Thanks Allan. An old colleague did write quite extensively on miscarriages of justice, believing they were a means to put things right. Underlying this Bento case is the fact that we changed our laws to 'ensure' proper disclosures to the defence some time ago - I can tell you decent senior investigators find it a real pain ensuring it is done - but in Bento it has clearly failed altogether. We are also supposed to disclose to victims, but my experience is that we don't.
I would add that disclosure is now coming through 'technology'. Cameras is now almost routinely exposing police wrongdoing and their propensity to cover-up and lie as in the G20 farce. Good cops I know are increasingly carrying cameras and saving costs on not guilty pleas (£40K a pop even on small fry). An old mentor of mine, Conrad Waddington coined the acronym COWDUNG - the conventional wisdom of dominant groups and my fear is this form of "wisdom" underlies many of our problems. Whilst CCTV and the rest raise civil rights issues, we need to note that secret cameras are revealing much wrong all over the place and the inadequacy of our QUANGO-led oversight bodies. These are staffed by no-hopers at the top with the wrong attitudes. I think my view is that we have done much of the introspective work on wisdom, integrity and virtue - at least in the sense that very sound arguments have been developed. We lack the courage and education to make them public and to shift the political environment to make them advantageous in a cooperative spirit that retains fair competition. We seem to fear democracy under rule of law as some kind of bleeding- heart liberalism that would effectively cede control to the scrotes and liars. On 13 July, 10:22, iam deheretic <[email protected]> wrote: > Your case is well presented in my mind, You are right law seems to have lost > the temperance of wisdom and has become driven by the idea that it is better > to convict ten innocent people and let one guilty party go free. > good luck > Allan > > > > > > On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 10:56 AM, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I mentioned the case of Nico Bento in another thread. My academic > > career is over and I'm hoping to get on with something worthwhile. I > > feel wisdom has deserted the system of our society almost entirely and > > that we might glean some understanding of what wisdom might be by > > looking at what it clearly isn't in practice. One of the categories > > I'm looking at is miscarriages of justice. > > > Nico Bento is a Portuguese man living in England. He was convicted of > > the murder of his girlfriend four years ago and is now a free man. > > She drowned in a lake and was a Polish woman of 26. The most > > interesting facts are these: > > > 1. There was no forensic evidence of murder. She was not strangled, > > there were no signs of any struggle and her clothes were neatly piled > > up on the lakeside, causing a passer-by to phone police. > > 2. Bento called police to report her missing and try to get them to do > > something. > > 3. Her white handbag with a shoulder strap was in Bento's flat. > > 4. She was depressive, working as a cleaner and had given up her > > college course. > > 5. There is CCTV footage of her walking along the river footpath > > towards the lake just before she died. No one is with her, and to the > > layman's eye it is obvious she is not carrying the said bag. This has > > been shown on the BBC Newsnight programme. I could not see the bag. > > 6. Bedfordshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service produced an > > expert witness, Casey Cordell from Los Angeles tom prove she was > > carrying the white bag in the CCTV footage. He said it could be > > evidenced from a shadow on the ground. > > 7. Bento was convicted on the grounds that the bag was in his flat > > and the implication he must have been at the scene of the death and > > carried it back. > > 8. British forensic scientists, including John Kennedy, then of our > > official Forensic Science Service, a world-renowned expert all > > concluded there was no evidence of the bag in the CCTV footage. This > > evidence was not disclosed to the defence and suppressed at the trial. > > 9. Cordell, the US "expert" was a known fantacist and has since > > topped himself. When asked to write-up his findings by other experts > > he clammed-up and tried to character assassinate other experts. > > 10. A reconstruction clearly demonstrates the "shadow" of the bag > > claimed by Cordell is present without the bag being carried (it's of a > > park bench) and the bag can be clearly seen in footage from the same > > camera in similar conditions anyway. The CCTV footage of the night in > > question is actually evidence of the non-presence of the bag. > > 11. There is substantial evidence of a suicide risk despite police > > ruling this out. > > 12. There is no real evidence at all against Bento. What should have > > been evidence of the eye in his support was turned, perversely, to > > evidence against him, cops and prosecutors choosing to bend the case > > against him. > > > We not only convicted an innocent man, but persist in covering-up the > > miscarriage of justice. Kennedy is subject to a 'gagging order'. > > Cops claim the reconstruction is 'bollocks'. There is no explanation > > of why vital evidence was not disclosed to the defence or why the > > defence was so bad. In short, all the evidence in this case > > demonstrates a massive cock-up and a conspiracy to pervert the course > > of justice (even if a conspiracy of idiots) that should have been > > prevented by fair play and adherence to the rules. Murder enquiries > > of this kind usually involve a designated police officer handling > > 'disclosure'. It should be utterly impossible to suppress evidence > > relevant to the defence. There is a long history of similar cases, > > including utterly fatuous 'ritual abuse' cases and dismal police > > actions against 'terrorists' (classic ones of 'being Irish in the > > wrong place' and 'shooting innocent Brazilians'). > > > What I believe cases like this exemplify is a lack of wisdom and > > integrity and the presence of some kind of 'dirty hands philosophy' > > used to justify what is, in fact, an idiot ideology of power. I fear, > > perhaps at the extreme, that this is "why" we are in Iraq and > > Afghanistan and even that some "nightmare tyranny" is involved. It is > > as though we dare not put the facts to public scrutiny and must > > instead present a skewed case because the crooks and "evil" will > > somehow triumph if "we" try to use open means and do not match their > > secret cunning with ours. Virtue somehow becomes an 'idiot ploy'. > > > What we need is for our system to be open to clear and patient public > > scrutiny in order that we can act in trust. However difficult these > > matters are, what is clear is that this is precisely what we don't > > do. I suggest wisdom has lapsed to Machiavelli with the sad rider > > that even he might well have been a satirist trying to open up dark > > practices to public scrutiny. > > -- > ( > ) > I_D Allan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
