A Bit Harsh?

[youngmafbog]

ok, I know it was wrong but surely being fired (without a payoff or large pension) would have been sufficient.

I am probably being a bit naive but how do you get jail for lying? It wasn't in a court was it?

http://news.sky.com/story/1207690/plebgate-police-officer-jailed-for-one-year

Just seems to me in these days of letting criminals off continually this is a bit harsh

[Prudie]

The thing is though he was a policeman, supposedly one of the most fine and upstanding members of society and he didn't just lie as a one-off he maintained that lie for months even allowing an MP to resign over it.

[Zacs-Master]

The crime is 'misconduct in a public office' not lying.

[youngmafbog]

Oh I see, thanks zacs

[Gromit]

It wasn't just a lie, it had consequences.

It resulted in a Cabinet Minister wrongly losing his job.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// It wasn't just a lie, it had consequences. ///

/// It resulted in a Cabinet Minister wrongly losing his job ///

I wonder if he would have been jailed if the person to lose his job as a consequence had been a person in an ordinary job?

[Zacs-Master]

But he wasn't even there!

[FredPuli43]

Yes, AOG, he would have been jailed if the person had lost an ordinary job. The gravity of the offence is the misconduct by a police officer in office, in this instance, saying in a statement that he witnessed something, when he did not. It doesn't matter whether there were consequences for anyone else, it is the fact of his making any false statement in his position that matters. (Had he made this statement in a judicial proceeding he would have been jailed for perjury; he is fortunate that it wasn't )

[Gromit]

He actually doesn't sound at all well, and maybe treatment instead of a year in prison would have bee better.

// he was "angry and intoxicated" when he falsely claimed to have witnessed the Plebgate row. Constable Keith Wallis, 53, had been drinking heavily when he sent an email to his MP. //

// he told police after being arrested at his home in December 2012: "I knew I should have thrown myself under a train yesterday." //

// ...after sending the email events "got completely out of hand" and he did not have the mental capacity to come clean //

// The officer was disconsolate and apologetic during two police interviews. "I 100% convinced myself I was there. I visualised myself standing there," he told the interviewing officers.

The court heard that Wallis had been on restricted duties due to a degenerative medical condition before the Plebgate incident.

His lawyer, Gibbs, pleaded with the court to spare him jail.
"To speak with him now is not really like speaking to an adult at all. It's like speaking to a son who wants above all things to be with his father, only his father is dead and has been dead for some time," he said.
Gibbs said that Wallis wanted the judge to send him to prison because he believed "everyone would be better off without him". //

[emmie]

actually no its not harsh, its just, he lied, that isn't a good thing for anyone to do let alone a police officer.

[sandyRoe]

Are there no health checks on members of armed police units? He seems to have been mentally ill.

[ChillDoubt]

A Bit Harsh? One of the most (supposedly) trusted members of society, engaged in upholding the law of the land engaged in the 'fit-up' of a Cabinet Minister.

What lengths would he have gone to in order to submit Joe Public to the same, for something far more serious?

When law and order breaks down, society breaks down.
He got what he deserved.

[mackfender]

I would expect any polce officer to be jailed if he behaved in a dishonest way.

[emmie]

if he is remotely ill he shouldn't be working.

[Gromit]

// engaged in the 'fit-up' of a Cabinet Minister. //

Or

He did something stupid when very drunk.
Didn't have the balls to admit it when he was sober.
And events got out of hand.

[emmie]

he is a police officer, if this was joe soap he would have gone to prison.

[ChillDoubt]

He did something stupid when very drunk.
Didn't have the balls to admit it when he was sober.
And events got out of hand.
---------------------
That's his story and he's sticking to it.

Or

Colluded with other officers in inventing a story and accusations that led to a Cabinet Minister losing his job, his character and reputation, all on the whim of Officers who took umbrage at his policies regarding the Police that were possibly to be implemented, that they vehemently opposed.

It'd be akin to the RAF/Army calling in a missile strike on No 10 Downing Street because they didn't agree with the present cuts being implemented in HM Forces.

Events got out of hand? Are you real? What if it were a murder enquiry, or child abduction case? How far would he have let 'events get out of hand' in that scenario?

[mikey4444]

This idiot deserves everything that is coming to him. Complete wassock.

[dannyk13]

"how do you get jail for lying"
If the officer made a statement on oath which was untrue then he commits an offence.

[ChillDoubt]

At the head of every Witness Statement there is a declaration that must be signed by the person making the statement. It reads:

"This statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true."

It doesn't get much more straightforward than that, but especially so for a Police Oficer.

[modeller]

He should be punished severely but that doesn't change the basic facts Mitchell did act like a Lord of the Manor . He wants a bit more tugging of forelock and doffing of caps from us Plebs , and if he can't hide his contempt for us then he should not be a Cabinet Minister.
Personally I believe PC Toby I doubt he had ever heard the word before , let alone its meaning.