Friday, March 30, 2007 -
A father wrongly imprisoned because of a 'sorry story of administrative and judicial errors' was back behind bars on Friday - for throwing eggs at the judge who first jailed him.
William Hammerton, 52, had 'nursed a growing sense of grievance' after he was jailed for contempt of court by His Honour Judge Collins two years ago.
But when the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment last Friday which quashed that sentence and set aside the finding of contempt, it 'crystallised his burning sense of injustice', his barrister said today.
Charles Hale, representing Hammerton before a judge sentencing over the egg throwing, told the court: 'He took a very stupid step.
'He came to the Royal Courts of Justice and decided to seek out Judge Collins after managing to get through security with eggs.
'He threw three eggs and one struck His Honour Judge Collins. He then began to read out from the Court of Appeal judgment.'
Mr Hale said his client had suffered at the hands of a justice system which it had been admitted had treated him poorly.
His legal battle to gain contact with two of his five children had ended by being jailed for contempt and he had spent six weeks in jail and had lost his job as a site manager for a building firm.
Mr Hammerton now had no hope of seeing his children again, said Mr Hale, asking the sentencing judge, Mr Justice Ryder, to suspend any sentence he imposed for egg throwing.
'To send Mr Hammerton back to prison for his actions at the beginning of this week would be unduly harsh.'
But Mr Justice Ryder said in any other circumstances Mr Hammerton would have been jailed for three months, not the two he was imposing.
Date: 1 Apr 2007 | Author: mesmerX | Category: News | Views: 1911
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