Barrister with, er, "interesting" opinions to stand trial
Discussion
Oh dear. I read this. Please, Baby Jesus, give me back my melted brain*!
http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
Little lost Maddie is found at paras 17 and 18. Para 20 tells us that the Koran was written in the Vatican.
Apparently Mr S wants documents produced (at a trial about dodgy nuke plots in London) to show that Obama is from Kenya.
Why is this man not Lord Chief Justice?
* unmelted, if poss.
http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
Little lost Maddie is found at paras 17 and 18. Para 20 tells us that the Koran was written in the Vatican.
Apparently Mr S wants documents produced (at a trial about dodgy nuke plots in London) to show that Obama is from Kenya.
Why is this man not Lord Chief Justice?
* unmelted, if poss.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 29th April 17:36
Breadvan72 said:
Oh dear. I read this. Please, Baby Jesus, give me back my melted brain!
http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
Y'see, I thought he was an idiot. But then I was convinced of his impeccable credentials by this:http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
mad barrister's court statement said:
The Defendant has also been consulted by the media on inter alia intelligence matters, including by the makers of the BBC TV series Spooks.
Well! He's been consulted by Spooks, that well-known hard-hitting documentary series. He must know what's going on.Red Devil said:
Breadvan72 said:
I was right with you until you mentioned the Lizard People. UFOs, fine. Diss our Lizard Overlords? TRAITOR!
I think you should let Davis Icke out of your garret closet now. He must be starving. 
How on earth is this man allowed to walk around without his carers!
Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
longblackcoat said:
Welsh parents, Welsh-speaking, liven in Wales from the age of one ...... I think we can let him have that one. After all, we've claimed Emma Watson as English (even though she's French). And we let the Americans have Kiefer Sutherland, who's actually English. Kids can't help where they're born.
He could have played rugby for England. That, to me, is good enough.Breadvan72 said:
Oh dear. I read this. Please, Baby Jesus, give me back my melted brain*!
http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
Oh BV, we have got to engineer a meeting of minds between this expert and Peter Elliott, the Stobart man.http://gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-offi...
I can see the headlines now...
Eddie Stobart Lorries Used To Transport Diana And Maddie Bodies To Secret Base On Moon
kowalski655 said:
How on earth is this man allowed to walk around without his carers!
Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
The word at the Bar is that Mr S has always been something of an individualist, in a profession stuffed with individualists. He used to be a staunch Labour man, but has done that Paul Johnson/Woodrow Wyatt thing and become a right wing rantificator. It also seems safe to say that at some unknown point he has gone absolutely stark, raving bonkers, judging by the manifestly loopy stuff that he writes online. Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
The prosecution seems to me unlikely to succeed, because the offence in question requires that the bomb hoaxer must know or believe his bomb warning to be false. It seems that Shrimpton believes his bomb warning to have been true. Ok, that makes him nuts, but not a crim. There may perhaps be some case law that says that the belief must be one that a non loony person could hold, but I CBA to look it up, if it even exists, and that sort of ruling would, I think, be unusual in the criminal law, which tends to give the benefit of doubt to being a loonbat.
As noted above this prosecution serves no apparent public interest. Harmless loonies should be left to be harmless loonies.
Jokes apart, I have some concerns as to whether in his legal work Shrimpton's obsessions are always harmless, but I cannot flesh out these concerns without trespassing on client confidence. I shall say only that radical lawyers of all persuasions, left and right, may have a tendency to put their own views ahead of the client's interests, which is one reason why, although I have sometimes tried (not very hard) to be a political radical, I have never been a radical lawyer.
On your point regards mens rea, there is similar in the Harassment Act. A statutory defence is that what you were doing was preventing/detecting crime. Originally it was thought to restrict to Police etc. and/or all relevant conduct being such.
Supreme Court decided it would be OK to use that defence if course of conduct was supported by a rational (objective rather than subjective, I think) belief that D was preventing/detecting crime.
Case was Willoughby.
Supreme Court decided it would be OK to use that defence if course of conduct was supported by a rational (objective rather than subjective, I think) belief that D was preventing/detecting crime.
Case was Willoughby.
Cheers, 10PS. On that basis the CPS might have a shout if they can say (which they can) that the belief in the bomb was such that no reasonable person could hold it. This is not my field, however, so I am pretty much guessing. I still can't see what is gained by prosecuting a bewildered loon.
He seems to be a Walter Mitty type, imagining himself to be admitted to the secret councils of what he grandly refers to as INTELCOM, and to be some sort of player on the World Spookery scene. The reality is that he's a somewhat obscure barrister, not listed in the Legal 500 or other mainstream guides to the legal profession, and whose chambers are also his flat (that was the norm for barristers until at least the late C19, but nowadays if you want to be taken seriously you practise from an established set of chambers in a city). Before anyone accuses me of professional nee nar, I freely admit that I am also a somewhat obscure barrister, but I just about get into the Legal 500, and am a member of about the most pukka chambers in the UK, although I am on the Subs Bench a bit these days, as age withers us all.
He seems to be a Walter Mitty type, imagining himself to be admitted to the secret councils of what he grandly refers to as INTELCOM, and to be some sort of player on the World Spookery scene. The reality is that he's a somewhat obscure barrister, not listed in the Legal 500 or other mainstream guides to the legal profession, and whose chambers are also his flat (that was the norm for barristers until at least the late C19, but nowadays if you want to be taken seriously you practise from an established set of chambers in a city). Before anyone accuses me of professional nee nar, I freely admit that I am also a somewhat obscure barrister, but I just about get into the Legal 500, and am a member of about the most pukka chambers in the UK, although I am on the Subs Bench a bit these days, as age withers us all.
kowalski655 said:
How on earth is this man allowed to walk around without his carers!
Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
I nicked a barrister in the Inner Temple for drink drive - failing to provide, sus alcohol - and he claimed that the Temple was a Papal Peculiar, i.e. English/Welsh courts and police had no jurisdiction. Unable to find a pope to continue with the process, I carried on. He refused to provide in the nick so he was charged. Just to get things clear - in those days the police prosecuted their own offences, so you needed things clear - I asked for legal advice from retained solicitors, and I was told the chap had a screw loose. This was wrong. The screw was missing.Does he wear a wig with tinfoil lining?Or maybe he s convinced that the barristers gown is actually a Batcape!
Did the Bar Council tea boy sneak into a room & sign off his application to be a barrister? We must know these things!
That defence statement reads like a mad mash up of every crazy conspiracy theory ever found on the web(well,possibly,my eyes glazed over & it all became a blur horribly quickly)
I know an officer who could not cope with a rather nasty case - if you knew the facts you would, no doubt, see why - and had what I would call a breakdown but was variously called PTSD and clinical depression. He was involved in a number of high profile cases at the time and there were a few outstanding. All of a sudden he was given full witness orders to all of them as the news of his illness soon got around. There was an objection on the grounds that any testimony would be corrupted as he was mad so he was sent to a psychiatrist who wrote a report to say he was sane and that his testimony could be trusted.
He kept a copy of the report but said that if he told anyone he could prove he was sane, they thought him mad despite the evidence of a high number of high ranking officers around.
I was once in a conversation with the chief super of a discipline and complaints. I was arguing with him and to boost my point I used facts. Always dangerous with a higher ranking officer. Just as I was putting the clincher with my normal subtle and considerate way. He suddenly got up from his side of the table and walked out. I finished my tea. He returned and said that he had left as he was so angry that he was worried that he might hit me.
When I told my chief super he laughed and said something like: That's John for you.
Not that I'm suggesting his name was John. Nor, indeed, not John.
Derek Smith said:
I know an officer who could not cope with a rather nasty case - if you knew the facts you would, no doubt, see why - and had what I would call a breakdown but was variously called PTSD and clinical depression ....
There was an objection on the grounds that any testimony would be corrupted as he was mad so he was sent to a psychiatrist who wrote a report to say he was sane and that his testimony could be trusted.
He kept a copy of the report but said that if he told anyone he could prove he was sane, they thought him mad despite the evidence of a high number of high ranking officers around.
Ill - not mad.There was an objection on the grounds that any testimony would be corrupted as he was mad so he was sent to a psychiatrist who wrote a report to say he was sane and that his testimony could be trusted.
He kept a copy of the report but said that if he told anyone he could prove he was sane, they thought him mad despite the evidence of a high number of high ranking officers around.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff