[scoundrel]

I see on the BBC that there were ''angry scenes outside the courtroom'' when Vanessa George, the accused person in the Plymouth nursery paedophilia story, was arraigned this morning.

Now these charges are really serious and you have to think that the case is probably very strong because charges are being brought so quickly. The parents of the children who attend the Little Teds nursery must be choking with utter fury. But it always depresses me when people act as though the accused had been tried and sentenced already and his/her side of the story hasn't even been heard yet. It's the classic pre-requisite for every gross miscarraige of justice I've ever heard of.

On a slightly lighter note, when Jonathan King (total nonce, guilty as hell) was being tried, I had a conversation with a biker chum which went a bit like this:

Chum: He's a f**K**g nonce! I hope they cut his balls off.
scoundrel: Hold on! He hasn't even been tried yet!
Chum: Yeah, but anyone can tell he's guilty. Just look at him. What a nonce!
scoundrel: But come on! What about evidence? Charges? Witnesses? You can't bang someone up in prison just because he looks like a nonce!
Chum: Well...I suppose. Can't just bang him up for what he looks like. Fair doos. We'd better let him have a trial... see what he has to say for himself.

Pause.

Chum: But you can tell he's a nonce though, just by looking at him!
scoundrel: True...