graffitti

[stokeace]

does anyone feel sorry for the vandals who were killed after they ran into the path of a speeding train fleeing security guards?

[Llamatron]

Not me. Not one iota.

Can't have been nice for the train driver though. So I feel sorry for him or her.

[stokeace]

so it isnt just me being heartless then cos i think they got what they deserved they shouldnt have been vandalising and yes i agree with you i feel sorry for the poor train driver as well.

[NikkiB]

I don't know the ages of the victims but I suspect they were no older than teenagers. Graffiti is a nuiscance but in the grand scheme of things, it's not crimes of the century. Most teenage boys indulge in petty crimes but still manage to grow up and lead lives as responsible citizens. I think it's tragic that they were killed. I don't think apple-scrumpers deserve to get crushed under a falling tree and I don't think Graffiti morons deserve to get run over by trains.

[jgs]

No sympathy for them either I'm afraid.

[derekpara]

They were old enough to know the risks they were taking.

They were inflicting their unwanted rubbish on us and costing us thousands of pounds.

No sympathy for them, but loads for their loved ones and the train driver.

[littleoldme]

Not condoning what they did for a second, but it hardly deserves getting killed over. My first sympathy is with the driver. Even if he is totally exonerated by the investigation, he will have to live with the knowledge that he killed two people.

I also sympathise with the families left behind, though this will no doubt change if they show any vindictiveness towards the driver.

[vehelpfulguy]

The two men killed were 19 and 21. The two men arrested were 23 and 25.

Well old enough to know what they were doing.

They get no sympathy from me.

[flip-flop]

Nope - I have been accused in the past of being a little black and white in my opinions, which is probably fair enough because I subsribe to the view that if they weren't there committing a crime they would not have been killed.

It really is as simple as that.

The little pikey Barras that Tony Martin did us all a favour in removing from the gene pool would still be with us had he not been burgling Martin's house (pity his shot wasn't up to scratch and he only 'winged' that other scumbag Fearon).

So no, no sympathy at all.

[NJOK]

This thread is absolutely unbelievable. Even by AB standards.

Next time any of you break the speed limit - even by a little bit - I hope you lose control, plough your cars headlong into a tree and smash your brains in. Fair enough surely? After all, if you stuck to the speed limit....

Or is it just crimes committed principally by young, black males that earn your scorn?

Thought so!

[Pistachio30]

NJOK. I completely agree with you. If I break the speed limit and then crash into a tree and kill myself, it'll be my own fault for speeding. If I vandalise a train station then run away across the tracks and get killed, that'll be my own fault too.

I wouldn't say they got what they deserved, but I don't feel any sympathy for them. Oh and I don't condone crimes committed by anyone, whatever their age, race or sex.

[NJOK]

Pistachio, you seem to be blurring the ideas of blame and just desserts.

If you break the speed limit and kill yourself, then yes, it's your fault. Should I sympathise with you? Of course, I should. It's an absolute tragedy - and isn't rendered 'fair enough' by the fact that you happened to be breaking the law.

If I cross the road without looking where I'm going and get hit by a truck, then it's my fault too. But not a criminal act. Presumably though I'd have your full sympathy because the law can't touch me?

So any transgression of the law instantly removes any room for sympathy in the case of a violent death? How wonderfully black and white.

[Pistachio30]

No you wouldn't have my sympathy. You should have looked where you were going. But I would feel sympathy for your loved ones and the truck driver.

[stokeace]

i had no idea when i asked the question that the young men were black but it wouldnt have mattered if they were white/black/chinese/muslim/hindu or of any other ethnic background they WERE old enough to know what they were doing and paid the ultimate price for vandalising in a very dangerous place.

[Ethel]

I don't see what race has to do with it all, but this young man is certainly white:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6263 687.stm

[naz_nomad]

They should have caught them first! but serves them right

[noxlumos]

This is sick. People are dead. They were graffitti artists not murderers. What's wrong with you people, have you no sense of perspective, or perhaps you've just never seen someone killed. This is disgusting.

[flip-flop]

They weren't 'graffiti artists' - they were vandals causing criminal damage.

Referring to them as 'graffiti artists' is the same as calling somebody who commits an act of violence on an innocent bystander whilst an accomplice records it on their telephone as 'happy-slapping'.

Or stealing a car as joy-riding.

[noxlumos]

Ok vandals if that salves your conscience a bit. But dead ones. No-one's life is such a trivial thing that other people should rejoice in the loss of it. You just don't get it do you?doesn't matter if they were vandals or not, they were people you moron.

[flip-flop]

oooooh, name calling.

[RATTER15]

I really don't think a person should die over a petty criminal act, I think most of us have done something illegal in our lives, I know I did when I was young, I know see myself as a civilised human being, I don't think I deserved to die!!

Maybe you should ask yourselves if you think your children, brothers or sisters would deserve to die over a petty crime!!