Tag Archives: elizabeth roscoe

Tim Leunig writes: Riots, Justice and Reconciliation

Natasha Reid, a 24 year old graduate, was in McDonalds in Enfield on Sunday night. She noticed that Comet was being looted, and went in and helped herself to a £270 television. There is no suggestion that she caused any damage, or was violent in any way. She realised that what she had done was wrong, and handed herself in to the police.

She has been found guilty, and will be sentenced on 1 September. District judge Elizabeth Roscoe told her that her remorse would ‘very much go in your favour’ but warned that she could still face prison because of the ‘serious nature’ of the case.

That would not be appropriate. What Natasha Reid did was wrong, but, bluntly, since she got home with the television, and does not appear to have been caught on camera, she could probably have got away with it. She chose to confess, a remarkably brave thing to do given that sentencing was likely to be harsh.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 67 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Simon R
    @Joe: I don't think it's at all hypocritical to support Ukraine's right to sovereignty while also not being opposed to attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. ...
  • Mick Taylor
    @SimonR. I do have a PhD in economics and peer reviewed published papers and I do challenge the whole orthodox approach to economics practised par excellence by...
  • Andy Daer
    @Hina, you might not have got the responses your expected, but I hope you will take heart from those of us who think racism is on the retreat n this country. T...
  • Simon R
    @Steve: Ah, so you want to challenge the whole academic discipline of economics, and all the couple of hundred years of research by many thousands of people tha...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Alas, I beg to differ concerning the validity of current orthodox economics theory, practice and teaching. One objective test of current "Economics" is the ...