Talk:Derek Bentley
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I've added a section on joint enterprise. I've also removed two lines on manslaughter since they were applicable to Craig rather than Bentley. Anecdota
[edit] NPOV check
Nominated it for this becuase I think it is from one persons point of view. Any edits are mostly welcome. Please leave a comment below. Thanks, 15:08, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
- Although the article is not of the highest quality, I don't think it seems terribly biased, from a quick look. Could you please point to specific examples? EldKatt (Talk) 17:35, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
- I suggest that the check be allowed to run for another month. The article does focus too much on Lord Goddard- it should also make a reference to the career of the Home Secretary who refused clemency and another to the question of competence to stand trial. Anecdota
I have read a alleged quote from Lord Goddard, although I cannot now locate it, saying that Bentley was convicted because he helped prepare the ammunition for the gun.
However, even assuming that this was the case it is quite clear that, even if Bentley was guilty, he should not have been executed because of his mental state.
- I've added the missing references. I've also removed the NPOV, which was three months old. It would have been easier to discuss specific objections by a named contributor. Anecdota
[edit] Standard of this Article
I think this article is very biased and inaccurate. No mention is made of the weapon - a spike on a knuckleduster - that Bentley was carrying. As to the recent Court of Appeal hearing, it should be clear that the Court did NOT clear Bentley. It set aside the conviction on the basis that the trial had been unfair. That is NOT unprecendented - it happens ALL THE TIME - nor could it be described as 'damning' any more than any other successful appeal. If Bentley was still alive, he'd have been retried.
[edit] Policing Wikipedia in Britain
On the night that I removed this NPOV flag four uniformed police officers were dispatched to my home in Herefordshire. I spoke to them at about one in the morning. They claimed that they had received a report of a break-in from a passer-by.
The divisional commander of police in Herefordshire is Kevin Bentley who was appointed to the post in March 2004. He shares his interest in antiques with a superior, the Deputy Chief Constable of West Mercia Police, Ian Arundale, promoted in October 2005 to replace Alan Bridge.
Arundale told Jane's Police Review Magazine in February 2004 "What we would like in the future is a Star Trek-style phaser that, perfectly safely, temporarily switches someone's brain off so that officers move in", when West Mercia were introducing the taser, though that may not have been his only motive.
He is also responsible for West Mercia's Legal Services and their response to the reorganisation of the police in England and Wales. West Mercia are attempting to remain a separate entity.
He remains Chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Firearms Working Group. The NPOV flag was placed on September 22nd 2005 by an anonymous user. The most notorious police killing of an unarmed victim before that of Jean Charles de Menezes on July 22nd 2005 was that of Harry Stanley, on September 22nd 1999, which may have been resolved in October 2005 by the Crown Prosecution Service's refusal to press charges against the officers involved. Stanley was shot dead after an anonymous report from a public house identified him as an Irish terrorist.
I have previously written about the Labour government's attempt to police the internet using the Dunblane massacre. Blair has been willing to appoint Ian Blair Commissioner of Metropolitan Police despite the police killing of Blair Peach during the 1979 election, a death which followed the INLA murder of Margaret Thatcher's political strategist Airey Neave in the Commons car park two days after the election was forced. The gradual introduction of cameras into British courts makes this echo extremely dubious. The police have also become involved in lobbying the British public during the 2005 election and in writing to MPs before a vote. However, no-one living in a democracy expects an intimidation campaign to be directed against them for revising a free internet encyclopedia.
I do not wish to involve Wikipedia in legal action, nor do I wish to be accused of supporting current British policing methods by deliberate omissions. The murder of PC Miles became a sensitive political issue and I wanted the article to make a short mention of this. However, I assume that the purpose of a democratic discussion of current affairs is to prevent abuses. I have written to helpdesk-l@wikimedia.org to ask for help in resolving any legal issue, given that reverts would leave my edits visible. Anecdota
Arundale 'Star Trek' article, as reported by The Guardian
