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AmateurSleuth
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 - 10:46 pm: | 
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Thought this might make a few of you laugh or at least shake your heads.
Appeal fails despite judge's Ripper slur
Dec 1 2005
Weekly News
A THIEF who was compared to Jack The Ripper by a judge has failed in a bid to clear his name.
The Appeal Court heard how Mr Recorder Parry, sitting at Knutsford Crown Court in February, said: 'Jack The Ripper had a good character once,' as he reminded jurors that Craig Dewhurst had a previously unblemished record.
Twenty eight-year-old Dewhurst, of Cherry Blossom Road, Runcorn, was subsequently convicted on charges of conspiracy to steal from his employer and theft and was sentenced to 45 months in jail.
Appeal Court judges said the comments were 'inappropriate' but refused to quash the conviction and dismissed arguments to clear his name as 'unsafe'.
Justice Gibbs heard how Dewhurst, who worked for mobile phone giant O2, had ordered telephones worth £169,000 on the behalf of real customers but had them sent to bogus addresses. His crimes only came to light after an audit.
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Alan Simms, representing Dewhurst, argued that the Recorder's comments regarding Jack The Ripper would have made the jury more likely to convict.
Referring to the Recorder's comments, Mr Justice Gibbs said: 'It was inappropriate and we deprecate it.'
However, he dismissed the appeal and added: 'It may be described as outlandish in a case concerning the theft of a mobile phone.
'We are sure the jury would have taken the perfectly good character reference as being the proper reference in law.'
Dewhurst also failed in a bid to have his sentence cut after his barrister unsuccessfully argued the jail term was 'manifestly excessive'. |
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