UK - London Bridge Attack, shots fired, Nov 2019

[Elainera]

Ford was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of vulnerable Amanda Champion (Image: PA)

James Ford, 42, was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion, who was found strangled with her throat cut in Ashford, Kent, in July 2003

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What's wrong with this picture? He was ' jailed for life' , but he and the perp that he tackled, were both walking free a decade later?

I was hoping someone would point this out.

The perp was released even quicker! See quote below.

In February 2012 the nine men pleaded guilty to a variety of terror offences just before their trial was due to start.

**** was originally given an indeterminate sentence for public protection but this was quashed at the Court of Appeal in April 2013 and he was given a determinate 16-year jail term.

He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly a key line of enquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack.

bbm

He served less than 7 years from his 16 years term. smh

 

[Amonet]

I was hoping someone would point this out.

The perp was released even quicker! See quote below.



bbm

He served less than 7 years from his 16 years term. smh

I'd guess that he was remanded to prison prior to his conviction and then got time served off his sentence?

 

[FrostOwl]

Ford was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of vulnerable Amanda Champion (Image: PA)

James Ford, 42, was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion, who was found strangled with her throat cut in Ashford, Kent, in July 2003

============================================================

What's wrong with this picture? He was ' jailed for life' , but he and the perp that he tackled, were both walking free a decade later?

James Ford isn't out of prison yet, he's serving the final days of his sentence in an open prison in Kent, and he was in London on a day release to attend the conference in the Fishmongers' Hall: Narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher used to tackle London Bridge attacker

 

[Ellmau]

And as someone who believes in not only the possibility of rehabilitation but redemption, maybe that's what has happened. His crime was awful, but now he has saved another woman's life.

 

[alice500]

London Bridge attack: 'I'm not surprised members of the public had to step in to do their bit'


"Not only does the location bring back memories of that day, but the timing of both attacks appear to coincide with political upheaval. Britain was just five days away from the 2017 general election when the first took place, and we are now less than two weeks away from the next on December 12. "


Is this article also the first in a while to mention Anjem Chaudry?

 

[katydid23]

James Ford isn't out of prison yet, he's serving the final days of his sentence in an open prison in Kent, and he was in London on a day release to attend the conference in the Fishmongers' Hall: Narwhal tusk and fire extinguisher used to tackle London Bridge attacker

Ok, so he is in an 'open prison?' After slitting a woman's throat he is free to walk around in public?

It is surprising to me. And I do think it is wonderful that he intervened in this other crime today.

I am just wondering how an open prison works. Why is it called a prison?

In the UK, open prisons are often part of a rehabilitation plan for prisoners moved from closed prisons.[1] They may be designated "training prisons" and are only for prisoners considered a low risk to the public.
Open prison - Wikipedia


I guess I am surprised why someone who slit woman's throat would be considered a low risk.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ondon-bridge-terrorist-is-convicted-murderer/
Ford in 2004 was jailed for life in the 2003 slaying of Champion, who, though 21, had the mental age of a 15-year-old.

A judge recommended that he serve a minimum sentence of 15 years behind bars.

According to the BBC, Champion was strangled by Ford before he slit her throat. Her badly decomposed body was found close to her home in Kent, England, three weeks after her disappearance. At the news of her death, her family said: “We’re not the family we were; we never will be any more.”

At the time, Kent police said Ford’s actions were a “motiveless crime and a senseless crime” and described him as a “very dangerous man.”

 

[alice500]

What is it that changes a person's status between ... sad disturbed person with weapon, criminal knife man, terrorist, hero ?

‘I ain’t no terrorist’ Usman Khan says in resurfaced BBC interview from 2008 | Watch News Videos Online

 

[alice500]

Is it worrying that we tend to focus on the darker side of human nature?

Rather than on what some are trying to do to improve society...

Learning Together – being, belonging, becoming | Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning

 

[Ellmau]

David Wilson, a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University and chair of the Friends of Grendon prison – where Ford was previously – said the prisoner had gone through an intensive period of psychotherapy.

“I only picked up it was James Ford as a consequence of them publishing his photo … I remember him and indeed some others from the Friends of Grendon charity.”

He said what had happened was a tale of two prisoners, with Ford an example of how people could change. “I know through my work that people do change and they change as a consequence of innovative but challenging regimes such as the one at HMP Grendon.”

Second ex-offender helped tackle London Bridge attacker

 

[Ellmau]

Two of the men who helped tackle attacker:

A witness said a small group of 'immensely brave' men, including Mr Conway, never hesitated as they confronted Khan, forcing him out of the building.

Mr Conway now works as a policy officer at the Prison Reform Trust and, according to his LinkedIn page, is studying for a degree in Criminology at the Open University and another in psychology at Cambridge.

Wearing a grey T-shirt and blue jeans, he is in a group photo from the event and is also later seen among a group of people surrounding Khan as police arrived.

The other recently revealed hero, kitchen worker Mohammed, held Khan down before police arrived. He was later interviewed as a witness.

Speaking close to the murder scene last night, Mohammed's boss told the Sun: 'He was there. He held the guy down.

'He was on his break. He came back afterwards to work.

'He didn't say anything. He went back to work. He was washing dishes.'

Reformed ex-prisoner turned hero as he confronted knife-wielding Usman Khan at London Bridge | Daily Mail Online

 

[Legally Bland]

Second London Bridge attack victim named as Saskia Jones, 23

[...]

Her family said in a statement: “Saskia was a funny, kind, positive influence at the centre of many people’s lives. She had a wonderful sense of mischievous fun and was generous to the point of always wanting to see the best in all people.

“She was intent on living life to the full and had a wonderful thirst for knowledge, enabling her to be the best she could be.

“Saskia had a great passion for providing invaluable support to victims of criminal injustice, which led her to the point of recently applying for the police graduate recruitment programme, wishing to specialise in victim support.

Second London Bridge attack victim named as Saskia Jones, 23

 

[Elainera]

Is it worrying that we tend to focus on the darker side of human nature?

Rather than on what some are trying to do to improve society...

Learning Together – being, belonging, becoming | Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning

In my opinion we should never lose sight of the dark side even when good things happen. It's like a wolf we have as a pet. Never underestimate its wild nature. I don't believe that these dark urges to hurt others that manifest in some people can ever be completely eliminated from humans. Rather, I believe, we have to learn to control them.

JMO MOO.

 

[tresir2012]

RIP to Jack and Saskia. Tragic outcome for two young people just wanting to help others. This situation is going to have a long review and is bound to have an effect on whether prisoners get released on licence so early in there sentence in the future.

 

[tresir2012]

What we know about the London Bridge attacker

This link explains his sentence. Basically in 2013, the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to 16 years, of which he would be eligible for release half way through his sentence. So he was released in Dec 2018.

"In 2012, he was sentenced to indeterminate detention for "public protection" with a minimum jail term of eight years after pleading guilty to preparing terrorist acts.

The sentence would have allowed him to be kept in prison beyond the minimum term, should the authorities have deemed it necessary.

In a reference to Khan and two other defendants, the trial judge said: "In my judgment, these offenders would remain, even after a lengthy term of imprisonment, of such a significant risk that the public could not be adequately protected by their being managed on licence in the community, subject to conditions, by reference to a preordained release date."

He added that the "safety of the public in respect of these offenders can only adequately be protected if their release on licence is decided upon, at the earliest, at the conclusion of the minimum term which I fix today."

But in 2013 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentence, replacing it with a 16-year-fixed termof which Khan should serve half in prison. He was then released automatically at that point."

 

[tresir2012]

Terrorist who plotted with Usman Khan also reoffended after going free | Metro News

Here's an additional link that mentions another one of the original gang has re-offended. They have to sort this out.

 

[tresir2012]

This shows the guys aiming the fire extinguishers at the terrorist as well as some other videos.

Usman Khan's longtime lawyer 'completely shocked' by London Bridge attack - CNN

 

[tresir2012]

Here's another good video interview with the chief executive of Fishmongers' Hall plus longer video.

'A game of pinball bomb with added knives'

 

[Elainera]

What we know about the London Bridge attacker

This link explains his sentence. Basically in 2013, the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to 16 years, of which he would be eligible for release half way through his sentence. So he was released in Dec 2018.

"In 2012, he was sentenced to indeterminate detention for "public protection" with a minimum jail term of eight years after pleading guilty to preparing terrorist acts.

The sentence would have allowed him to be kept in prison beyond the minimum term, should the authorities have deemed it necessary.

In a reference to Khan and two other defendants, the trial judge said: "In my judgment, these offenders would remain, even after a lengthy term of imprisonment, of such a significant risk that the public could not be adequately protected by their being managed on licence in the community, subject to conditions, by reference to a preordained release date."

He added that the "safety of the public in respect of these offenders can only adequately be protected if their release on licence is decided upon, at the earliest, at the conclusion of the minimum term which I fix today."

But in 2013 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentence, replacing it with a 16-year-fixed termof which Khan should serve half in prison. He was then released automatically at that point."

Thanks for that. But I still don't understand why he was released in Dec 2018. Shouldn't it have been 2020 at the earliest? 2012 plus 8 years?

 

[katydid23]

Thanks for that. But I still don't understand why he was released in Dec 2018. Shouldn't it have been 2020 at the earliest? 2012 plus 8 years?

It was 8 years then they halved it for good behaviour?

 

[Legally Bland]

Thanks for that. But I still don't understand why he was released in Dec 2018. Shouldn't it have been 2020 at the earliest? 2012 plus 8 years?

I think he was arrested in 2010, so he had 2 years of time served knocked off.