|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Nationwide support for 'rebel' magistrate
Cambridge Evening News
Thursday 19 Apr 2007 REBEL magistrate Alan Williams says he has been overwhelmed by nationwide support since resigning in protest at new Government fines for offenders. Mr Williams told the News of his surprise at the backing he has received from colleagues and the public since refusing to impose the £15 "victims' surcharge" during a case at Ely Magistrates' Court. And the 60-year-old from Burwell believes the magistrates' revolt will continue. The Government says the surcharge will fund support services for the victims of serious crimes, particularly domestic violence, but many magistrates argue it penalises minor offenders for unrelated crimes like speeding. Members of the public have declared strong support for Mr Williams on websites, while a JP from Lincolnshire and one from Cumbria have followed his lead by resigning. The other JP on the three-person bench in Ely who backed Mr Williams, Colonel Johnny Kay, has not resigned and will go before the advisory committee for Cambridgeshire magistrates. He could then be referred to the Office for Judicial Complaints and sacked. Mr Williams, a former deputy chairman of the East Cambridgeshire bench, said: "There are many other magistrates who feel equally strongly. I spoke to one person in Cornwall who is considering whether to resign. It is not the end of the story. "I felt I had no alternative but to resign. Other magistrates are staying within the service in order to apply pressure to get the thing changed. I think both views are legitimate, but I did not feel I had the luxury of staying on. "The support has been overwhelming - it has been very gratifying. It shows the issue has hit a public nerve. So many people are commenting on it." Although Mr Williams is pleased the issue has been brought to wider attention, he does not believe the Government will listen to magistrates' concerns. He said: "The past history of this Government is that they tend not to take any notice of anyone, even when they are demonstrably wrong." Since Mr Williams resigned after refusing to impose the surcharge on a young man fined for possessing a small amount of cannabis, Judith Johnson has stepped down from her role as a JP in Barrow-in-Furness and Christopher Foster has done the same in Boston. Mr Foster, 63, said: "I think it is unfair because it is a tax, not a fine. I'm not a tax collector." Mr Williams has also stirred up unrest in normally laid-back quarters. Dilys Wood, a spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, said: "We can only hope that all magistrates and judges faced with imposing this unfair and unjust surcharge will accept that cannabis possession is a crime without victims, and follow the example of Mr Williams by resigning in protest." http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/ -- LCA on Myspace; http://www.myspace.com/cannabis_people_uk
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!