The Dichotomy of The Legal Process In and Outside Court with The Public's Subjective View of Such Court Cases

The essence of this essay is the English Judiciary’s outspokenness and the belief of the English and Welsh public in our Judges. This tension is subtle yet of greatly impressive “puissance”. As the Normans said and is written in every English Court: “Honi soit qui mal y pense” or “Shame upon him who thinks evil of another”. Let those words never be forgotten in our Country.

1. The Death Penalty

I am only concerned with Capital Cases, in other words murder and offences ancillary to murder which offences are well known to the legal profession. I argue all these offences derived from murder, with the central crime of murder itself, put the convicted Defendant at the risk of the gallows by the discretion of the Trial Judge. I firmly believe those who facilitate murder and commit these ancillary crimes to murder, including conspiracy to murder and attempted murder, should be subject to that jeopardy. I make one qualification which is, save for attempted murder, the Final Sentence will not apply to those ancillary crimes unless the full action of that relevant murder is completed and the victim is killed. Thus, for example, no conspiracy to murder Count on the Indictment will result in the Death Sentence passed in Court if the targeted victim is not murdered.

The Jeremy Thorpe conspiracy to murder targeted Norman Scott who survived the shooting. Thus Thorpe, the lead conspirator, if he had been convicted under my Death Sentence regime to be brought back, would have inevitably escaped the gallows. I say Capital Cases, to return to our Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction, will revolve around the fact of the carried through murder with its ancillary crimes, namely: aiding and abetting murder, conspiracy to murder, counselling and procuring murder, incitement to murder and soliciting murder. There is no doubt in my mind justice demands the Trial Judge should have the power to impose the Final Penalty for all these crimes related to murder, as well as the murder itself, upon guilty verdicts entered by the Jury or guilty pleas accepted by the Crown.

The whole panoply and might of our murder Trials Justice depends on this discretionary Death Sentence rationale as I envisage it for these extremely culpable ancillary offenders. Treason is a dead letter and I say should not carry the Death Penalty at all. Thus these ancillary offenders loom large in the Death Sentence regime I seek to restore. These ancillary offenders make the murder feasible, practical and directed. They are equally liable in criminality and moral blame in my view to the principal actors. It is essential therefore to reintroduce the discretionary Death Sentence not only for the principal offenders, but also for their gravely implicated accomplices and conspirators. The last mentioned criminals make the whole criminal enterprise of such appalling seriousness possible and “doable”.

We all need to concentrate on this network of offenders not only “the man who pulls the trigger” to do proper Criminal Justice in these cases. The crucial link is the killing of that innocent victim which in turn causes the Death Penalty to become available to the Trial Judge to sentence the principal and secondary offenders guilty of these ancillary crimes. But the Trial Judge will be the Judge who decides at first instance whether to impose the Death Sentence for this range of murder related crimes and murder itself with attempted murder. His decision on sentence, if there is Sentence of Death passed, will be reviewed by the Court of Appeal Criminal Division invariably under my new Death Sentence regime to return to our Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction.

2. The English & Welsh People: Where Do They Stand?

I say many of them believe in this case I have enunciated, but some are concerned an innocent man or woman may go to the gallows. They contradict themselves I submit. On the one hand they believe in the Death Sentence regime I have put forward, but on the other hand they have doubts about the competence of the police and the legal process to deliver only the guilty to the convicted murderers and associates class and status. They do believe the Judges should have this Capital Punishment discretion I outline on guilty pleas or by the Jury’s verdict, yet they water down their support for the Final Penalty because the Criminal Courts may produce miscarriages in Capital Cases.

From my occasional but persistent canvassing of the public this is a frequently uttered and genuinely felt concern, namely the innocent man or woman sent to be hanged for murder and ancillary crimes. What is my reply? There is no final answer in truth to them, but these bystanders are not trying these cases. That will be for the Judge and Jury and none other. Let no one meddle with our Capital Criminal Trials process and its Appellate process if the Death Sentence is restored. If the Capital Punishment regime I seek to restore is brought back then the people will accept it as will all of us, like it or not.

We have to obey the law, whether we are Queens Counsel or a humble Juror, and whether we agree with it or not, subject to those who object on conscience grounds. That is the Rule of Law at work. The same applies to journalists. Currently we have no Capital Trials. We may never have them back. Let us await this Restoration, if it does happen, and then allow the wheels of Capital Trials Justice to revolve in the time honoured manner. But I do campaign in earnest for the Restoration of hanging for murder (discretionary) and ancillary crimes. I will, God willing, make this campaign burst into view and clarity, delineated to represent the English & Welsh, whom in the heart of England, buttress my argument and many eagerly desire this Restoration themselves. I will reassure these people of England & Wales the Death Penalty for murder (discretionary) may be coming back and that the Crown Courts of our land will be up to the task of trying these alleged murderers and their accomplices and such conspirators to the highest standards on not guilty pleas being entered.

Our people are neglected and ignored on the most important matter of all, namely the return of Capital Punishment Murder Justice in our Jurisdiction. They do not live on bread alone – don’t kid yourself! Our people are, for the most part, just and brave. I would say our law abiding English men and women, whatever their country of origin, demonstrate these qualities. I bring not trouble to these lawfully inclined English men and women, only consolation. I am no politician nor an orator or a writer bent on vanity. I seek no preferment. I will never be Member of Parliament: Commons or Lords. I do not wish to broadcast, and I will not do so. I will never be granted political office or an academic title, but I know when the English & Welsh populace go unheard.

It takes hard earned sincerity to understand and pursue my case, but these English and Welsh follow my drift. Of course there are numerous and powerful opponents of my polemic, many in high places. I do not placate and flatter and I shun sophistry. I face the truth. The “salt of the earth” want to read my words and hear my voice. I will not be “silenced”. I will refuse to waste time and space on the ungrateful. I appeal to the open minded and generous of heart.

3. What Is My Conclusion?

People live in England & Wales under our Judges for good reason, namely the liberty and protection that historic jurisdiction brings to them. The bond between our people and our Judges will never be broken and I, for my part to some small degree, will guard it fiercely from all and sundry as I have set out in Paragraph 1 of this essay. That is my campaign. If the people of my Country do not want our Judges, who will sentence these murderers and ancillary offenders, to have this discretionary Death Sentence at their disposal I will “lay down my arms”. However for some time now I believe the message coming from our people is carry on R.M. Lamb and persevere with your campaign for the sake of our Criminal Justice, our Civil Justice and our Family Justice.

I argue if our murder trials edifice becomes shaky and crumbling by the absence of the Final Penalty, so do our Civil Trials and Family Cases become less assured. The Capital Punishment trials I envisage will be the summit of our judicial system when reintroduced. The people of England & Wales rely on these Courts to deliver justice. Our Judges know this reliance well and respond to it, as they have done historically. I say the people of England & Wales are with me as I argue my pro-Death Sentence case. Let the doubters reflect on what I have written and I still write. They may of course be my persistent detractors, but be warned; the English & Welsh will not be emasculated. That has not been done in one thousand years. Thank God!

William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England at the Battle of Hastings (1066) and later and claimed his rightful Crown and inheritance. He became English and our people became Normans. I say the English & Welsh are a noble nation deserving of the return of the historic right of the Death Sentence and the great majesty of Capital Punishment Trials so wrongly taken from us. We have been gravely transgressed against as a nation by the abolition of the Death Penalty for murder and its ancillary crimes. The people of England & Wales were not properly consulted in 1968 at abolition nor with the enactment in 1997 in our law of the ECHR Convention in so far as it bans the Death Sentence I outline herein. None of these legislative actions by our Parliament are irreversible. Parliament may repeal them herself. Our High Court may review them. We should defend our heritage of the 1940’s and 1950’s and that way of life before it is lost forever.

Our very souls’ health depends upon this resistance and refusal to give up on this R.M. Lamb Death Sentence Campaign in its entirety. The best form of defence is counter-attack or, as some say, attack itself. Thus I say the secession from the EU, the end of the ECHR ban on the Death Sentence in our law, and the Restoration of the Death Penalty are the intended gains of this counter-attack. We owe a lot to the Conqueror whose direct descendents set up the Court of Kings Bench in our land of England & Wales. Our present gracious Queen’s own Queens Bench Division defines our rights and freedoms in our law to this day.