A Neglect of Justice

The majority of stories in the news these days are of the depressing kind and if one were to pay anything other than scant attention to each and every one of them, one would be in a perpetual very dark place indeed. However, one story this weekend made me very angry.

In 2002 Ian Huntley murdered two ten year old school girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, England. In 2007 he was told he would serve a minimum of forty years in prison for his horrific crimes. He had been attacked frequently by inmates of Wakefield Prison and was moved to HMP Frankland, a Category A high security men's prison in 2008. Earlier this year he was attacked again and had his throat slashed.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman confirmed Huntley was now taking legal action against the Ministry. It is believed he is claiming £20,000 for injuries suffered and a sum - put at £60,000 in one report - for failure to uphold the duty of care.

The Soham murders shocked the nation nearly a decade ago. Huntley, who was a school caretaker, even appeared on television news at the time appealing for people to help find the killer. It's for cases like these I firmly believe this country should bring back the death penalty. Forty years in prison at the taxpayers expense is not justice. Ceasing the right to live of someone who destroyed two little girls and their families is. Now, the do-gooders in this world - and there are plenty of them - will point out that taking someone's life is barbaric, that people like Huntley need help, blah, bloody blah. The families of those two little girls have a life sentence imposed on them thanks to this evil cretin - the social workers, criminal psychologists etc might want to think of the barbaric nature of Huntley's crimes and the pain and anguish he has put those families through.

They won't of course. I can picture some sleazy solicitor rubbing their hands at the thought of taking this case on, quoting human rights legislation and winning thousands of pounds for a convicted murderer and one of the most hated men in Britain. Naturally, this solicitor will disregard any moral stance and take a fee...

Compensation for neglect of a duty of care for a man who many people would like to see dead. If this man is awarded any compensation it's not just a duty of care that will have been neglected. Justice and morality will have been too...