I dont believe in the death sentence BUT...

[one eyed jack]

Yeah you are right Graham, it was a rash comment. I was shooting from the hip with that one. You know me. I lose it pretty quick but as the morning wore on I realised the spin that was unfolding before me on national television and how I succumbed to it.

If this guy was really guilty he just wouldnt have got let off on compassionate grounds at all.

I take it back and offer an apology. I was quick to fire off those comments because I was hot under the collar about it. BGAFD should have an edit function!!!!

I've calmed down and taken stock of my thoughts now.

[Deuce Bigolo]

You can blame the foot soldiers but the real culprits are sitting untouched higher up the totem pole...no agent ever acted without orders

I'd love to see a bonfire with the likes of gadafi,bin laden,mugabe,bush & cheney just to name a few

Then you'd have real justice instead of a diplomatic solution that is political palatable

[jj]

one eyed jack wrote:
I dont believe in the death sentence BUT...

... you believe in mob rule?

[max_tranmere]

Some people say that this guy had nothing to do with it and he was just the scapegoat. It is thought the actual perpetrator was either Iranian or Saudi Arabian - but then it got political. In the build up to the first Gulf War the American's needed to be friendly towards the Saudi's so America could station 500,000 troups there. Also it is claimed it was about vilifying and humiliating Gadaffi - the Libyian government had to pay something like $2.7 billion in compensation following Lockerbie in compensation to the families of the victims. Many people genuinely believe this guy, who now has prostate cancer, had NOTHING to do with it at all...

[andy at handiwork]

Unfortunately there will not now be an appeal. As this was likely to have been the closest we would get to an inquiry into the whole sordid affair, it would have been a useful re-examination of the evidence. It is unlikely that our givernment will allow any further investigation of the many doubts surrounding the case, from the guilt of Libya to the involvement of German, UK and US personnel at many levels whose vigilence might have prevented the bombing in the first place.

[Robches]

one eyed jack wrote:

> Kill 1 person during the biggest robbery of its kind and get 30
> years.

Who did they kill then? Driver Mills, who was coshed in the robbery, and lived for several years before dying of cancer?

No-one was ever charged with killing Driver Mills because they didn't kill him. Whoever coshed him (it's alleged it was Buster Edwards), it wasn't Ronnie Biggs, who never stepped on the bloody train. He was a very minor player in the whole Great Train Robbery. The 30 years sentences the men received were seen at the time as savage (back then you didn't get off after serving half the sentence), and that's why there was public sympathy for them. They faced being in prison until 1994, who wouldn't try to escape?

[mrchapel]

And here was me thinking you were the voice of sense on these boards. Firstly I doubt he did it, he`s the fall guy. Secondly, showing compassion for a dying man, whether guilty or innocent well, its what puts us above some of these savage bastards who declare we`re all infidels. Or should we start public decapitations?

Yours sincerly

Chapel, a guy who lives twelve miles away from Lockerbie and could have easily been killed if the explosion had happened a minute or so earlier

[David Johnson]

The main thing wrong with the death sentence or similar vigilante action is that the history of the last 20 years shows numerous miscarriages of justice. If the death sentence had been implemented, miscarriage swept under the carpet. Its a step backwards.

[jj]

But surely, evil isn't measured quantitatively?

Charles Manson [5 deaths?] is as evil as Hitler [15 million, give
or take]

[jj]

Robches wrote:
> Who did they kill then? Driver Mills, who was coshed in the
> robbery, and lived for several years before dying of cancer?
> ..... No-one was ever charged with killing Driver Mills because they
> didn't kill him.
But it's true that the incident hastened his death- therefore a
charge of manslaughter is appropriate.



Whoever coshed him (it's alleged it was Buster
> Edwards), it wasn't Ronnie Biggs, who never stepped on the
> bloody train. He was a very minor player in the whole Great
> Train Robbery.
I've been hammering this drum for years and nobody listens- he was
just the fucking tea-boy. His sentence was disproportionate, but in
the light of the 'revenge-culture' prevalent at the time he had to
get the full whack. Proof that he was truly stupid is that he or his
briefs didn't realise that a criminal law sea-change was coming- had
he done his time he'd have been out inside ten years.