Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...al/7892881.stm

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Not suspended, but actually jailed!
Unfeckinbelievable!!!!

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

The coppers and justice system take a very dim view of ordinary folks doing what they are too scared to do. He got jail 'for taking the law into his own hands' - a much worse crime than anything on the statute books :rolleyes:

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

In the eyes of the law its the right thing to do - it has to be shown that vigilantism is not to be tolerated.

He did a good thing, but a wrong thing.

As said - he should have gotten the police involved.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

... laughable ... what happend to the dealers then?.. nothing..
he might have two months jail but that man couldof just saved someones life that day lol

so well played in my book!

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Just doesn't make sense

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Vigilantism is only one step away from rebellion once people start to question their "elected" government...

;)

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Can't do right for doing wrong
I will admit that I would take action myself over certain things and hang the consequences

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

oh **** this im off.. this country sucks.. Im off to populate the moon..

brb

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Should have killed the drug dealer and torched the house.

The minuet you start telling the truth is when they get ya, you either go all out or not at all, the middle ground is where people get shafted.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

correct sentence in my opinion.

he flushed drugs away, drugs become less available, pushes prices up, people turn to more crime to fund higher priced drugs.

next.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

:smt046 Quality as always!

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

An inevitable consequence of a society with a failed legal system. Sometimes I think The League of Shadows in Batman Begins had the right idea... :(

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

I don't agree with taking the law into you're own hands but I can understand why someone would do it. I'm sure I would in certain circumstances. The fact that people feel that the police/government/legal system will not do anything is the important issue. We all see/hear about/experience crime at some point and the authorities seem to do very little about it.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Vigilante justice is usually quicker, cheaper and more effective than the legitimate injustice system.

Victims (and the family of the user are) do not see the system working on their behalf and it is more akin to a job protection system for the legal/law professional.

By reclaiming morel law and the need to see transgressors adequately punished you are potentially doing these professionals out of a job. No wonder they were keen to protect themselves from a more efficient system.

That aside, It was nice to see my local family of scroats turn from burglary to drug dealing. The local drug dealer protected his job and ensured we had no local scroats with his own version of vigilante justice and a pick axe shaft.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

I don't understand what crime he committed??? Can someone please tell me what crime he committed?

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

He barged in and forcibly took drugs from dealer, then flushed them down loo. This was a 'breach of the peace'.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

I suspect this:

However, Sheriff Robert McCreadie ignored the plea for mercy and said: "If you were concerned about matters you should contact the police, not enter a house and threaten to kill someone. You can't take matters into your own hands the way you did."

... had something to do with it.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Dunno, I've always thought if you are commiting a crime, then you are outside the law. E.g I should be able to kick the living $hit out of any burglars in my house... someone threatens to kill some slag of a dealer, unlucky.

His mistake was admitting to it afterwards... you don't get prosecuted on what you do, you get prosecuted on what you say afterwards.
Should have tried "I went there to buy some, but we disagreed on price, so I flushed his stash down the bog". (I swear to tell the truth, the half truth, and nothing like the truth)

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Breaking and entering and threatening behaviour.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Incidentally, I don't think the (generally valid) concerns against vigilantism apply here. The main reasons it's seen as A Bad Thing are:
1) Vigilantes tend to act on passion rather than proof; they have a track record of correctly IDing the guilty that doesn't compare favourably to the police, which is saying something.
2) They tend to be emotionally involved and most people lack the ability to put this to one side and operate solely on rational thought, so the punishments meted out tend to be disproportionate to the crime ("You stole my wallet, so I'll kill you and all your children").

In this case though;
The guy was correct in IDing the suspect (he didn't boot down some old dear next door's front door- something I've seen the police do).
The guy didn't batter the fook out of the dealer, never mind kill him. He just broke in and flushed the drugs down the toilet. No harm done.

I'm intrigued as to how this got reported. If I had been driven to do this, I'd of had no qualms about roughing up the dealer a bit to intimidate them into not reporting the whole thing. I'd also deny it if the police came round (because I'd anticipate the courts making a stupid, unjust decision like this) and claim I just went round to have a "stern talk" with the dealer concerning not selling to my brother, but deny touching any heroin/breaking in.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

The dealers claimed he entered originally to buy drugs so he didn't barge in he was let in.
For breach of the peace however I don't think you can be automatically jailed.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Some other smackhead reported him I believe.

Whoever this judge is, I'd laugh my tits off if his daughter started taking crack and blowing dealers for her next hit.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

If there was evidence to that effect, don't you think he would have been charged with making threats to kill? He might have said those things, but it was not proven, so the judge was using his 'privilege' to make those remarks without being done for slander.

To use your own oft used phrase, base your answer on proven facts, not hearsay.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Moral being never underappreciate the right to remain silent?

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Indeed. You get f##ked over my the law not for what you do, but for what you say afterwards.

A couple of my friends have found that out the hard way for legitimately defending themselves.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

lmao :winner:

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

That's the funny thing - the next addict to turn up & find no heroin available reported it :lol:

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Hearsay? Slander? The prosecution stated:

"On Sunday at 5.30pm, the accused, who was under the influence of alcohol, went to the address and demanded entry. He was allowed into the hallway and began shouting and swearing at Nellies.
'He continued to shout and swear and threatened to kill Nellies if he continued to supply heroin to members of his family."

(my emphasis)

The defence did not contest this account.

So before you go accusing Sherrifs of slander, perhaps you should base your answer on proven facts, not hearsay.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

:lol: Harsh but funny :p

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Exactly what i would expect of this countrys justice system. Anyone who attempts to stop someone wrong doing gets hammered by the courts. Hence why no one wants to help people getting mugged etc. They fear they will end up getting prosecuted, this country is rapidly going to the dogs.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Does not render it proven ;)

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

The prosecution stated "you said this".

The defence had opportunity to contest, could have easily said "no i did not" and it would then have been up to the prosecution to prove it (which undoubtedly they'd struggle to do). The defence chose not to contest what was said.

The Sheriff, the prosecution, and the defence all seem happy that the threat to kill was an accurate account of events.

Jeez, your asking for proof of something that everyone involved in the case accepts happened.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

I don't condone vigilante actions - but I would have taken his circumstances into consideration (had it been put to the Jury of Dirk).

FWIW: He did the wrong thing by admitting to the police that he had been to the house and that he had threatened to kill the dealer. If he'd kept stumm, then it would have been his word against the dealer - who's the police going to believe then?

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Well not really, I just think that but if it were a proven fact (or were indeed capable of being proved) then they would have prosecuted for making threats to kill. As it is he was prosecuted for a breach of the peace which he coughed for.

Maybe there was a plea bargain, I am ever the cynic.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Remember that our legal system has nothing to do with finding out the truth, it's all about which lawyer can win the argument. That's it in a nutshell.

It's probably the worst legal system in the world, apart from all the others.

Me, I saw nothing, heard nothing, said nothing. I know nothing. I didn't pee on the constable even though he was on fire. I have nothing but respect for the law, and precious little of that.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Now Mike, that's just not true and you know it. :mad:






It saves us loads of paperwork if people sort their own problems out :D

Pete;)

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

lol,i think we are well past questioning mate lol :smt040

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

Quite.

That and the previous post suggesting what he really did 'wrong' was showing the Plod up is what got him nicked.

Scandalous.

Re: Jail for standing up to drug dealer
 

In relation to the above comment, the common law crime of Threats is vary rarely used except in extreme circumstances these days unless viewed to be serious threats and not just rubbish.

A breach of the peace is more applicable in this case as it covers all of his behaviour.

Also, there is no way that guy would have been jailed unless he has a long string of previous convictions for similar offences!

Did anyone see his picture in the paper - nothing but another ned!

I do agree with the idea that the guy selling drugs is a low-life scumbag ruining other people's lives, however, people have to take responsibility for there own actions.