16/06/06 - Robert Buckland, Craig Sweeney Life Sentence

Robert Buckland's letter to the Advertiser about the Craig Sweeney case was published on 15th June. 

"Sweeney judge not to blame"

Before Home Secretary John Reid and a host of other Labour politicians line up to attack the judge who passed sentence on evil paedophile Craig Sweeney, they might like to reflect upon the fact that it is their policies that forced the judge into this position in the first place.

In my work as a barrister I have conducted many criminal cases before this particular judge, and he is by no means regarded as a "soft touch" on sentences.

In order to avoid this situation in future, I suggest that the Home Secretary does three things: l Urges the Sentencing Guidelines Council to recommend that criminals who get caught red-handed receive dramatically reduced credit for a plea of guilty. The SGC is currently reviewing its position on this point.

Thanks to the good work of Swindon police Sweeney was caught quickly.

The judge could not reflect this in sentence, however, and had to give him the full one third discount on sentence for an early guilty plea.

l Scraps the universal policy of automatic early release for all prisoners after half their sentence, introduced last year by Labour.

Under the old law, prisoners who received sentences of four years or more had to serve two thirds of their sentence before automatic release. Why should dangerous prisoners have any right of automatic release in the first place?

l Builds more prisons, so that absurd considerations about prisoner numbers and overcrowding do not form any part of sentencing policy in this country.

I am fed up with politicians who chase after good headlines in tabloid newspapers, rather than taking direct action to address public concern.

ROBERT BUCKLAND
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
South Swindon