Tony Blair's wife spares religious man jail.

[Matty1973]

BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8497365.stm)

A secularist group has lodged an official complaint against Cherie Booth QC after she spared a man from prison because he was religious.

.......

Ms Booth told Miah that violence had to be taken seriously, but said she would suspend his prison sentence because he was a religious person and had not been in trouble before.

She added: "You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behaviour."


If Bin Laden ever gets caught may be he can use the same defence!

[Darat]

(Have to say the titling of this thread really, really grates on me, "Tony Blair's wife", I would have hoped that the days of a wife being known as "Mrs Tony Blair" were long gone.)

To the article: from what I've read of judges sentencing statements over the years it is quite usual for a judge to take into consideration the "character" of someone when deciding on the sentencing. And as a concept I'm quite happy with them doing so, after all what they are doing is determining if someone poses a significant risk if they have a non-custodial sentence. Of course the idea that because someone expresses a religious faith is of itself a sign of "good" character is ludicrous.

Has anyone got any further details of the actual case in the report and a link to her complete statement?

[Matty1973]

(Have to say the titling of this thread really, really grates on me, "Tony Blair's wife", I would have hoped that the days of a wife being known as "Mrs Tony Blair" were long gone.)

I did initially copy the thread title from the BBC complete with Cherie Booth - but then I thought is it reasonable to expect readers of a foreign based forum to know the 'unmarried names' of the wives of our former prime ministers? I imagine a good proportion of the UK population would struggle to identify her correctly from the name alone. 'Cherie Blair' they might be ok with but the correct version of Booth I'm not so sure.

To the article: from what I've read of judges sentencing statements over the years it is quite usual for a judge to take into consideration the "character" of someone when deciding on the sentencing. And as a concept I'm quite happy with them doing so, after all what they are doing is determining if someone poses a significant risk if they have a non-custodial sentence. Of course the idea that because someone expresses a religious faith is of itself a sign of "good" character is ludicrous.


Agreed - it could even be argued that someone who is not allowed to think freely for themselves and follows instruction from higher powers/elders is a greater risk than someone who is not influenced in this way.

[zooterkin]

I just had a quick look, and couldn't see the story anywhere else yet. It did occur to me that she could just have easily gone the other way, and given him a stiffer sentence, since as a religious man he ought to have known he was doing wrong...

I'm guessing the reference to Tony Blair is because she goes by Cherie Booth, and some of our overseas readers may not recognise the name.

ETA: A couple of links from the Daily Hate, one about the case (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245506/Cherie-Blair-spares-violent-queue-rage-thug-religious-man.html), one about the subsequent protest (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1248402/Secularist-group-lodges-formal-complaint-Cherie-Blair-spares-violent-thug-jail-religious-man.html).


She told him: 'I am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years based on the fact you are a religious person and have not been in trouble before.

'You caused a mild fracture to the jaw of a member of the public standing in a queue at Lloyds Bank.

'You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behaviour.'


And here's the page at the National Secular Society (http://www.secularism.org.uk/cherie-blair-and-one-law-for-all.html), who are the group protesting.