Convicted moped thief sentenced .. lightly :/

I guess this is his first offence. 115£ fine? I’m sure he’s thinking that’s 1 moped.

This is in Wandsworth. If only we could see the crime stats. Wonder if this will make a difference for a couple of months.

'Bick has since been sentenced to eight weeks in a young offender’s institute and fined £115, officers said.

He has also been disqualified from driving for two years.’

It’s great news that the fuzz caught the crim. Well done coppers. Pity that the court didn’t give a stiffer sentance.

It's great news that the fuzz caught the crim. Well done coppers. Pity that the court didn't give a stiffer sentance. Aceman
It's basically a joke sentence. Maybe it's him that nicked my bike in Wandsworth... That cost me about £4k. A little more than £115...

How is 8 weeks in prison a joke?
Compared to nothing I say that’s good.

How is 8 weeks in prison a joke?  silveR6
I hear that prison is a riot these day's 
How is 8 weeks in prison a joke? Compared to nothing I say that's good. silveR6
Well it's not exactly a deterrent is it? Especially for a guy who obviously has a long track record of showing zero regard for the law.

He will only do 4 weeks and it’s a youth offerenders centre
So basically it’s 4 weeks at scrots centre parks to brush up on Xbox

Like Wise says, he’ll be out in 4 and with an attitude like that he may as well get a loyality card for the place as I suspect he will be a frequent visitor.


How is 8 weeks in prison a joke? Compared to nothing I say that's good. silveR6
Well it's not exactly a deterrent is it? Especially for a guy who obviously has a long track record of showing zero regard for the law.
AlexT
So they should have fined him, what, £4,000, £40,000, £400,000?  Any amount of money he surely cannot pay back, at least not without committing further crimes to raise it.  What is a better value than £115 either as a deterrent of punitive?

You’re replying to comments about the incarceration, not the value of the fine. 

The sentence does seem a little weak for someone the police force described as “most wanted”, but I agree there’s little benefit to his being locked up, for anyone.

News on the radio last week said that there has been a 600% rise in motorbike/scooter related crime in London over the last 2 years.

Don’t worry though it’s not “out of control”, presumably it is a carefully controlled 600% increase… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38309113

I guess it all depends what the Base size was 2 years ago. However knowing what we know about bikes being nicked, I can’t imagine it was inconsequential.

I think it’s clear this guy needs a different approach though. A longer prison sentence would only make him a better/ worse criminal

That scumbag just has that disgusting and ugly look in his eyes. At least we’re guaranteed that this shit will be off the street for 4 weeks…

Nice to know that the 10000s of pounds of costs to the police, insurance companies and individuals it punished.  /sarscasm.

But what was he actually convicted of? The story would appear to imply that it was to do with bike theft, but doesn’t say he was charged with, let alone convicted of stealing a bike or bikes. As he’s been banned from driving for 2 years, there’s obviously some sort of serious driving offence involved, but again no mention of what it was.

Shamefully light sentence.

"Pleaded guilty to taking a motorcycle without consent, driving without a driving licence, driving dangerously and theft of a number plate. "

From http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/14977109.Thief_who_taunted_police_on_Facebook_sentence…

On my road in SE London we have seen in the last 7 days alone :

Attempted theft of a bike by 3 people on mopeds (disrupted by neighbour) - had a chain but not attached to anything

Another attempted theft of 2nd bike.

My own bike given the once-over - noticed the cover was raised over the front wheel this morning. I’ve got 2 chains and a disc lock on mine…

All happening around 2/3am in the morning. Most frustrating thing is I can’t see there is much that can be done.

You're replying to comments about the incarceration, not the value of the fine. 
Big Red S
Admittedly that is all that was in the post I quoted, but I was replying to the discussion.  AlexT called it a joke saying "That cost me about £4k. A little more than £115," which is what Alba responded to.  My point is that a big fine might look stricter but is as meaningless as a bazillion gazillion pounds if there is no means to pay for it.

But as to the length of the sentence being a deterrent, it is the same as with fines.  People just want to read something that looks good on paper, not what is more meaningful.  There is no perfect length, and certainly no standard one as everyone is different that as with fines it is all relative to the person.  Eight day, weeks, or years; one definitely looks stricter but there is no way of knowing which is likely to rehabilitate someone.  And prisons can be training grounds as well as holiday camps, apparently.


Shamefully light sentence.
"Pleaded guilty to taking a motorcycle without consent, driving without a driving licence, driving dangerously and theft of a number plate. "
From http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/14977109.Thief_who_taunted_police_on_Facebook_sentence...
BoomShaka
So banning him from driving for two years is going to do feck all.

I am slightly at a loss a’s to what we should do with this person or all those convicted of the ultimate sin of motorcycle theft?

Whip them, cut off hands, indeterminate sentences? Yeah sure we could return to the 18th century where apparently they had no crime. Or we could look at the root causes of crime to try and fix those, such as rising social inequality… of course that’s a difficult problem and it’s always been easier to just slap a sentence to appease the masses who always want tougher sentencing