Gardener on Knife Charges
This morning I was reading Metro (the poor man's alternative to a proper newspaper) when I caught a story about a gardener who was hauled into court on charges of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.
Peter Drew, 49, was pulled over by the police on his way to a job. As the police like to do they ended up ferreting about in his van and found some tools of the gardening trade (quel surprise). The items included a machete and scythe, which Mr Drew used for clearing weeds.
You're probably thinking there's nothing hugely abnormal or unreasonable with that - a gardener having sharp pointy things for dealing with weeds - and you'd be absolutely right.
Unfortunately, it appears Devon and Cornwall Police have a different interpretation of the law, which affords protection to people carrying sharp pointy things in connection with their work. Doubly disappointing is that the Crown Prosecution Service - top of the flops when it comes to serving the public interest - decided the case had sufficient merit to proceed with the prosecution.
Thankfully for Mr Drew the case collapsed when the CPS withdrew the case at the last minute due to having zero evidence.
Judge Paul Darlow criticised the CPS's lacklustre performance, saying: "I want to find out why we have got to the start of the trial and the CPS is suddenly saying 'Oops'.
"I do not think the CPS can escape criticism or blame if they leave it to the last minute to make up their minds. We despair of trying to run these courts in any sort of efficient way.
"We have had cases collapse on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Try telling this to jurors who come from their jobs and their homes, quite apart from any trial and trauma that Mr Drew has been through, by knowing that in October he would be in front of a jury."
Another damning example of how the police and CPS target the innocent, simply because they're more compliant and easier pickings than the guilty.
Useless bastards.
Peter Drew, 49, was pulled over by the police on his way to a job. As the police like to do they ended up ferreting about in his van and found some tools of the gardening trade (quel surprise). The items included a machete and scythe, which Mr Drew used for clearing weeds.
You're probably thinking there's nothing hugely abnormal or unreasonable with that - a gardener having sharp pointy things for dealing with weeds - and you'd be absolutely right.
Unfortunately, it appears Devon and Cornwall Police have a different interpretation of the law, which affords protection to people carrying sharp pointy things in connection with their work. Doubly disappointing is that the Crown Prosecution Service - top of the flops when it comes to serving the public interest - decided the case had sufficient merit to proceed with the prosecution.
Thankfully for Mr Drew the case collapsed when the CPS withdrew the case at the last minute due to having zero evidence.
Judge Paul Darlow criticised the CPS's lacklustre performance, saying: "I want to find out why we have got to the start of the trial and the CPS is suddenly saying 'Oops'.
"I do not think the CPS can escape criticism or blame if they leave it to the last minute to make up their minds. We despair of trying to run these courts in any sort of efficient way.
"We have had cases collapse on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Try telling this to jurors who come from their jobs and their homes, quite apart from any trial and trauma that Mr Drew has been through, by knowing that in October he would be in front of a jury."
Another damning example of how the police and CPS target the innocent, simply because they're more compliant and easier pickings than the guilty.
Useless bastards.
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