PARLIAMENT IS DEAF!

Judge Alan Goldsack has slammed Government sentencing guidelines that mean judges are not allowed to pass adequate sentences.

He was speaking at the trial of Tony Stevenson who he jailed for two years for dangerous driving after Stevenson clocked up a long list of motoring convictions, including ten for drink driving.

Calling Stevenson "a very dangerous criminal", he warned it was only a matter of time before he killed someone and said he wished he could ban him from the roads for good. (Parliament is deaf!)

He said: "Many judges have repeatedly called for that maximum sentence to be increased but Parliament seems deaf or oblivious to our comments.

"The result is we cannot pass adequate sentences on people like you. If the public is losing confidence in sentencing, it is not difficult to see why."

Judge Goldsack is the second judge in a week to openly criticise the powers he is given by the Government - last week, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin spoke out at Southwark Crown Court after jailing a driver high on crystal meth who ploughed into a mother and daughter and leaving them both with amputated legs.

Locking up Alberto Ramos, 32, for four years, he said the guidelines "did not permit the court to do justice for the general public or these victims in particular".

Today, Sheffield Crown Court was told many of Stevenson's crimes have resulted in high-speed police chases as he tried to evade capture.

Judge Goldsack, the Honorary Recorder of Sheffield, warned it was "only a matter of time" before the persistent car criminal killed someone while driving and said it was "pure chance" he had not already done so.

Jailing him for two years, the judge told Stevenson: "If there is a case where disqualification should be for life, it may be thought yours is such a case.

"You undoubtedly pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to other people - the test for sentences of public protection. But those provisions do not apply to dangerous drivers unless death results.

"Many judges have repeatedly called for that maximum sentence to be increased but Parliament seems deaf or oblivious to our comments.

"The result is we cannot pass adequate sentences on people like you.

"You are, in every normal sense of the word, a very dangerous criminal from whom the public needs long-term protection - it can only be a matter of time before you kill someone while driving.

"You will know that, at most, you will serve one half of the short sentence that remains - and may benefit from either a Home Detention Curfew or an executive directive from the Home Secretary allowing early release because of the overcrowded state of the prisons.

"If the public is losing confidence in sentencing, it is not difficult to see why."

Despite Stevenson's appalling record, Judge Goldsack said he was unable to pass a lengthy sentence for his latest crimes.

Stevenson, 45, of Low Edges, Sheffield, has never killed anyone with his driving, which prohibits the courts from jailing him indefinitely for public protection or from banning him from driving for life.

Judge Goldsack was even forced to give Stevenson, who admitted new offences of driving while disqualified, driving under the influence and dangerous driving, credit for his early guilty pleas.

The court heard that Stevenson has 26 convictions for driving while disqualified, ten for drink driving and six for dangerous or reckless driving.

Driving while disqualified and drink driving carry maximum penalties of six months each and dangerous driving offences where no-one is killed are capped at two years' custody.

Jailing Stevenson for a total of 23 months - five months concurrent for the driving while disqualified and while over the limit, and 18 months for dangerous driving - Judge Goldsack said it was "not difficult" to see why law-abiding citizens were losing faith in the British justice system.

Stevenson was banned from driving for eight years and told he must pass an extended test if he is ever to get his licence back.

Road Safety Group Brake said: "Brake continues to campaign for tougher penalties, and echoes Judge Goldsack's comments.

"Drivers who endanger life should be dealt with very seriously, yet all too often we see them receiving penalties which fail to reflect the severity of the crimes they commit, often because the judge is restricted by inadequate guidelines.

"Where a driver has shown contempt for human life, why is he being given only 23 months?

"Clearly, previous punishment has had no deterrent effect upon him, and judges need the power to come down hard on bad drivers who offend again and again."

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