At the point you begin to think that justice may be making a small comeback, along comes another travesty.Frances Inglis, 57, was yesterday jailed for life for the 'murder' of her beloved son who was barely alive, unable to speak, could hardly move, brain-damaged and a classic case of surgeons interfering in natural processes to provide a truly wicked outcome in the life of her tragic son, Thomas.
Her sentence carries a minimum recommendation of nine years imprisonment which seems grossly disproportionate for 'an act of love' which, even the most extreme anti-euthanasia supporters must agree is utterly excessive.
Even then, this is not really my point. In the last week or two, we have had a variety of crimes reported where court sentences of such 'softness' have been applied that I was fizzing with anger.
Trivial sentences have been imposed on drugs barons, a young man of such evil that he he was crossed and waited before pouring bleach all over a lady who had dared to criticise him and many more besides.
Against this kind of backcloth where brutal murderers have been given tariffs of only six years more, the disproportionate nature of this sentence simply horrifies me.
I resigned from the Sheffield Bench nearly five years ago as a Chairman of Magistrates for precisely this cause. It wasn't the only reason, certainly, but I had a great many problems with those kind of imbalances which destroy the justice which the great British public are entitled to expect from their courts.
