Relatives who'd travelled from all over the country were left bewildered. No apology for our inconvenience. No recompense for our day off work. You see often the people who really suffer as a result of the criminal system most are not the criminals. My friend wasn't going anywhere, the postponement affects nothing. In my friends case the crime was a financial crime, with no victim (other than a large company). He deserves what he gets, I have no problem with that. He's looking at 2-3 years. He has accepted that he's made a huge mistake and is putting the time in prison to good use. He's been studying and has achieved a couple of diplomas. He goes to the gym every day. Apparently all prisoners have this option, but most don't bother.

He went completely off the rails a few year ago. He has learned a lesson and prison has done him a lot of good. I genuinely think he'd have died sooner or later if he'd continued with his former lifestyle. As such I'm pleased at what has happened. What I am less happy with is the way that it appears the system treats people. We had a wasted day in Oxford, without any sort of apology. If they hadn't appointed a trial judge, they should have let us know and postponed. My friend is on legal aid so all of the barristers and court time is completely wasted. Probably a few thousand pounds. How often does this happen across the country? The barrister said "quite often". Add it all up and it's a huge expense.

My friend also has a problem with his tooth and is in agony. He's been told he can't see a dentist until he's sentenced. To me that is inhuman. He was hoping that this would be next week, but it's June 2nd at the earliest. I left the court feeling dazed and angry. To make matters worse, the council car park we'd parked in stung me for £17.20 when I picked up my car. That was for six hours. I thought Barnet was bad for parking......