Results tagged “crime” from Birmingham Mail - Veron Graham

Strange as it might seem now, I used to think that OJ Simpson was not guilty of those infamous murders in 1994.

After watching a compelling US documentary several years ago, I was convinced that the killings were committed by one of the disgraced former American footballer's sons.

The in-depth psychological analysis of the killer's motive, down to the trajectory of the stab wounds, and the physical whereabouts of Simpson and his son at the time of the killings seemed to suggest that OJ was not the killer.

I began to think differently when Simpson planned to release the book, 'If I Did It,' a couple of years ago, a first-person fictional account of the murder, supposing had he actually committed them.

I must admit seeing him on TV the other day begging unsuccessfully for the judge's mercy after being convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping seemed like poetic justice. This is especially so when the US channel Fox News unearthed video footage of OJ bragging about hiding his valuables from the court to avoid paying compensation to families of the murder victims as ruled by the 1995 civil conviction.

What? Can you believe it?

I can't understand why someone who has so much going for them can throw it all away through extreme arrogance. OJ rose from humble roots to become the darling of the American media, with his good looks, impressive list of TV/ film credits and product endorsements to complement his record-breaking sporting career. Some even thought he could have run succcessfully for political office ... and we are talking about the 1970s here.

What is it about people like him who feel they can do what they like? Is it being a sportsman? Rising to such heights in a relatively quick time? Surely if someone rises from great hardship to great success, they would place greater value on making their accomplishments work for them?

I don't know but it's worrying in this day and age when so many want to find an ultra-quick route to fame and fortune.

It's sad to say but there has always been a consistent band of OJ-haters over the years, whether for his success or his apparent obsession with white women.

Whatever the rhyme or reason, OJ's fall from grace should stand as a lesson to all those wannabes as well as a whole host of arrogant celebrities who can't seem to stay on the straight and narrow.

What thoughts has the OJ saga stimulated in your mind?

I can't tell you the last time that I was so upset by a news story but earlier I just couldn't stand to watch another report on the sentencing of that pathetic individual called Luke McCormick. The former footballer was given nearly 7½ years for killing two boys and paralysing their father when he lost control of his car and ploughed into theirs, knocking it down an embankment and into several trees. McCormick was sleep deprived and blind drunk after going out on a bender and ignored advice to not drive.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, if you willingly take a life, then you should lose your own. That McCormick should be banged up for life, not a paltry seven years and four months, with the possibility of parole in 3½ years.

Poor little Arron Peak, 10 and his brother Ben, 8, won't be coming back and their father Phil may never physically recover from his own horrific injuries. Now wife Amanda will have to bear the brunt of not only her sons' murders but her husband's near total dependence on her after sustaining broken vertebrae, lung damage and a crushed spine.

Not only should McCormick be jailed for life, but his bank account should be emptied and his assets sold to pay for Phil's medical care. If the law wants to drive down crime, they should start dishing out proper sentences.

I think that the presiding judge should join McCormick in the clink for contributing to
the number of pathetic sentences handed out to evil criminals.

I don't know about you, I've had enough of all the talk about what's gone wrong with society.

The latest thing is knife crime, sparked by disaffected youth and the breakdown of family and community.

If the ranting stopped for a while and we take a look at what the government, law enforcement agencies and media have permitted and even rated over the last 20 or so years, the answer is plain to see.

The school day began and ended with prayer, assemblies included hymns and we said grace before our school dinners. There were morals shaped by Christianity that guided what went on in and around the schools. We studied the religions of the world - along with our equally young Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist classmates without anyone having a problem with political correctness.

Then they threw out the morals guided by Christian faith that kept people in check outside of the schools too - i.e. it gradually became acceptable and then downright cool to sleep around and get wasted on alcohol, weird 'smarties' or cigarettes with no writing on the side.

You see what's happened when these morals are put to one side?

How many of our youngsters were born to parents that were not prepared for them? How many parents are raising up - or should that be 'dragging up? - children who haven't got a clue or even real interest in doing it properly?

For anything to work well, it needs rules. If you let your cute little kitten or puppy grow up without structure, that animal will grow up to make your life a misery. Now we have generations of young people, who through no fault of their own, are growing up without proper guidance, neither from parents who are largely allowed to what they like and a society that celebrates or turns a blind eye to behaviour that may give a temporary high but has serious consequences.

If Gordon Brown and the rest of the 'rent-a-quote' politicians want to really turn society around, why don't they use their supposed intellect and make real change? Oh, I know why - because there may not be enough votes in it.

Don't ask dumb questions if you don't really want to find the answers.

Give the respect back to Christian faith - don't ignore common sense because it comes from Christians. Think about it, we've tried it the secular way and look what has happened.

Do you agree?

I wonder how many of you were as sickened as I was by convicted murderer Mark Dixie's pathetic defence that he didn't kill model Sally Anne Bowman but that he 'only' had sex with her dead body?

I am so glad that this 'person' has been sent down for 34 years - though it should have been longer. Killing someone in cold blood is bad enough but to sexually violate them afterward is lower than animalistic behaviour, truly evil.

It's cases like this, plus that of Suffolk's prostitute-murdering psycho Steve Wright, which are making me think long and hard about whether the death penalty should be brought back in cases that are as clear-cut as these.

The government has been banging on about being tough on crime for so long and it's high time they backed up the rhetoric with some swift action. Just listen to/ read the comments of Helen Newlove, who has called for the 'frying' of the three thugs who kicked her husband to death last summer.

Recognise this as a by-product of the authorities' wholesale failure to adequately punish lawbreakers - more and more normally rational people, yours truly included, are contemplating the death penalty is the only real solution.

Am I over-reacting or voicing a common view?