Old Bailey trip report update

[lethargic_man]

In furtherance to my Old Bailey trip report, Lemuel Robinson got sentenced to ten years in jail, and Andrew Cross to eleven and a half. (Legister got five years, and Rouillon five years and nine months.) Possibly heavy sentences for firearm possession are routine for Operation Trident cases, but, given especially that this (appallingly designed) Operation Trident webpage says "Get caught with a gun and you could face 5 years in prison", it looks to me that maybe the judge used the firearms convictions as an excuse to make sentences for a murder which couldn't be proven in court.

Or maybe that's just me, as I don't have the full facts in this case.

Comments

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I agree to put someone in prison for dangerous weapons like a real gun. I am not quiet sure about the knife. I bought kitchen knives and when they were not very good I bought sharper ones. I was only asked for a passport or ID once at the till before paying and was never arrested on the way even if I was not asked. I know you have a swiss knife. Did you ever got in trouble for that?

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I agree to put someone in prison for dangerous weapons like a real gun. I am not quiet sure about the knife. I bought kitchen knives and when they were not very good I bought sharper ones. I was only asked for a passport or ID once at the till before paying and was never arrested on the way even if I was not asked.

The thing about knives is that sharp knives are in general usage and need—you don't need guns for your kitchen–so you can't really stop people buying them. What the Metropolitan Police are trying to stop is not people owning knives, but people carrying them when they're out and about, for use as a weapon. Once you've bought a kitchen knife, for most people it stays, then, in the kitchen.

I know you have a swiss knife. Did you ever got in trouble for that?

No, but I don't tend to carry it about with me; it stays at home. And I never bought it in the first place. (Except technically: it's not considered appropriate in Judaism to give (potential) weapons as gifts, so when my grandfather gave me it as a birthday present when I was fourteen, I gave him a penny in exchange, so I was buying it off him rather than receiving it as a present.)