Well, Don't Buy It Then!

Menopause campaigner Kate Muir is upset at health food giant Holland & Barratt:

'Joking aside, we need to recognise this as a hormone deficiency which is very serious. There is a peak in suicide among women in perimenopause. Women need to know they can go to the NHS and get proper help, rather than relying on chocolate bars.'

Have you seen the state of the NHS love? The choccy bar is easier to obtain!  

The health food giant claims the sweet treat, which contains a woman's entire daily allowance of saturated fat, soothes menopause symptoms and provides 'mood support'. Instructions on the pack say each 75g bar contains 'one daily dose', adding: 'We suggest splitting it in two and having one half in the morning and one in the evening.

'They boast that it contains vitamin B6, which is naturally present in almonds, claiming it 'contributes to the regulation of hormonal activity'.

Menopause is a totally natural process. Why are so many women desperate to try to stop it?  

Social media users raged at Holland & Barrett. One person re-labelled the product as 'depression support almonds for men', writing: 'Do you think they'll be duped into buying it?'Another said the snack was 'insulting to the female race'.

Oh, good grief!  

Yup, This'll Fix Racism, No Question...

Phrases and words that link negativity with blackness and positivity with whiteness – such as “black mood”, “dark times” or “whiter than white” – reinforce racist connotations and should be avoided, an anti-racism initiative has recommended.

Oh. This again... 

Dr Sanjiv Lingayah, the director of Reframing Race, a non-profit research-based initiative, and co-author of the report, said: “The conversation on racism is stuck. With our trailblazing research we have been able to show how different messages on race and racism affect a mainstream audience.

“The upside is that new ways of talking about racism can lead to new ways of listening. This guidance provides a foundation from which advocates can be confident they are contributing positively to discussion, avoiding pitfalls and tropes, and moving others towards an anti-racist position.”

It doesn't sound very new to me. Does it to you, Reader? 

'Something Must Be Done...' Pt78017895

A coroner has called for 'life-saving' health warnings to be added to supermarket bought protein shakes after a 16-year-old schoolboy suffered 'irreversible brain damage' triggered by a rare genetic disease after drinking one.

'...and this is something, so let's do it! Hang the cost!'

The disease is a type of urea cycle disorder - a group of genetic disorders caused by a deficiency of one of the six enzymes in the urea cycle, which is responsible for the removal of ammonia from the blood stream.The deficiency is extremely rare and is estimated to affect one in 50,000 to 80,000 people.

Speaking on Tuesday, Coroner Tom Osborne said: 'Concerning these protein drinks, my preliminary view about them is that I ought to write to one of the regulatory authorities that some sort of warning ought to be put on the packaging of these drinks because, although OTC is a rare condition, it can have harmful effects if someone drinks (one) and it causes a protein spike.'

Might as well demand the government buy metal head shields for us all in case of asteroid strike... 

Finbar O'Callaghan, professor of paediatric neurology at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, agreed intervention was needed, describing it as 'potentially life-saving'.

Of course he does. It's not his money, either, is it? But you know what else is 'life saving', prof? The NHS doing its job...

Professor O'Callaghan told the inquest on Tuesday that if an ammonia test had been carried out on the day Rohan was admitted to hospital, it was 'probable' he would have survived, agreeing with a suggestion by the family's lawyers that it was a 'missed opportunity'.

He was also critical of the decision by a specialist hospital - known as a tertiary centre - not to accept a referral for the 16-year-old to their paediatric neurological team because the West Middlesex Hospital had classified him as an adult patient.

Sadly, NHS red tape fuck ups aren't as rare as this deficiency. We'd all be better off if they were.  

And Nor Should They...

The latest moral panic:

Some machetes and other knives can have 'legitimate uses', such as those used for gardening, agriculture or culinary purposes.

This complicates legislation around knives, as it means certain blades can be kept at home and remain unseized by the police.

Currently, this means that even if police find a machete or other legal blade inside someone's residence and they believe the items could be used for violent or criminal activity, they have no lawful right to seize a blade.

Why, exactly, should we be tightening legislation because the police have trouble understanding it? We did that with the Dangerous Dogs Act, and yet the lazy bastards still refuse to act if they think they can get away with it. 

And since when did police 'suspicion' that you might do something illegal with a legal possession count for anything? 

Zombie knives are already included in the list of banned knives, meaning it is illegal to possess them, bring them into the UK, sell or hire them out or lend them to someone. But this only applies to the weapons which meet the three criteria: cutting edge, serrated edge and words or images that imply they are to be used for violence.

You have to have some criteria. What's wrong with these? It's not like my kitchen doesn't contain several knives just as capable of killing someone even without the words 'zombie annihilator' written on the hilt... 

Current Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: 'The thugs wielding these deadly knives aim to terrorise their victims and the public, and too often even carry out horrific or fatal attacks.

'They are emboldened by the cowardly idea that carrying these blades inflates their own status and respect.'

And Home Secretaries seem to be emboldened by pressure groups and newspaper headlines into knee jerk reactions that do little to resolve the real problem, Suella. 

It's Not Up To You To Decide What's Appropriate...

A top coroner has called on British military chiefs to stop giving retiring veterans ceremonial daggers after an ex-Army commando used one to kill his neighbours.

Because he couldn't possibly have used any other knife, like the dozens everyone has in their kitchen..? 

Somerset senior coroner, Samantha Marsh...

*sighs* 

Well, if you can't trust a former residential property solicitor to bring gravitas and common sense to a vital post like this, who can you trust?

 ...has written to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and the Ministry of Defence and urged them to stop giving retiring troops weapons.

She wrote: 'The dagger was not a blunt replica, it was a fully functional weapon capable of causing significant harm, injury and sadly in the Chapples' case, death.

'Please reconsider the appropriateness of providing anyone leaving the British Army, regardless of rank or status, with what is (to all intents and purposes) a deadly weapon.

'Such presentation/gifting has essentially put a deadly weapon in the community (where I understand it sadly remains, having never been recovered as it was removed from the scene prior to police attendance) and I am not persuaded that this is appropriate.'

And who told you that assuring what gift it was appropriate for the Army to give retiring soldiers was part of your duty, Samantha? 

She added that Mr Wallace and the MoD are under a duty to respond to her report - which was also sent to the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police - by April 25.

I hope they send the SAS to deliver it. To her front door, in the dead of night. Pinned to it with a ceremonial dagger... 

Surely It's Time There Was Some Redress For This?

A violent thug who attacked a mum and her young son left her home "looking like a bloodbath". 

The 26-year-old Welshman already had a history of violence against women. But the electrician was free to carry out the savage Teesside assault after being spared jail last year despite punching his girlfriend so hard she lost her sense of smell and taste.

Yes, absolutely, this woman didn't do any due diligence before shacking up with the brute and putting herself and her son in danger, but...shouldn't the previous judge also bear some responsibility? 

Shouldn't there be some consequences for lenient sentencing and the resulting fallout?

The court heard that the mother is planning to move away from the area, so she is safe when Dos Santos is released from prison.

Should he ever be? 

Judge Watson jailed Dos Santos for six years and four months and made him the subject of a restraining order prohibiting him from going near the family again.

So, he'll just target another family. It seems there's no shortage of victims, thanks to women with low standards, and of course, thanks to the criminal justice system... 

Why Not Chinese Lanterns..?

Nature charities joined fire chiefs in calling for a ban on disposable barbecues yesterday, branding them a menace to the environment.

Aren't they just as much of a danger? Given disposable barbecues tend to at least stay put, while lanterns go whereever the wind takes them?

I wonder why you aren't calling for a ban on those? Still, I guess the majority of fires must be being caused b...

Oh!

Around 4 per cent of serious accidental fires are ‘robustly linked’ to barbecue use, Home Office figures show.

To stop 4% of fires, we should inconvenience 100% of customers?  

A petition demanding a ban had last night gathered more than 14,500 signatures.

It's probably far exceeded that now, as every Karen and misery-guts and Virtuesignaller in the country flings themselves on the bandwagon as it trundles by... 

I Don't Blame You, So Would I...

Mr Butoy was arrested, charged and sent to jail for stealing £208,000. It took until last year to get that conviction overturned in the High Court.

But he doesn't feel like his ordeal is over yet. "People say you've had your name cleared you're all right now. But it's not, you want justice," he tells BBC News. "I want someone else to be charged and jailed like I was."

...but you must know it's never going to happen.

On Monday, 14 February, the public inquiry into the wrongful of conviction of 706 Post Office branch managers, like Mr Butoy, will begin to hear evidence. Those convictions are the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and are now gradually being overturned in the courts.

Far, far too late for many. 

Crucially, it will ask whether those at software developer Fujitsu, the Post Office itself or even their biggest shareholder, the government, knew about faults in the system while using that data in court to convict sub-postmasters.

The answer cannot be anything other than 'Yes, they did.' 

One such expert, Jez Thompson, worked as a team leader for Fujitsu's Horizon Training Project, covering 60,000 Post Office branches over five years from the late 1990s....he also remembers regular glitches and bugs that made the software fail to calculate the books accurately.

"Occasionally it would work, but a lot of the time it wouldn't work," he says."Anything that was wrong with our system would be wrong on the live system as well," he explains.

"And we used to, on a monthly, probably even a weekly basis, pass information up to our managers just informing them that we'd found a glitch and this doesn't work. That's just the way it went."

"I reported them [these issues] to my line manager and he then reported that to a weekly meeting with Fujitsu Training Services, where both Fujitsu and The Post Office would have been present and glitches would've been discussed," he says. "Computers have reels of data. Somewhere there is evidence that somebody knew something."

I suspect that might turn out to be the wrong tense, Mr Thompson... 

A Snowflake Opines...

I remember the first violent message I received on Instagram. It was a veritable bingo of hate: he mocked me, told me no one would want to look at my “dirty” crotch – though his language was worse, of course. He asked if “sluts” like me, moaning until they “get what they want”, was “what our country was coming to”, before reminding me that nothing was going to change. He finished by saying he hoped I was gang-raped “senseless” by 20 men. But, he didn’t use the word “men”. He used a racist slur instead, finishing the message with five middle-finger emojis.

So you blocked and deleted and got on with life. right? 

I remember how my chest tightened and I grew hot with fear.

Oh... 

I hadn’t been surprised to become the target of online hate.

Wait, you expected it? 

When abuse fills up your DMs and your inbox, there’s no way to escape it.

Yes there is. Block, report, delete.

Those in charge of tackling of this abuse (sic) are usually men. They don’t really understand the impact it has on victims and survivors. They haven’t been in our shoes.

Some have, sweetie!  

No single bill from parliament will solve this, and no single software update will either. A holistic and collaborative effort from the platforms, lawmakers and independent initiatives who know the reality of the issue, not just the theory, would be a positive start. Until then, we’ll share our locations with friends, add another dick pic to our screenshots folder and delete messages with trembling hands, hoping that one day our safety will finally become a priority.

Why should it? Everyone's safety should be a priority. What set of genitalia you possess shouldn't give you a head start, given young men are assaulted and killed at a rate of at least two to one... 

Maybe The Fact Their 'Significant Relationships' Aren't With Parents Is The Issue..?

Former footballer Ian Wright has lamented cuts to youth centres and linked them to “lives being wasted” as he discussed an Arsenal-backed anti-knife crime campaign he is fronting alongside Idris Elba.

*sighs* Here we go again. Why are 'youth clubs' regarded as a key to stopping (mostly) black youths from acting like animals? 

Wright and Elba said one of its aims was to increase spaces for young people which may offer an alternative to gang violence.

Speaking to ITV, the former Arsenal striker said he had been “lucky” when he was growing up to have access to youth workers and “people who were looking out for me”.

You mean, your parents and relatives weren't..? 

“When you look at the last 10 years, 750 youth centres closed down, 4,500 people out of work, youth workers, people you build relationships with, people who know you, and then when you look at the lives that are being wasted… this campaign is about… inspiration and action.”

No, this campaign is about avoiding the elephant in the room. And it's clearly a Loxodonta africana. I don't see a rise in knife crime among young Chinese or Thai youth. 

The campaign was praised by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who described it as “hugely powerful” while Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also backed the drive.

That's all you need to know how effective it'll be, isn't it? 

I Think We All Know How It's Going To End, Don't We?

Mrs Bell didn't fully co-operate with the police investigation but did tell that she had been attacked and suffered injuries.

Miss Atkinson said: "She confirmed that he threatened her with an axe and said he was going to hit her with it. She said that he had never shown this level of aggression before but she was scared about how it was going to end."

It's only going to end one way, isn't it? 

Bell, of Rivington Park, Appleby, Cumbria, pleaded guilt to grievous bodily harm following the incident in November last year.

Well, it's a long spell in chokey for you, and well des... 

The court heard how Mrs Bell wants to rekindle their relationship.

*blinks* 

Judge Timothy Stead (Ed: *deep sigh*) sentenced Bell to a two-year community order where he will perform 15 rehabilitation activity days and take part in an alcohol monitoring programme.

He said: "It is a great disappointment to see you hear (sic) at this age, it is the only time you have done anything wrong."

Actually, doubtful - it's simply the first time he's been caught. 

"It is a significant wrong – I don't want to be heard saying that domestic violence is in anyway a lesser form of violence than that which could be regarded as general violence against other people, it is the reverse, it is more serious."

Which is why you...haven't put him behind bars where he belonged?  

Maybe This Doesn't Say What You Think It Says, Gary...

Perennial race-baiter Gary Younge opines once more:

We were not protesting against some new manifestation of racism in Britain, but the enduring nature of it. The YouGov poll from June revealed the percentage of non-white people who think racism was present in society 30 years ago is virtually identical to the proportion who think it is present today.

Maybe that does tell us something, Gary, but I suspect a lot of people - myself included - draw a rather different conclusion from it. 

And wonder why our government and all its agents seem hell-bent on appeasing people who can't, by this evidence, ever be appeased. Whose dissatisfaction with their lot in life isn't based on objective reality. And never will be. 

Here is my proposal. We should do this again; only without the Home Office. We could hold a series of themed public meetings, independent of political parties, across England, on a range of issues, at which a few experts and practitioners in each field could lay out the challenges and then open the floor for people to bear witness (race in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has its own dynamics, and will need specific proposals).

Didn't Russia try this sort of public denunciation once? I'm sure it did. How'd that turn out, Gary?  

Of Course, It's Critical Of The New Regime...

...it's been done by people who long for Open Borders. And have marched for years through the institutions to ensure they get them:

The system for assessing who should be asked to pay for NHS services “incentivises racial profiling”, an investigation has found.

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that overstretched NHS staff sometimes racially profile patients in order to determine who is not “ordinarily resident” in the UK, and therefore must pay for their care.

Well, yes. If your organisation is tasked with the job of ensuring foreign patients pay, you'll look to target foreigners, won't you? 

The report is critical of the more stringent charging regime introduced by NHS England over the past decade as part of a series of measures devised to create a hostile environment for people living in the UK without the correct immigration status.

Or 'protecting the public revenue', which is another way of describing their task. 

One of the officers told the IPPR study they had felt forced to discriminate between patients based on their name.

“If you’ve got a, I don’t know, Mohammed Khan and a Fred Cooper, you’re obviously going to go for [investigating] the Mohammed Khan … Even for someone who’s, you know, well I’d like to think hopefully open-minded, like myself, you’re just trying to save yourself time because there’s not enough hours in the day,” the officer said.

This is an argument for having more staff in the role, not scrapping the role altogether. And maybe for tightening up the selection process for hiring officers: 

A hospital employee also reported that discrimination on the basis of ethnicity was used to determine who should be billed for treatment.

“It’s a system that is designed to benefit [white] people like me, not people like … the patient on intensive care who is black and British and was unconscious and sent a bill. So why did someone think he was not eligible for care? Given he was unconscious most of the admission, significantly unwell, probably not his accent, more likely his skin colour,” the health worker said.

But once it was established he was entitled to the treatment, was he expected to pay? The answer's no, of course! 

Some healthcare staff told IPPR researchers that they disliked the extra burden of having to consider whether to refer a patient for charging, which they felt distracted them from their core medical responsibilities.

Oh, diddums! There's aspect of my job I'm not keen on, but I either do them regardless or leave for another job. I don't demand the company change! 

And I'm surprised it gets a chance to distract them. I thought filming TikTok videos and finding new ways to hide from patients took up all that time!

What does the report conclude? Go on. Surprise me!

The report, Towards True Universal Healthcare, recommends expanding eligibility for free healthcare to include all UK residents, regardless of their immigration status.

Yeah, put that one in the round file. 

It's A Cliche, I Know...

...but it's really true that in this country, if you want to kill someone and get off lightly, do it in a car:

A mother-of-two who killed a cyclist in a hit-and-run crash while over ten times the prescribed limit for cocaine and later told police she thought she had hit a fox has been jailed...

Well, I should think so! 

...for five years.

Wait, what? 

Moughan, who has two daughters aged 18 and 12, sobbed on Monday as Judge Simon Hickey handed her a five-year jail term and a six-year driving ban, telling her no sentence 'could possibly do justice in the family's eyes'.

Probably true, but y'know, at least try... 

Ms Pearson said Moughan then drove on towards Selby with a smashed windscreen and on the rims of her wheels as her tyres had been seriously damaged in the crash. She said: 'By 11.55 pm, [Moughan] reached Selby [where] police were dealing with another incident.' Officers were alerted to the noise of Moughan's car as it drove past them because it was being driven 'on two of the rims [and] its tyres were completely flat'.

She added: 'The front windscreen was completely smashed.'

Good grief! 

Moughan was stopped and breathalysed, and when asked about the collision, she told officers she thought she had hit a fox.

They have foxes that big? What does the local hunt use, pitbulls? 

Moughan was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, and later released under investigation. But two months later, police found her slumped in another damaged car, heavily drunk.

/facepalm 

Neil Cutte, mitigating, said Moughan had never been in trouble before her first conviction in December, had been in full-time employment and was previously 'highly thought of'.

Not any longer... 

In sentencing Moughan, Judge Hickey said: 'It's a tragedy that was completely avoidable.'

Well, yes. And she clearly didn't learn her lesson, did she? I've never seen a case with more aggravating factors. So a five year sentence - which we all know she won't fully serve - doesn't quite seem fitting, does it? 

It's Not Animals They Care About, Is It?

The Aspinall Foundation, which is fronted by Mrs Johnson, said it plans to transport a total of thirteen elephants - weighing 25 tonnes - more than 4,000 miles on a Boeing 747 to a secret location in Kenya in a 'ground-breaking step for this country and the conservation movement'.

The charity said it would work with anti-poaching teams to help ensure the long-term survival of the 13 animals - including three babies - once they reach one of two sites under consideration in southern Kenya.

Well, the Kenyan authorities must be overjoyed, surely? 

But Kenya's Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife said it 'noted with concern' the reports in the British media about what the charity has described as the first rewilding project of its kind.

'The ministry wants to state that neither them nor the Kenya Wildlife Service have been contacted or consulted on this matter,' the ministry said. 'Relocation and rehabilitation of an animal from a zoo is not easy and is an expensive affair.'

But how could they turn this down, aren't they short of elephants over there? 

Reader, they are not. 

Damian Aspinall, chairman of The Aspinall Foundation, told the Daily Telegraph: 'This is an incredibly exciting project and a genuine world-first. As with any conservation project of this magnitude, there are obviously big risks, but we consider them well worth it to get these magnificent beasts back into the wild where they belong.'

Yes, of course you do. Because it's not about the welfare of the animals at all, is it? 

What Would We Do Without 'Experts'..?

Replacing pointed-tip kitchen knives with rounded blades could help reduce knife crime and prevent serious injuries within the home, according to research at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).

Wait, haven't we been here before? Reader, yes. Yes, we have... 

In a study led by senior lecturer in Forensic Science at DMU, Leisa Nichols-Drew, five kitchen knives – each with a different type of blade tip – were used for ‘stab tests’ on items of clothing, to examine the damage caused by each knife.

In collaboration with DMU’s Dr Rachel Armitage and Dr Kevin Farrugia, University of Leicester’s Professor Robert Hillman and Northumbria University’s Dr Kelly Sheridan, Leisa conducted 300 ‘tests’ using a single downward stabbing motion on four garments, including a t-shirt, a pair of denim jeans, a long-sleeved jumper and a faux leather skirt – all made from different materials.

Your taxes undoubtedly went - somehow, probably grants - towards three 'scientists' stabbing clothing all day. This is why we don't have flying cars yet! 

“We want to remove the need for pointed knives. The majority of fatal injuries are caused by penetrative stabbings,” she added.

Prior to joining DMU, Leisa was a practitioner for the Home Office’s Forensic Science Service, working on some of Britain’s most notorious major crime cases. She later worked as a trainer for the police, judiciary and Crown Prosecution Service to improve their forensic awareness.

“My time in case work definitely inspired me to want to do this research,” she said. “I remember thinking at the time that there had to be a way to lower the risk of these terrible crimes from happening.”

And all it'll take is for everyone in the UK to change their entire kitchenware! Dream big, girlie. 

Just What Is It You Think 'The Wider Electorate' Cares About, Mustafa?

Mustafa Al-Dabbagh, a spokesperson for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “We’re speaking to British Muslims on a daily basis and they feel alienated. Muslims feel like they are not being taken seriously by the leadership on the Labour party. There seems to be an attitude that Muslims have always voted Labour, so they’re always going to.”

He said the party needed to take a stronger stance on tackling Islamophobia as well as on foreign policy issues. “The Conservatives have left Labour with an open goal to come and engage with Muslim constituents and it’s not doing so. You have a government that ignores foreign policy issues like Palestine and Kashmir, and you have an opposition that equivocates,” he added.

Because I can tell you - it's not what happens in other countries, it's what happens in the UK... 

“When you’ve got Labour party officials briefing frankly Islamophobic statements and making Muslims feel like they’re not part of the wider electorate then I’m sorry, what do you expect from us?” he said.

If your concerns are purely for foreign policy, then you're not part of the wider electorate, are you? 

A Classic 'Something Must Be Done' Story...

A heartbroken son described watching CCTV of his father's final moments as he went into the sea to try and save the family dog - and called for action to prevent further tragedies on the beach.

What sort of action? It's a tragic story, it's true, but it's a genuinely foreseeable one.

The 69-year-old went into the water to try and help Connie at Hove beach but had not realised that the pebbles had formed a "very sudden drop".

The son is understandably desperate not to face the truth that poor decision-making lead to this tragedy: 

“The thing that shocked me the most was that in 55 seconds, a man that gave so much to business, so much to academia, goes just like that."

Being 'academic' is no guarantee of common sense. It never has been. 

At his inquest, senior coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley spoke of the “huge shelf” which “does catch people out”.

However, she noted that even without this drop, the state of the water that day would have made it hard to survive.

Walking a dog near the sea in wild weather - and then going in the sea after it when it seems in trouble - is really only going to end one way. It has so often, after all. 

Not that there isn't always some unscrupulous chancer looking to prey on someone's suffering to gain publicity for themselves... 

Conservative councillor for Wish Ward, Robert Nemeth, is helping Robbie find a way of tackling the risks of pebbles shelves.

He said: “It’s absolutely essential that a solution is found to what is clearly a huge problem.

"I’m going to be spending a lot of time over the coming months working with the council and other linked parties to offer answers.

"It’s clear that change must take place to avoid any further tragedy taking place.”

I bet your constituents are delighted to learn you're going to be spending time trying - fruitlessly - to cheat Darwin rather than attending to their concerns, that you may actually be able to influence, Mr Nemeth. 

As the council point out, they've done everything they can:

“We already have in place a considerable number of beach safety signs. They have been designed in line with the RNLI’s beach safety sign guidelines, which are a nationally recognised standard for beach operators.

“During rough weather we also put up additional mobile warning banners. “We are currently reviewing our beach safety signage to consider possible further options for ensuring public safety.

“However, we would first and foremost always appeal to residents and visitors not to go in the sea during difficult weather conditions.”

Quite.  

Take Away His Driving License Too...

A dad’s gun licence bid has been thwarted after a judge branded him “unfit to be trusted with a deadly firearm”.

Hmmm, why? 

... the 43-year-old misled the authorities on his application form after changing his name three times, to hide his criminal record and “intemperate” short fuse.

Judge Simon James told Barnes his “deliberate lack of frankness” was indicative of someone shrouded in “secrecy and privacy”.

Amongst other things! 

Going by the name Rashid Farooq, Barnes in 2006 was convicted at trial of harassing his former partner and jailed for 24 weeks.

Having changed his name to Taff Morgan in 2013, Barnes successfully launched a shotgun licence bid after failing to disclose the conviction. Police in 2015 seized the weapon following further allegations of violence.

Barnes, who works with animals, soon changed his name to Solomon Barnes-Knight. He was then handed a community order for animal cruelty in 2018 after leaving a dog inside a car. Prosecutors told the court Barnes became threatening towards police officers assisting the RSPCA - claims he denied.

/facepalm 

Under his fourth name Damion Barnes, and with the help of wife Sarah Knight, a Kent Police investigations officer (Ed: Wait, what..?!), he launched another firearms licence application.

You almost have to admire his persistance, don't you? 

But Barnes’ GP surgery declared to police he had a history of depression, difficulties controlling his temper, a suspected personality disorder and was in treatment for ADHD at London’s Maudsley Hospital. Legally, applicants must declare their medical history under the Firearms Act.

Sarah Knight should be expecting an interview without coffee by AC12, shouldn't she? It certainly calls into question her judgement! 

His barrister Graham Gilbert added Barnes’ learning difficulties had led to confusion over which box to tick when declaring previous convictions and he had never been formally diagnosed with a personality disorder.

Anyone think this man should have a shotgun? Anyone? Bueller? 

Barnes, of The Elders in Littlebourne, near Canterbury, was ordered to pay £2,250 legal fees for the appeal heard at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday, April 8.

Can't wait to see what his fifth name will be! 

Is It 'Justice' You Want, Or Someone With Deep Pockets To Blame?

Sonali Bhattacharyya, a volunteer with the Justice for Belly campaign group, said campaigners were calling for an inquest into her death and a public inquiry to determine if GTR was culpable.

She said: “We’re here today on the first anniversary of Belly Mujinga’s death, united in anger and grief.

“A year on, and her family still have no answers. They still wait for justice.”

But they do have answers. They just aren't the ones they want... 

A lawyer for Mrs Mujinga’s family, Lawrence Davies, said the force had refused to disclose the suspect’s name, preventing them from pursuing a private prosecution and further civil claims.

Because there's no evidence that the supposed incident had anything to do with her death, and a lot - specifically, a negative covid test - that it didn't: 

BTP asked the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to review the evidence and look into whether there were any further lines of inquiry, but prosecutors ruled out homicide charges.

CCTV footage of the interaction, which lasted around 15 seconds, was said to not show any conclusive evidence a criminal offence took place, while results from a Covid-19 test on March 25 confirmed the suspect had not been infected with the virus.

DNA evidence from Mrs Mujinga’s clothing was inconclusive, while witness accounts did not provide a consistent enough picture to bring charges, according to the CPS.

So what sort of 'justice' is it that you - or more accurately, the leeches battening on to you - want to see, exactly?