Leading criminal barrister John Cooper warned that the sentences given in relation to the riots have been disproportionate and somewhat hysterical.
He says two in three people charged in connection with the riots and looting have been remanded, compared with a remand rate of “just one in 10” for serious (indictable) offences in 2010.
This just proves to me that the remand rate in 2010 was far too soft, not that the remand rate for the recent troubles was too harsh.
STEVE CHANDLER Sandford Lane Kennington
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