Celebrity Justice

Shrien Dewani at murder trial

I wrote this piece about people's 'fitness to plead' in criminal trials more than three years ago and it's interesting to that a key player in preventing Shrien Dewani from answering charges that he arranged to have his new bride, Anni Dewani, murdered while on honeymoon in South Africa - was none other than the publicist Max Clifford.

Max Clifford, of course, is now serving a eight year prison sentence in the UK for a series of sex assaults against young women and girls which he has never admitted or expressed any remorse for, by the way.

So I hope he serves out his full sentence without a single day of remission, but I can't help feeling very uneasy that Max helped his millionaire businessman client to avoid facing justice in South Africa for years, no doubt in return for a very large sum of money. 

Fitness to Plead (9 September 2011)

I see that former French President - Jacques Chirac - is trying hard to avoid giving evidence in court where he faces a series of corruption charges.

Apparently, Jacques is suffering from memory loss and some form of Alzheimer's - which is sad, but is part of life - and happens to lots of people these days.

Whether or not this is so severe as to render the former president's evidence as completely unreliable - I don't know, but I doubt it very much.

I seem to recall a trial back in the 1980s when the director of a big company - Guinness, I think - used the self-same argument to avoid giving evidence in a Scottish court.

Yet soon after the trial was over - the man made a remarkable recovery - and was out playing golf and suchlike - enjoying life to the full once again.

Another case involving someone's fitness to give evidence involves Shrien Dewani - who is accused of consiracy to murder his young wife - while on honeymoon in South Africa.

Dewani's lawyers argue that he is unfit to face the charges because he is suffering from post-traumatic syndrome - and in addition that he shouldn't being sent to jail in South Africa anyway since that would infringe his human rights - because of the 'poor' conditions in their prison system.

Dewani's family have also secured the services of PR supremo Max Clifford to help present his 'case' - outside of court - and prevent his deportation to South Africa to face trial.

Meanwhile the murdered bride's distraught family - understandably - want to see the charges against their former son-in-law tested in court.

The balance to be struck is one of being fair to the individual - as well as the obvious public interest in justice being seen to be done.

But on the face of things I can see no good reason for either Jacques Chirac or Shrien Dewani to avoid facing their accusers in court.

Let's face it - Margo MacDonald suffers from Parkinson's Disease - as did my dear old Mum.

But that doesn't stop Margo giving doing her job in the Scottish Parliament - giving it 'laldy' regularly to the great and the good - on behalf of her constituents.

Sewers and Prisons (30 April 2014)

Morten Morland cartoon
Peter Brookes in The Times has a clever way of portraying Max Clifford's spectacular fall from grace although if I get the point of the cartoon, the famous publicist didn't seem to have too far to fall - in the first place.  


Hard Cases, Hard Laws (8 May 2014)




One swallow doesn't make a summer, just as one seemingly crazy case doesn't make the criminal justice system 'unfit for purpose'.

But you could make a good argument that this is true by simply referring to the amazing case of career criminal Michael Wheatley who was handed no less than 13 life sentences back in 2002 and yet has escaped prison in the past and while on the run committed a series of violent robberies before being caught and sent back to the pokey.

Now most normal people would ask how someone can be given 13 life sentences and still be eligible for parole and possible release back into public life, especially after escaping prison and re-offending twice.

And the answer is, of course, that the widespread practice of concurrent sentencing in the UK justice system effectively means that a criminal gets punished only once for their most serious offence even if, like Wheatley, they have been found guilty of committing violent robberies again and again.

Interestingly the judge who handed Max Clifford an 8 year sentence for a string of sex offences gave the famous publicist a series of consecutive not concurrent sentences, otherwise I imagine Max would have been out of jail within a year or two.

So I say promote the kind of judge who sentenced Max and get rid of judges who think it's OK to hand violent thugs and robbers 13 concurrent life sentences because they are making monkeys of us all.     

Fugitive 'Skull Cracker' Michael Wheatley in custody

Michael Wheatley failed to return after leaving an open prison

A fugitive armed robber nicknamed the "Skull Cracker" has been arrested in east London.

Kent Police said they had detained two men, aged 55 and 53, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

The force added: "The 55-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large."

Michael Wheatley, who absconded from HMP Standford Hill in Kent on Saturday, was given 13 life sentences in 2002 for raids on banks and building societies.

He has gone on the run twice in the past and each time staged a series of violent robberies before he was caught and re-jailed.

'Machine guns'


An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said he saw the arrest by armed police in Bow.

He said the police had machine guns and a man was wrestled to the ground.

Staff at the open prison on Sheppey raised the alert on Saturday after Wheatley had been released on temporary licence but failed to return that evening.

On Monday, there was a confirmed sighting of him in Twickenham, south west London, and several homes were searched but he was not found.

Detectives were earlier investigating an armed robbery at Chelsea Building Society branch in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, where "a quantity of cash" was taken by a man with a handgun.

Kent Police confirmed Wheatley's arrest is in relation to the building society raid.

A spokesman for Chelsea Building Society said no-one had been hurt in the attack at the branch in The Parade, Staines Road, but staff were left shaken.

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