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Imprisonment looming for man who does the right thing

Scales_of_justice Paul Clarke, an ex-soldier, found a gun dumped in a bag in his garden.  He took it to the police station.  Those, it seems, are entirely agreed facts.  Nevertheless he was arrested, prosecuted and has now been convicted under the strict liability rules of the Firearms Act.

The story has been widely discussed in in the blogosphere recent days. It is, it seems to me, a remarkably depressing example of the failings of our legal system. In the spirit of PMQs I would simply make the following points:

WRONG: policeman who arrests him

RESULT: employed by the state.

WRONG: prosecutor who charges him

RESULT: employed by the state.

WRONG: judge who directs jury to convict him

RESULT: employed by the state.

In fact, the only variation is this:

RIGHT: honest man finds gun and hands it in to the authorities.

RESULT: imprisoned by the state.

By Alex Deane

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Legal Action
  • http://profile.typepad.com/6p0120a66f1060970b Mark Carter

    How can the British public have faith in our legal system and Police when this kind of injustice happens. This kind of Zero tolerance policing is absurd.

  • http://www.holisticsystems.co.uk Simon

    this isn’t a case of zero toleranace policing, it’s zero *intelligence* policing.
    we expect *much* better than this from our so called justice system.

  • http://www.donalblaney.blogspot.com Sarkis Zeronian
  • Michael B

    OK so what can we don about it? This man deserves our support and the powers that be deserve to hear our anger and disapproval.

  • Stonyground

    The reaction from many in the blogsphere has been disbelief. Many people have commented that it is either not true or that we are only getting half of the story. I think that we should always be careful about what we believe and try to verify stories before kicking off about them, but this one does appear to be authentic.
    Where are the mainstream media on this matter? If they don’t pick up on it soon I will begin to think that they are complicit in some way.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/alexdeane Alex Deane

    I waited for several days before writing about this, in part because I thought it so absurd that there “must be” something more behind it. It would seem that it is simply what happened. Incredible.
    As to what we can do… well, he has Legal Aid, so BBW’s assistance can’t make a difference there – but we can highlight it in the media and to our MPs, and we can name and shame the police officer, Chief Superintendent Adrian Harper, who was contacted by Clarke when he found the gun and effectively allowed him to walk into this legal trap, and name and shame the judge, Christopher Critchlow, whose guidance to the jury seemingly led to his conviction.
    BBW will keep plugging away. I will be raising this case with party representatives as a good reason to change the law in this field. If this result comes, not from absurdity as one would hope, but from the law, then the law is wrong.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/alexdeane Alex Deane

    I’ve been talking about this with some people in the westminster world, but until that bears fruit how’s this for a bit of progress on this story: http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2009/11/karma-strikes-cop.html