'A senior magistrate has resigned in protest at Government policies that impose soft punishments and undermine the courts.Dr Dick Soper says criminals are walking free from prison after serving just a quarter of the sentences he and his colleagues impose.
Others are being handed fixed fines or police cautions - taking justice out of the hands of the courts and away from public scrutiny.
Undermined: Dr Dick Soper feels there is too much interference by politicians in the judicial system
Dr Soper, 64, a GP, has served 26 years on the bench at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
He used his final session yesterday to deliver an angry broadside, saying: 'Although I could serve for another five years I no longer feel my time is being usefully spent in court.
'I feel that this long-standing system which has served the public well for centuries has, in recent years, been more and more interfered with by politicians.'
He told how he recently jailed an offender for six months but saw him walking about the town just six weeks later.
Dr Soper said: 'My greatest frustration and that of my colleagues is the very early release of prisoners.'
He said virtually all offenders are released automatically halfway through their sentences, while emergency measures to tackle prison overcrowding means many have another 18 days knocked off their sentences. Yet the judges and magistrates who heard their cases have no say over their early release.'
When I was invited to 'come back at any time' when I quit the Sheffield Bench as a Chairman over three years ago - my thoughts were 'Not bloomin likely!'
What Dr Soper states here is only a tiny fraction of my reasoning for leaving the magistracy.
We used to have the best summary justice system in the world bar none - and the 'usual suspects' have calculatedly wrecked it and removed its effectiveness.
Good decision Doc - you may miss your colleagues, you may miss the excellent court clerks [now renamed and jargonised] but I promise you one thing - you will not miss the frustrations of being unable to follow through on your original oath to 'do right'.
LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1098847/I-quit-says-magistrate-fed-seeing-criminals-walk-free-quarter-sentences.html
