Eight cleared of murder in Birmingham

They were accused of driving a car into three young men and killing them during last summers riots. The judge ruled that is was not deliberate but an accident.

Guilty or not. Is it right to celebrate with champagne outside the courthouse after being cleared? Three young men lost their lives whilst trying to protect local businesses from rioters. What the families of the dead thought, God only knows. disgraceful disgusting behaviour

I agree, this certainly was no cause for a celebration. I know very little about this case but surely there must be something wrong here, 1 car, 8 people ! What kind of car was this, even people carrier type cars are only 7 seaters so surely unless this vehicle was a large van, mini bus or something then 8 people in one car sounds very wrong. I thought there were laws on overloading cars.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/19/eight-cleared-birmingham-riot-deaths

There you go Mara hope it works. As you will see from this there were three cars involved in the incident but just one hit them. Apparently the incident was caught on camera and when the car hit these men they were somersaulted into the air. Sounds as though the driver was maybe going a little fast!!

If he was I would have thought he should be charged with manslaughter or at the very
least dangerous driving!

cherry1 wrote:If he was I would have thought he should be charged with manslaughter or at the very
least dangerous driving!

Exactly my thoughts cherry1 but they were cleared completly. Surely you do not somersault three people into the air whilst driving carefully. I believe many people in Birmingham are very angry about the verdict but the father of one of the dead men has asked for calm. Lets hope so !

Its very sad and has been said certainly no cause for celebration, they should
all have a bit of respect for the families of those who died.

What is the world coming to....not even charged with dangerous driving.



That's how some people celebrate when they know they have got away with a crime.


Jubilation.


They can't believe their luck when they get 12 stupid jurors....one or two maybe ..but 12!

The law truly is an ass, you can't put any faith in justice any more.

I believe that what happened in this trial is that the police officer in charge lied on oath . This of course had a detrimental effect for the prosecution. The judge would not order a retrial!! so you can guess the rest and why these people got off scot free.

It was also said that witnesses were offered immunity if they testified. Well that does happen on many trials or people would not come forward in case of incriminating themselves. This all happened in the riots after all and many people would not want to admit to being there !

It reminds me of another trial many years ago, it was not the Birmingham eight then but another number.

I have tried to put up a link but to no avail. It is the Mail Online 21st July. It is actually a good report and tells what did happen, together with photos of the celebration of aquittal

Whether deliberate or not...3 people are dead due to dangerous driving.

kitti wrote:Whether deliberate or not...3 people are dead due to dangerous driving.

Exactly Kitti.

But they never got charged with that ...they never got charged with anything and THAT is why the champagne corks were popping....they couldn't believe their luck!

kitti wrote:But they never got charged with that ...they never got charged with anything and THAT is why the champagne corks were popping....they couldn't believe their luck!

Kitti I saw a comment about this, it said " Does'nt anyone get convicted of anything in this country anymore" So true

I'm not a driver but I know that, if my car had hit and killed someone, even if it was an accident and could not have been avoided, I would feel responsible anyway. The thought of celebrating being cleared is abhorrent.