News and Politics | January 11, 2011 | 4 comments

Tuition fees protester jailed for throwing fire extinguisher

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8252480/Tuition-fees-sixth-form-student-jailed-...

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Sixth form student Edward Woollard was jailed for two years and eight months today after he was found guilty of violent disorder.

The 18-year-old admitted hurling a fire extinguisher of the roof of the Tory Party headquarters on November 10th last year, after film emerged of him in the act.

Woollard will serve at least half of his sentence in a young offenders institution.

In sentencing, the judge said: 'It is deeply regrettable, indeed a shocking thing, for a court to have sentence a young man such as you to a substantial term of custody.

'But the courts have a duty to provide the community with such protection from violence as they can and this means sending out a very clear message to anyone minded to behave in this way that an offence of this seriousness will not be tolerated.

'The right of peaceful protest is a precious one. Those who abuse it and use the occasion to indulge in serious violence must expect a lengthy sentence of immediate custody.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8252480/Tuition-fees-sixth-form-stu...
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4 comments // Tuition fees protester jailed for throwing fire extinguisher

  • grayfield18
    • 0
      grayfield18  

    • He got 2 year 8 months for Violent Disorder - not for throwing a fire extinguisher !! Though he did throw it from the top of Tory HQ when there was a large crowd gathered - so it is only good luck that no one died from it.
      Sentencing often reflects the potential of one's action's not necessarily the actual result.
      A drunk driver weaving on the motorway may have been spotted and stopped by police before he caused anything serious, but is always going to get a harsher sentence than a similar driver on a minor road.
      I am not a Cameron or Clegg supporter either !
      I think the sentence is going to be appealed. A Judge has to give credit of a third as a starting point. So he is saying that after a trial he would have given 4 years. Maybe that would be right, but in addition to the basic credit for the guilty plea, there should be the personal mitigation of no previous convictions, a full and frank admission of his own volition. These are likely in my view to have reduced the sentence even further, possibly even to a suspended sentence.

    • 1 year ago
  • CarolineS
    • 0
      CarolineS  

    • 2 years for throwing a fire extinguisher? yes it was stupid and foolish, but no one died from it.
      he's just a scapegoat, and a scruffy looking one at that. But even still, I'd rather this fire extinguisher-thrower as prime minister, than that retard cameron.

    • 1 year ago
  • OrbViper
    • 0
      OrbViper  

    • So very odd...that his Mum basically made him own up. Oh well, he'll only have to serve half his sentence, shouldn't have done what he did in the first place, sure he'll regret it. It seems things in this case may work out hopefully.

    • 1 year ago
  • desired_username_barbarossa
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