Aidan McAnespie - HET enquiry

[keep her low this half]

Suspended sentence I see. As unpalatable as it was it's legally the correct result.

In layman terms how come? Genuine question.

Id be interested in knowing the answer also

Plenty of people do time for causing death by dangerous driving. Is a heavy machine gun less lethal than a car? Kill someone by accident driving a car and do jail. Kill someone "by accident" with a heavy machine gun and walk free!!! Bollocks.

[David McKeown]

Sentencing of historic offences is notoriously difficult its why a lot of countries have statute of limitations for criminal offending. Save for relatively minor matters we don't. It's further complicated by Article 6 of the ECHR which guarantees everyone a right to a speedy trial.

When you come to sentence in such a scenario you have to factor these things in. You also have to factor in the impact of the passage of time on the offender. Often they are a very different person at the time of sentencing than when they committed the offence.

You also have to take into account what has happened in society since the offence and in particular you have to look at the impact of things like the early release provisions of the GFA.

When you factor all that in you've to try and arrive a sentence that would have been correct at the time but could be adjusted to take into account all that's happened since.

So with Manslaughter, given how wide the sentencing range is for that is only highly likely but not inevitable that a person convicted of such an offence would receive an immediate custodial sentence. Now in the present case given the high level of wrecklessness/culpability a custodial sentence was deemed to be appropriate and rightly so. So the first question is what would be the appropriate sentence for that offence. The second question then becomes how do you deal with the factors outlined above. Well you've two choices. Either a reduce the sentence or b determine this to be an exceptional case to warrant suspending the sentence.

The problem with a is if you apply a proper reduction to take into account the factors outlined above you probably arrive at a very short sentence. Certainly one of two years or less. If there's no need to protect the public immediate sentences that are that short are generally not encouraged because it makes light of the very serious nature of the offending. Furthermore because of when the offence was committed it would have been subject to 50% remission. So a very short custodial sentence would likely not have been correct. It would have been little punishment would have done little to rehabilitate the offender and would if anything likely been derisory in the eyes of the victims family.

That really only leaves you with option b which is to suspend the sentence. Which has been done in this case for I think the maximum time (need to check that as o can't remember when the limit on suspensions changed). That probably meets the point of sentence, punishment, rehabilitation, deterrent etc better than any other option in the circumstances. As I say it may well be unpalatable but sentencing is a very difficult art form. Not a science.

[general_lee]

Where would lack of remorse and dishonest explanation given to  the police as well as the court fall in terms of sentencing? Are aggravating factors not considered when sentencing ex-British soldiers?

[Walter Cronc]

I think the GFA early release of prisoners is the British Governments 'get out of jail card' for want of a better word!

"Why should our boys go to jail whilst ex IRA men walk free" etc.

Unfortunately I can never see the bereaved families getting justice from the British govt.

[imtommygunn]

Never.

They are an absolute shower of b**tards that the sooner we are away from the better 

[David McKeown]

Where would lack of remorse and dishonest explanation given to  the police as well as the court fall in terms of sentencing? Are aggravating factors not considered when sentencing ex-British soldiers?

They would have been aggravating features considered when arriving at the starting point for the sentencing.

[smelmoth]

You would get the feeling that for some a UK court/judge and the UK government are one and the same.

Professional observers seem to think the Judge acquitted himself well in this case

[RedHand88]

Very thorough explanation David thanks

[God14]

Very thorough explanation David thanks

+1 good post

[Feckitt]

Very thorough explanation David thanks

Thanks David,

I see Colum Eastwood has a post up about this, and he is asking people to be mindful of the McAnespie family when commenting on the case.  My first reaction like most people was that this is a load of bollocks, but the McAnespie family have secured a conviction.  They should be commended for their tenacity in this case, and I would hate for them to think that it wasn't worth their while.  I am sure they knew exactly what to expect from the sentencing.

[Milltown Row2]

Family member on Ulster radio tonight on way home from work, he's said hes got his justice and happy in a sense that they stuck at it and got a conviction, it'll never bring him back though.

If a family member can be satisfied then that's all that matters.

[tonto1888]

Family member on Ulster radio tonight on way home from work, he's said hes got his justice and happy in a sense that they stuck at it and got a conviction, it'll never bring him back though.

If a family member can be satisfied then that's all that matters.

In that case we can all be satisfied

[The Subbie]

Suspended sentence I see. As unpalatable as it was it's legally the correct result.

How do you arrive at that opinion??

Edit - just had a speed read of your detailed response above - not fully onboard with your rationale vis a vis the passage of time diminishing the act and it's consequences but need to read again

[Wildweasel74]

The problem with all these cases are, they are so long ago, and it's not asked why (who did the blocking) these cases were not investigated properly. If the ceasefire was bck in 1994, why were cold case not looked at again nearer the time of the offence.

[Milltown Row2]

The Omagh Boom inquiry will throw up some uncomfortable readings when it will be eventually completed, I know its still a raw issues for many and some on here also, but there has been some split in the camp of survivors and families with regards to how it will be centered on failings