cabby john wrote:
JD I think you will find that S.P is right.
Look back through the sentencing of practically of anything you like, and you will find that if it has a link to the state OR government whatever you want to call it, then the perpretrator will get a much stiffer punishment than normal.
The Great train robbery was I think linked to the post office (gov dept), the Traffic wardens are basically a state/gov dept, so I think this is where S.P is coming from.
SP would have been right if he had used the words
"public servant" instead of saying "crime against the state". I might have agreed with him in that case but crimes against the state are normally reserved for such things as Terrorism, spying, Treason, etc.
The great train robbers some of which were,
Charles Frederick Wilson, Ronald Arthur Biggs, Roy John James, James Hussey, Thomas William Wisbey, Robert Alfred Welch, William Gerald Boal, Roger John Cordrey, Brian Arthur Field, Leonard Denis Field, and John Denby Wheater.
were charged with, the following counts on which they all appealed
Count 1 (against all appellants and one Douglas Gordon Goody), conspiracy to stop a mail,
the particulars of the offence alleging that they, on divers days between 1 May and 9 August 1963, in the county of Buckingham conspired together and with other persons not in custody to stop a mail with intent to rob the mail.
Count 2 (against the same accused as those charged on count 1, except Wheater), robbery with aggravation, the particulars of the offence alleging that they, on 8 August 1963, in the county of Buckingham being armed with offensive weapons robbed Frank Dewhurst of one hundred and twenty mail bags.
Counts 3, 4 and 5 (against the appellant Cordrey), receiving contrary to s 54 of the Post Office Act, 1953, on a day unknown between 7 August and 15, 1963, the respective sums of £78,982, £56,047 and £5,910, in money, the property of the Postmaster General, knowing the same to have been stolen from and out of a mail bag and to have been sent by post.
Counts 6, 7 and 8 (against the appellant Boal), receiving contrary to s 54, on a day unknown between 7 August and 15, 1963, the same amounts in the same circumstances as alleged in counts 3 to 5.
Counts 9 and 10 (against the appellant James), receiving contrary to s 54, on a day unknown between 7 August and 11 December 1963, £12,041 in money and two £5 Bank of England notes, the property of the Postmaster General knowing the same to have been stolen from and out of a mail bag and to have been sent by post.
Count 11 (against the appellant Brian Arthur Field), receiving contrary to s 54, on a day unknown between 7 August and 17, 1963, £100,900 in money, the property of the Postmaster General, knowing the same to have been stolen from and out of a mail bag and to have been sent by post.
Count 12 as amended (against the appellants Brian Arthur Field, Leonard Denis Field and John Denby Wheater), conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice, the particulars of the offence alleging that they, on divers days between 7 August and 17 September 1963, in the county of Buckingham, conspired together to conceal the identity of the person who had agreed to purchase Leatherslade Farm, Brill, in the county of Buckingham, by making false statements to police officers engaged in the investigation of the stopping of a mail at Cheddington in the county of Buckingham on 8 August 1963, and of the stealing of one hundred and twenty mail bags from Frank Dewhurst and thereby to obstruct the course of public justice.
The appellant Cordrey pleaded guilty to counts 1, 3, 4 and 5. On 26 March 1964, the appellants Boal, Wilson, Wisbey, Welch, Hussey, James and Goody were convicted on these counts on 15 April 1964; the appellants Brian Arthur Field and Leonard Denis Field were convicted on counts 1 and 12, and the appellant Wheater was convicted on count 12.
The jury were discharged from giving a verdict on counts 6, 7 and 8 in respect of the appellant Boal, and on counts 9 and 10 in respect of the appellant James.
The appellant Brian Arthur Field was found not guilty on counts 2 and 11, the appellant Leonard Denis Field was found not guilty (by direction of the trial judge) on count 2, and the appellant Wheater was found not guilty on count 1. On 16 April 1964, the appellants,
Wilson, Biggs, James, Hussey, Wisbey and Welch were sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment on count 1 and to thirty years' imprisonment concurrent on count 2; the appellant Cordrey to twenty years' imprisonment concurrent on counts 1, 3, 4 and 5; the appellant Boal to twenty-one years' imprisonment on count 1 and to twenty-four years' imprisonment concurrent on count 2; the appellants Brian Arthur Field and Leonard Denis Field both to twenty-five years' imprisonment on count 1 and to five years' concurrent on count 12, and the appellant Wheater to three years' imprisonment on count 12. All appellants, save the appellant Cordrey, appealed against their convictions, and all the appellants including Cordrey appealed against their sentences.
Regards
JD