The two-tier justice row rumbles on, with the Sentencing Council now firing back at Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s call to scrap their new guidance which some say makes it easier for minorities to avoid jail. In response to Mahmood’s letter, Council chairman Lord Justice William Davis hit back, accusing her of undermining the judiciary’s independence. He made it clear he “did not accept the premise of [her] objection” before delivering a pointed rebuke:
“In criminal proceedings, where the offender is prosecuted by the state, the state should not determine the sentence. If sentencing guidelines were influenced by Ministers of the Crown, this fundamental principle would be violated.”
The letter also notes that Mahmood did not ‘express concern’ previously:
“This is a very summary review of the way in which the Council determined (unanimously) that the terms of the Imposition guideline published on 5 March were necessary and appropriate. At no stage did the Lord Chancellor’s representative express any concern or reservation about the term now under debate. The walk through of the guideline with officials from the Ministry of Justice took place on Monday 3 March. Again no concern was expressed about the relevant term.”
It looks like Mahmood may now have to make good on her threat to “legislate in the Sentencing Bill” to overturn these new guidelines. She’s got 21 days to act…
Read the letter in full below:
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”