Cake and eat it!

Today I read on the BBC news website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-19520501 that an ambulance manager, Robert King has been struck off for failing to declare a murder conviction.

The hearing heard the murder raised "serious concerns about his suitability as a health care professional"

This man received the conviction as a minor in 1981 and had been working in the ambulance service for 16 yrs. My understanding is that he is now a married man.

Now as a retired police officer you would no doubt expect me to be fully supportive of this decision as obviously ALL police officers and their ilk would have all criminals hung, let alone murderers!

Well how often do we hear about the criminal justice system being about rehabilitation and not about punishment? This man it is quite obvious would never have gotten this job to start with had he declared his convictions. Did they affect his ability to carry out his job? It would appear not, as he was in fact a highly qualified helicopter paramedic! He also appears on the face of it to have been pretty good at his job and hence promotion to operations manager.

So here is a man who has for many years, probably having saved countless lives, and may even have joined this profession to in some way make amends for his actions as a youth, and what happens? He gets crucified! Did his wife know about his convictions? I am guessing not. So now he may well now lose his wife as well as his job. However, the argument for rehabilitation Vs punishment is just really a complete load of hot air.

I am still of the opinion that murderers should go to prison for the rest of their natural lives, and now maybe even more so after reading about this man. Because it really is quite obvious that he was never going to be allowed to carry out a job with any real meaning, and be consigned to only the most lowly and poorly paid employment.

So all the establishments protestations regarding rehabilitation for a man who it would appear on the face of it has dragged himself from the gutter  and at least provided a valuable service that many would not wish to do for a job, has now after all these years been told he is not suitable!

Now I am not suggesting for one minute that action should not have been taken in some form or another, quite frankly with the LAS vetting systems administrators to start with. But to now probably destroy this mans life, after he has gone into a very difficult profession to in some way I guess atone for his crime seems even to me, someone just slightly right of Attila the Hun, to be somewhat hypocritical and quite frankly obscene.

I want to Bite Someone/Something/Anything

Max is quite a big lad at 45kgs a Bloodhound/Foxhound cross. I’ve seen him in a few scrapes before without barely a squeak. Today would be different!

Me and Max

The usual routine of searching for his ball on a rope in the now dying off Bracken is followed by collect the stick from the lake. Max does everything with great enthusiasm except today he didn’t bank on his friend Google (a Shar Pei/Beagle cross) getting in the way. Of course Billie Bobs the pup, would also get under everyone’s’ feet.

His favourite stick today happened to be an Oak branch, which had in no way begun to rot, and so had the density of a baseball bat. After I had thrown it and had it retrieved a few times, Google decided that he was bored and so would steal the only stick that was available in the entire park! Well after each visit to the lake Max would dry off by rolling around in the grass and dirt, but on this occasion he paid little attention when getting back up and the timing could be no worse. Google was now running past with this three foot solid Oak branch in his mouth. As Max got to his feet and turned to his right, I heard the horrible sound of Oak on skull. Had Max have been human I have no doubt a concussion and a hospital visit would have followed. A squeal, immediately followed by a growl and being slightly non-plussed shaking his head I imagine to clear it and also in an attempt to find out who the hell just hit/bit him. I immediately grabbed Max, as the pup being totally unaware of what had just happened had no idea she was wandering in the teeth of a hurricane. I held him tight and after a short while he began to calm down where I could see he had been incredibly lucky and the stick had struck him right beneath his eye lashes leaving a small cut which had it been 3-4mm lower would almost certainly with the force of the blow, have blinded the poor boy.

Well Max shrugged this injury off by grinding his face into the dirt until the pain started to subside. Bless him, he was VERY lucky.