GUILTY UK - Star Hobson, 16 months, murdered, Sep 2020 *arrest*

[Winterbells]

Sounds like SB is not overly concerned about her fate!!

'Staff are currently trying to get all people logged into the trial virtually to turn their cameras and microphones off.

One person was struggling to do so - Brockhill found this hilarious in the dock, laughing heartily.'

Amazing.
She just doesn't give two f**** does she?

 

[Winterbells]

SB's going to have the time of her life in prison.
Surrounded by vulnerable women, there'll be no shortage of potential new girlfriends for her to control and abuse.
She'll claim she loved Star with all her heart and was doing everything she could to protect her, including pretending to 'do the claw' when she was upset.
She'll have a free, all-inclusive place to live, gym, tv, visitors, phone calls, medical treatment, counselling and a job of some sort.
It makes me so angry thinking about her living her new life.

 

[Winterbells]

I also hope we get to hear the content of her letter

I doubt we'll get to hear the self-serving drivel.

 

[squish]

SB's going to have the time of her life in prison.
Surrounded by vulnerable women, there'll be no shortage of potential new girlfriends for her to control and abuse.
She'll claim she loved Star with all her heart and was doing everything she could to protect her, including pretending to 'do the claw' when she was upset.
She'll have a free, all-inclusive place to live, gym, tv, visitors, phone calls, medical treatment, counselling and a job of some sort.
It makes me so angry thinking about her living her new life.

Absolutely. She will in no way suffer for being known as a "child killer" in prison. Most child abusers are weaselly and pathetic, and like to take it out on younger, smaller people, because they're too weak to attack those their own size. SB isn't like that, she's just a pure sadist who enjoys abuse for its own sake. All of her employment has put her in positions of power over others: care worker (I dread to think what she inflicted in this role), dog trainer, and security guard. Power and abuse over others is what she enjoys.

She will absolutely thrive in prison and won't be bullied. I fact I can see her becoming "top dog", to use TV terminology. There seems to be a lot of her friends/family/fellow community members inside prison already, so she will have automatic back up. Plus she's a trained boxer and very confident. As she did on the outside she will target younger and mentally vulnerable women, and this time it won't just be threats, they really will have no escape.

She has already boasted in court about having a roof over her head, food in her belly and a girl in her bed. I think this is part bravado (because in her phone call to her sister she really didn't want to be in prison), but also partly true.

 

[squish]

I feel the media are misunderstanding the issues around homophobia and/or cultural prejudice in this case. On LBC yesterday, there was much talk about how Social Services may have been reluctant to act for fear of accusations of prejudice. But I thought the point was, FS and SB used their status as a gay couple and SB's Anglo/Romany background to claim that the complaints made about their treatment of Star were motivated by the prejudices of the complainants. 'It's because we're a gay couple' or 'it's because SB's from a gypsy background'... sort of thing. Social Services weren't so much reluctant to act because of their own fears of criticism, but were hoodwinked into believing that the complaints made were 'malicious'. SB and FS utilised their minority status as a shield. They 'played the gay/racist card' in other words.

I don't see the difference: it's hardly hoodwinking if they mention their statuses and social services immediately believe them.

 

[squish]

Mitigation for SB:

• Lack of previous convictions, except throwing eggs.
• Worried about her family, claims brother-in-law John Cawley and sister Mary-Kate have faced retaliation attacks and don't deserve it (lolololololol, they deserve to be charged themselves for tampering with evidence in a murder trial for valeting SB's car after she confessed to attacking Star in it).
• Claims health problems. Claims to have had an 80 minute seizure, three further seizures and two cardiac arrests 2 days before the trail was due to start. Discharged herself against medical advice in order to avoid delaying the trial. As an epileptic I find the idea of an 80 minute seizure to be dubious. A seizure longer than 5 minutes is considered to be a medical emergency; I don't see how she could have survived an 80 minute seizure before getting to hospital. It wouldn't surprise me if she's somehow poisoned herself, or otherwise done something to provoke these seizures and cardiac events at this convenient time. Claims to not be in robust health for her age and will not have an easy sentence.

I wonder if her claims that her family have been attacked and little children bullied have been verified at all; in a local robbery trial, a guilty defendant (who I know personally) made outrageous false claims in his defense and it was accepted as truth, without any evidence, on his word alone.

I don't see how her health and the repercussions her family have faced (which if true are self-inflicted due to their appalling behaviour, and could have been prevented by not defending SB or drawing attention to themselves) are in any way relevant to her guilt and her sentence. Are they just going to go easy on any criminal with health problems or an (allegedly) bullied family?

Mitigation for FS:

"It seems to us that applying the guidelines correctly, FS has some high culpability factors, and two lesser culpability characteristics - low intelligence, and she is clearly a victim of domestic abuse herself.

"As an aggravating factor there is the backdrop of neglect for Star.

"Weighing this up, it naturally leads to medium culpability, a 1B offence."

• FS was of good character at the time.
• She is remorseful for her wilful mistreatment of Star and invited a charge of cruelty to be added which she would have pleaded guilty to.
• She was not aware of the severity of the assaults being inflicted on Star.
• She is a victim of the murder charge herself, having lost her daughter

I feel FS' lawyer could have made more of the coercive control element, and the fact that much of her family have turned on her. Also, her dad committed suicide on FS' birthday and made it clear in his final suicide letter to her that it was about Star's death. This is far more deserving of sympathy than SB's existing medical conditions, or allegations that her horrible family have been bullied.

 

[squish]

"Savannah Brockhill has entered the dock. She has a smile on her face.
She waves to her family and gives a heart sign with her hands."

*puke*

 

[squish]

The judge is completely unsympathetic to FS in her sentencing remarks.

 

[KarenUK]

3:07pm

SAVANNAH BROCKHILL - LIFE, MINIMUM 25 YEARS

FRANKIE SMITH - EIGHT YEARS

Star Hobson murder trial day 39 - Brockhill gets min 25 years, Smith 8 years

 

[Winterbells]

I don't see the difference: it's hardly hoodwinking if they mention their statuses and social services immediately believe them.

I don't really understand what you mean.
Social Services had been told by SB and FS that the reported abuse was malicious because the people who'd reported it were prejudiced against them.
Social Services believed that.
The media are claiming Social Services were reluctant to accuse the couple for fear of they themselves, Social Services, being accused of prejudice.That wasn't the case. Social Services didn't try hard enough to investigate the case and went along with the idea that the report/s were maliciously made.
Two totally different scenarios.

 

[ChloLo]

I don't really understand what you mean.
Social Services had been told by SB and FS that the reported abuse was malicious because the people who'd reported it were prejudiced against them.
Social Services believed that.
The media are claiming Social Services were reluctant to accuse the couple for fear of they themselves, Social Services, being accused of prejudice.That wasn't the case. Social Services didn't try hard enough to investigate the case and went along with the idea that the report/s were maliciously made.
Two totally different scenarios.

Lots of the media articles have incorrect details. Having followed every single day of the trial it’s easy to spot them. To lots of people who are just hearing about the case they won’t be.

 

[Ched]

R -v- Brockhill & Smith
Savannah Brockhill and Frankie Smith - full sentencing remarks

 

[Kasmeer]

Surprised FS wasn't mitigated down to lower culpability and a lower sentence but I certainly won't argue; she should have seen the abuse, and should have done much more to protect her daughter, so the higher level of sentence is not inappropriate, even if it surprises me. SB, I'd hoped for a little higher, but at least it wasn't lower, hopefully she'll eventually serve more than the minimum.

 

[Mrs Marple]

FS should have a custodial sentence but what good it will do l don't know.

 

[Mrs Marple]

Hopefully the other one won't ever be let out.

 

[beyondbabylon]

This article really bought a tear to my eye.

"I just thought we'll see her again. That was the last time. I'll never forget it, just disappearing out of sight, like sand going through your fingers. Now she's gone."

Yep, this part made me cry.
(Edited to add: sorry I’m a bit behind. Trying to keep up with this is trying.)

 

[squish]

I think the judge was way too easy on SB. I’m outraged she decided it wasn’t sadism, how is beating the out of a 16 month old baby over the space of three hours not sadism? That is not a mere expression of anger, as the judge suggested. Plus if those prison phones calls are to be believed, SB actually beat up Star all over that recycling plant, so it was likely happening all weekend. Not to mention other assaults. I’m also outraged she’s taken SB’s medical conditions into account. So if you have epilepsy and a back injury, it’s less important if you murder someone?

She was way too hard on FS, and completely dismissive and ignorant about the dynamics of domestic violence. She’s playing into the “perfect victim” myth and thinks that because FS wasn’t always sweet, timid and cowering that she “gave as good as she got”. As if reciprocal verbal arguments are equivalent to being assaulted by a trained boxer.

People who weren’t even in relationships with SB described being frightened of her, imagine what it was like for her actual girlfriend with limited mental capacity. I also thought she was ignorant and dismissive of the expert’s evidence of FS’ low IQ, and thinks because she appears normal there’s nothing wrong with her. This is ignorant of invisible disabilities.

I think some people- including the judge - hear of an IQ of 70 and expect to meet someone barely verbal. In fact at the 2nd percentile, you probably pass by several people that dim every time you go to the supermarket. It’s 1 in 50. It’s not that unusual. But they are potentially vulnerable to cleverer people.

I think FS has grounds to appeal her sentence.

 

[Bluebear15]

FS failed her daughter. Ultimately it was her responsibility to keep Star safe, and she sat back and watched while SB murdered her. The judge was bang on the money - she absolutely deserves that sentence.
I would presume (hope) that when FS gets out she would have any further children automatically taken away. She clearly is a lousy parent. Her low IQ plays no part in what she did imo...plenty of people have low IQs and don't abuse their kids.

 

[Kitkat28]

FS failed her daughter. Ultimately it was her responsibility to keep Star safe, and she sat back and watched while SB murdered her. The judge was bang on the money - she absolutely deserves that sentence.
I would presume (hope) that when FS gets out she would have any further children automatically taken away. She clearly is a lousy parent. Her low IQ plays no part in what she did imo...plenty of people have low IQs and don't abuse their kids.

This has been my main issue all along. Plenty of far stupider people than FS manage to look after their children, protect them from harm, and understand that letting someone beat their baby is downright wrong!

How anyone can look at the state of Star’s bruised face after she had been with SB and then excuse FS’s complete lack of action is totally beyond me.

 

[Mrs Marple]

I don't think it's a given but she will be very closely monitored if she did have more children. I guess it will depend on the conditions set.