29 May 2010

CSI Somerton



Recently I've been thinking about the difficulties that the individual faces when seeking to address what they may see as wrongdoing. We live in a world where crimes in Miami, New York and LA (and possibly other places as well) are solved by clever people with torches and huge laboratories. They establish, beyond reasonable doubt, that Colonel Mustard did the dastardly deed in the library with the lead pipe and they do it within 60 minutes (less adverts).

But the real world is a very different place where the taxpayer forked out £40M only to find that the Blue Arrow defendants walked away. The real world is a place where, more and more, the evidence needs to be absolutely bulletproof (.....where's that confession.......) before the CPS will risk going to trial. And who, exactly, does this situation benefit? The Scumbags of course.

Now, before anyone suggests that I'm in favour of 'guilt before innocence' ( mmmmmm........... ) I would say that I'm not. But I do begin to wonder about the degree of evidence that is required in this country today in order to secure a conviction. As an example, there will be no doubt about our weird friend the 'Crossbow Cannibal' and, partly because he's probably bonkers, the Old Bill will have no trouble amassing enough evidence to send him off to the funny farm for the rest of his natural.

But then you look at the situation here in Somerton where, up till 27th October 2009, we had a Council which was clearly quite out of control. Buildings were bought, land was sold, contracts were executed, services were purchased, tractors were bought and spirited away but when you try and establish 'who dunnit' you are met with a wall of silence. The individuals who undertook these actions are definitely not like our friend the 'Crossbow Cannibal'. The individuals who undertook these actions clearly knew what they were doing and knew, like the scumbags who attacked my home, that if they left no trace then there would be no come-back.

And the records maintained by Somerton's Town Clerk certainly aren't overflowing with information about who did what and when. How convenient.

Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly