Some of you may recall the name of Judge Bruce Morgan?

The man who painstakingly listened to days of evidence that the late Steve Thoburn had committed the truly appalling crime of selling a pound of bananas for 25p to someone who, er, asked for a pound of bananas for 25p.

Judge Bruce Morgan, who sat alone as a 'District Judge' to hear the case in the Sunderland Magistrates' Court, it will be recalled*, found Steve Thoburn guilty of a number of crimes and saddled him not only with a criminal record, but also with mountainous costs that he knew he could not afford. The Metric Martyrs Fund and other donations, including collections made by BWMA, paid most of Steve's costs in the end.

There were some truly outrageous suggestions in certain quarters that the 50-page judgment eventually handed down by Judge Bruce Morgan, months after Steve's trial took place, was dictated to him by a group of government lawyers.

These very same scandal-mongers even had the temerity to suggest that these same government lawyers sat down with Lord Justice Laws and, after a brainstorming session, came up with the novel judicial idea that there was - hey presto! - a 'hierarchy of statutes', some of which, said Laws, could be superseded by other, subsequent legislation but that other statutes couldn't be superseded by susequent legislation, depending, er, on exactly where they were in this new 'hierarchy'.

I very much hope that no-one will be dastardly enough to repeat these disgraceful claims, slurs and unjustified smears against some of our finest judges ever again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, now, it's nice to know that perhaps Judge Bruce Morgan is mellowing a little in his old age. I've just read this on the BBCi website:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

159mph speeding charge Pc cleared

Pc Milton was travelling in the early hours

A police constable who reached 159mph on a motorway has been cleared of speeding and dangerous driving.

Pc Mark Milton, 38, from Telford, Shropshire, was recorded by the patrol car's video camera on the M54 in 2003, Ludlow Magistrates' Court heard.

District Judge Bruce Morgan acquitted him after calling the constable the "creme de la creme" of police drivers.

Pc Milton is trained in advanced driving and was "familiarising himself" with a new car, the court was told.

Society 'shocked'

The court heard the officer, who is trained in the use of firearms, was recorded travelling at 159mph on the motorway near Telford in the early hours of 5 December 2003.

Giving his verdicts, Mr Morgan said: "I can't help but see the irony that those that brought this prosecution are those very people who have purchased cars that go at this speed and paid for him (the defendant) to go to learn to drive at these speeds."

The magistrate expressed deep concern at West Mercia Constabulary's "total lack of policy" on when and where police drivers should practise driving at very high speeds.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), based in Birmingham, said it was shocked that such a speed was not regarded as dangerous by the court.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety, said: "Police are governed by health and safety laws just the same as any other employer.

"We are pleased to learn that the judge made it clear that police forces must implement proper management procedures for their high-speed driving activities.

"We think this should include an upper limit and we don't believe 159mph can ever be justified on public roads.

"Even in emergencies we consider that driving at 100mph or more is too dangerous."


-------------------------------------------------------------------

Here, obviously, is a judge who can be relied on to use his discretion to be lenient when the circumstances really call for it.

I'll be writing to the Lord Chancellor calling on him to promote this judge. It is clear that he deserves much wider public recognition and acclaim for his, er, unique services to British justice




* (they wouldn't have wanted 3 lay magistrates to hear the Thoburn case, would they? Far too risky)


________________
And finally...


P.C. Sir, do you realise I just clocked you at 203mph?

Driver: It's me new car, officer, I was just familiarising myself with it

P.C. Awfully sorry, sir, mind how you go. Good job you weren't selling bananas at 25p. a pound, sir, otherwise I'd have nicked you

LOL

Give it a rest Tony

No one (especially the people on here who know the details of the case) is going to fall for the "prosecuted for selling a pound of bananas" rubbish.

An interesting case Tony.

Can you post a link to the article you read?

I'm surprised that it does not mention various aspects of the case that appear in the reports that I've seen.

Or does the original article read by Tony mention these aspects and Tony has then edited them out? I have accused Tony of misquoting people before, remember. He still hasn't shown that these particular quotations were ever made.

This article dates from yesterday. It should still be on the internet. Can Tony confirm that he posted the article in its entirety, or has he given us an edited version?

I confirm that the item from the BBCi website - in between the dotted lines in my posting - was the full BBC article as it appeared on the Internet - no omissions nor changes.

There were several major reports on Bruce Morgan's (2nd) historic judgment in the newspapers on Wednesday - mostly in the tabloids.

The Chairman of the Council of Active Resistance to Metrication sent the letter reproduced below to the 'Daily Telegraph' yesterday.

I'm sure that if any of us ever came up before Judge Bruce Morgan we would breathe a heavy sigh of relief and say: "Ah! A Judge whose judgments I can rely on 100%":

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM [address snipped]:

19/05/2005


The Daily Telegraph – Letters to the Editor

Dear Sir,

How lucky we are to have such a distinguished interpreter of the law in District Judge Bruce Morgan. His historic judicial decisions are a slap in the face for those who claim that the judiciary are out–of-touch with reality.

Many a lesser judge would have found PC Mark Milton guilty of speeding when he was recorded as hitting 159mph on the M54 near Telford. However, Judge Morgan was able to see the necessity for PC Milton to exceed the speed limit by just 89 mph and in his wisdom concluded that the police officer was not guilty of the charge of speeding. Any intelligent person can see that logically the judge had no option but to dismiss the lesser accusation of ”grossly excessive speed and driving dangerously” when PC Milton’s car was recorded as doing 137mph on the A5 near Telford.

Judge Bruce Morgan will also be gratefully remembered for bringing to book Steven Thoburn, a very dangerous criminal, in another historic trial in Sunderland. Mr Thoburn had the audacity to sell a pound of bananas for 35pence to a lady who asked for a pound of bananas. The lady was a local trading standards officer and accused Steve Thoburn of the heinous crime of selling bananas by the pound instead of by the kilogram. Our splendid upholder of the law, Judge Morgan, saw to it that Mr Thoburn received a criminal record for such anti-social behaviour, and quite right too. Brussels directives must be obeyed, mustn’t they?

Judge Bruce Morgan deserves the highest praise for his just and humane decisions and will surely finish his career as one of Tony’s cronies in the House of Lords. He could even become the Lord Chancellor if he delivers a few more of his wise and propitious court judgements absolving the elitist ruling class, but also ensuring that plebs get the punishment they deserve.

Yours sincerely,


Derek Norman

Phone/Fax [SNIPPED]

The main offence with which Steve Thoburn was convicted was using an illegal (for trade purposes) weighing machine. The one relating to the pound of bananas was incidental but acted as proof that the machine was being used for trade purposes.

No doubt saying this will be met with a "so what" response, but I find it interesting that whenever supporters and sympathisers of the metric martyrs campaign relate this case they conveniently ignore that salient fact. Whether they like to admit it or not, it is a nice way to dramatise it as an outrageously trivial reason to bring someone to court.

If they can't make their point without misrepresenting the case then maybe they know deep down that, at least in principle, enforcing selected units for trade and insisting traders use equipment capable of measuring in those units is really quite valid in a civilised society.

No probs Tony

I'll believe your assertions because you stand for the (ignored & unelected) party of "Truth"

Ho, ho, f...(no, resist it!!!!) ho!

More cynical observers may note that on many occasions you claim to "cut'n'paste" "unedited" quotations from one website, yet never actually give a link.

A link to the actual website that you claim to have posted from would prove these doubters wrong.......

re (Beranger): "I'll believe your assertions because you stand for the (ignored & unelected) party of 'Truth'"..."


REPLY: For the information of discussion-forum members, I have recently formally resigned my membership of VERITAS and currently belong to no political party

Blimey!

If you don't mind saying, and don't mind me asking - what were your reasons?