Prison for Pensioner
Every saying has its limits - when it comes to common sense.
For example - 'If you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time'
But take the following news report from the BBC - which involves a 78-year old pensioner - Stanley Murray - being sent to jail for a 'crime' he committed forty three years ago.
Seems like this dangerous, one-man crime spree called Stanley - objects to being banned from fishing on his local river - the River Don.
Now that would make me angry too - because some foreign sheikh probably owns it - or some landed gentry figure - who won't take kindly to folk like Stanley bagging the odd salmon or two.
What is amazing is that a 78-year old can end up in prison over something like that - Stanley deserves a medal rather than a jail term - for having the will and strength still to go out fishing at his age.
Instead of locking him up - someone should buy Stanley a fishing permit.
Since this would keep him out of trouble - and be a lot cheaper than locking him up at Her Majesty's pleasure.
How this nonsense never made the national BBC news headlines - I'll never know - the court authorities should be throughly ashamed of themselves.
"A 78-year-old man from Aberdeen who was jailed for breaching a court order dating back four decades has been released from prison.
Stanley Murray was banned from a section of the River Don in 1968 for poaching.
In recent years he had been campaigning for the order to be lifted so that he could walk along the river.
He spent eight nights in Craiginches jail. The prison service said it did not comment on individual prisoners.
Murray was jailed for three months at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on 23 September after admitting breaking the 43-year-old interdict."
For example - 'If you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time'
But take the following news report from the BBC - which involves a 78-year old pensioner - Stanley Murray - being sent to jail for a 'crime' he committed forty three years ago.
Seems like this dangerous, one-man crime spree called Stanley - objects to being banned from fishing on his local river - the River Don.
Now that would make me angry too - because some foreign sheikh probably owns it - or some landed gentry figure - who won't take kindly to folk like Stanley bagging the odd salmon or two.
What is amazing is that a 78-year old can end up in prison over something like that - Stanley deserves a medal rather than a jail term - for having the will and strength still to go out fishing at his age.
Instead of locking him up - someone should buy Stanley a fishing permit.
Since this would keep him out of trouble - and be a lot cheaper than locking him up at Her Majesty's pleasure.
How this nonsense never made the national BBC news headlines - I'll never know - the court authorities should be throughly ashamed of themselves.
"A 78-year-old man from Aberdeen who was jailed for breaching a court order dating back four decades has been released from prison.
Stanley Murray was banned from a section of the River Don in 1968 for poaching.
In recent years he had been campaigning for the order to be lifted so that he could walk along the river.
He spent eight nights in Craiginches jail. The prison service said it did not comment on individual prisoners.
Murray was jailed for three months at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on 23 September after admitting breaking the 43-year-old interdict."
