Labour peer walks free

[diablos]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...re/7939988.stm Texting peer freed after appeal


Lord Ahmed suffered facial injuries in the collision

A Labour peer who was jailed for 12 weeks for sending and receiving text messages while driving on the M1 has been released by the Court of Appeal.
Lord Ahmed, 51, was involved in a fatal crash minutes after sending the messages on Christmas Day 2007.
He hit a stationary car in the outside lane of the M1, killing Martyn Gombar, 28, from Leigh, Greater Manchester.
He was jailed after admitting dangerous driving last month. He has been freed after serving 16 days of his sentence.
The crash happened near junction 35 of the southbound carriageway, at Rotherham, on Christmas Day 2007.
Lord Ahmed, of Rotherham, was not present for the ruling by three judges in London.
Prison 'justified'
The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, made it clear his text messaging had finished two minutes before the accident took place and was not connected.
Lord Ahmed has served 16 days in prison and was due to be released on 20 March.
Allowing Lord Ahmed's sentence appeal, Lady Justice Hallett said that the imposition of a prison sentence in his case had been justified.
However, she added that the court had been persuaded that it could now take an "exceptional" course and suspend the 12 weeks for 12 months.
It is understood Lord Ahmed will be freed from Doncaster Prison on Friday following the completion of formalities in the wake of the ruling.
Mr Gombar, who was Slovakian, had crashed into the central reservation, leaving his Audi facing the wrong way in the third lane of the motorway.
One motorist had already clipped his car and another had to take evasive action to avoid it.
Lord Ahmed, of Rotherham, sent and received a series of five text messages while driving in the dark at speeds of, and above, 60mph along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway.

Disgrace given a member of this Forum was jailed for less.

[blaggard]

No surprise there then!

[Nikki]

doesent surprise me either

[diablos]

Money talks and the law seems to only apply to us daft cunts that vote all these MP's in.

[beerman]

I thought the original sentence was a pisstake when he was convicted a few weeks ago. If it was anyone who didn't have friends in high places then they'd be banged up.

It doesn't matter that he had "finished" his texting 2 minutes ago. How can they prove he wasn't still reading his texts/sorting them into folders/generally playing with his phone. Talking on a phone whilst driving is bad enough, this guy was fucking texting. Wankers, the judge and this fat bearded prick.

[diablos]

I thought the original sentence was a pisstake when he was convicted a few weeks ago. If it was anyone who didn't have friends in high places then they'd be banged up.

It doesn't matter that he had "finished" his texting 2 minutes ago. How can they prove he wasn't still reading his texts/sorting them into folders/generally playing with his phone. Talking on a phone whilst driving is bad enough, this guy was fucking texting. Wankers, the judge and this fat bearded prick.

Exactly it takes me about two minutes to type the simplest of messages and thats without driving.

[super mike]

I thought the original sentence was a pisstake when he was convicted a few weeks ago. If it was anyone who didn't have friends in high places then they'd be banged up.

It doesn't matter that he had "finished" his texting 2 minutes ago. How can they prove he wasn't still reading his texts/sorting them into folders/generally playing with his phone. Talking on a phone whilst driving is bad enough, this guy was fucking texting. Wankers, the judge and this fat bearded prick.

How can they prove he was?

[Anakin]

may the cunt rot in hell.

[GTI]

may the cunt rot in hell.

For what exactly? he was driving and texting, not driving whilst getting a blowjob from an underage Romanian hooker and swigging booze. I'm starting to think that most of the hype surrounding this story is related entirely to his ethnicity

[Over Carl]

I would love to agree with you gti, but I'm not sure how to fit race in this.

Like I said last time this came round, how did they conclusively prove he finished texting 2 minutes before?

Also it's funny how some places reported he crashed into a stationary crashed vehicle, the driver of which was already dead, yet other sources say he killed the driver of the other vehcile who was looking for his mobile phone.

[diablos]

For what exactly? he was driving and texting, not driving whilst getting a blowjob from an underage Romanian hooker and swigging booze. I'm starting to think that most of the hype surrounding this story is related entirely to his ethnicity

If you think that clearly it is you that has the problem, i just see a Mp getting off from a charge most of us would do serious time for.

I'm too busy hating Catholics to be a Racist.

by the way that last bit was a joke..

[beerman]

For what exactly? he was driving and texting, not driving whilst getting a blowjob from an underage Romanian hooker and swigging booze. I'm starting to think that most of the hype surrounding this story is related entirely to his ethnicity

Driving and holding a phone next to your ear is bad enough, looking at the screen and typing out a text is a real cunts trick. I couldn't give a flying fuck what colour or race his is, he's a cunt all the same and someone has lost their life because of him. The reason there is all the hype around the story I think is because of his job. If he was any other person he'd be sent down but as he's a peer he gets away with a suspended sentence.

Using a phone whilst driving is one of the many things that really winds me up in life. I often wind down my window and tell people to "get off the FUCKING phone". Some twat nearly took the side of my car out yesterday because he didn't realise that I was in the lane next to him at a roundabout because he was too busy on his phone. Fucking £50k car and doesn't want to spend another £100 on a hands free kit or worse still the car probably had a bluetooth car kit built into it (car was a BMW 535d) but this cunt still had the phone glued to his ear. Needless to say at the next set of lights he got a Beerman rollocking.

[GTI]

I would love to agree with you gti, but I'm not sure how to fit race in this.

Like I said last time this came round, how did they conclusively prove he finished texting 2 minutes before?

Also it's funny how some places reported he crashed into a stationary crashed vehicle, the driver of which was already dead, yet other sources say he killed the driver of the other vehcile who was looking for his mobile phone.

The place for speculation and truth to be determined is the courts, and the judge made it clear that his text messaging had finished two minutes before the accident took place, and was not connected. The forensics service probably concluded that from the time stamps of his texts and the exact moment of the collision.

[diablos]

The place for speculation and truth to be determined is the courts, and the judge made it clear that his text messaging had finished two minutes before the accident took place, and was not connected. The forensics service probably concluded that from the time stamps of his texts and the exact moment of the collision.

You can still be reading a text or composing a message, can you not.

[Over Carl]

I think most DF'ers can conclude that much. What I'm interested in is what kind of technology the court used to ascertain Ahmed wasn't in the process of writing another text or reading a reply when the accident happened.

[beerman]

Lets just hope for the 16 days he stayed in prison, Bubba was his only friend

[Over Carl]

People I've known who've gone inside say the only homosexuality they've observed isn't very well hidden but is consentual.

[GTI]

I think most DF'ers can conclude that much. What I'm interested in is what kind of technology the court used to ascertain Ahmed wasn't in the process of writing another text or reading a reply when the accident happened.

Well if he states he wasn't preoccupied at the time of impact, and the court can't prove otherwise then he should be given the benefit of the doubt. To quote the great British jurist, William Blackstone, 'Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer'.

He's clearly a pillock for driving at circa 60 mph and not giving the road his full attention, but nothing other than absolute and unequivocal proof should be used to connect those activities to the death of the other motorist.

[4me2]

Well if he states he wasn't preoccupied at the time of impact, and the court can't prove otherwise then he should be given the benefit of the doubt. To quote the great British jurist, William Blackstone, 'Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer'.

He's clearly a pillock for driving at circa 60 mph and not giving the road his full attention, but nothing other than absolute and unequivocal proof should be used to connect those activities to the death of the other motorist.

Stop trying to play Mother Theresa and digest the fact that

Lord Ahmed, of Rotherham, sent and received a series of five text messages while driving in the dark along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway

[Anakin]

For what exactly? he was driving and texting, not driving whilst getting a blowjob from an underage Romanian hooker and swigging booze. I'm starting to think that most of the hype surrounding this story is related entirely to his ethnicity

for walking free, did you think i typed that previous comment whilst wearing a funny white hood.