Harry Shilling: UK gun smuggler jailed for 30 years

[Bad Dog]

Source: BBC

The man behind Britain's most notorious gun-smuggling operation, involving £100,000-worth of weapons, has been jailed for 30 years.

Harry Shilling, 26, from Swanley in Kent, will serve a minimum of 20 years. He has also been put on licence for a further five years.

He and his gang smuggled 31 machine guns and more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition into the UK by boat.

The guns came from the same source as those used in the Charlie Hebdo attack.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36446462

[Angel Martin]

1. the UK has finally found a crime that they think

is worthy of a stiff sentence

compare
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/08/rochdale-grooming-case-10-men-sentenced-to-up-to-25-years-in-jail

[Bad Dog]

3. You don't consider 25 years a stiff sentence?

We don't want guns in our country. This should serve as a deterrent.

[SkyDaddy7]

4. I was going to say the same thing!

That is more than what they give people for murder.

[Chakab]

5. Get your facts straight before posting nonsense. Murder carries a mandatory life sentence

in the UK.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_-_mandatory_life_sentences_in_murder_cases/

Even if an offender is eventually released they will be on license (parole) and hence under strict supervision for life.


Many Americans seem to under the misconception that the lenient sentences and cushy prison conditions that exist in the Scandinavian countries exemplify the penal system in the rest of Europe and the UK. This is false.

[SkyDaddy7]

6. LOL! I love it when...

Someone says, "Get your facts straight before posting nonsense" and they don't have a clue what they themselves are talking about it! Kinda like your basic Tea Bagger Trump supporter!

I like that you posting "guidelines" but the REALITY is the average time a person convicted of murder spends 16yrs in prison...And that is up from years past.

"Historical figures from the MoJ show that normally between 100 and 200 people convicted for murder are released from prison per year. The average time served has been slowly rising in recent years - from 13 years in 1999 to 16 last year."

How murder sentencing works

People convicted for murder must receive a 'mandatory life sentence' which takes different forms for those who committed murder aged 10 to 18 (detention during Her Majesty's pleasure) and between 18 and 21 (custody for life). This is known as an 'indeterminate sentence' so there's no fixed maximum length it can take.

However, judges can set 'minimum terms' during which the prisoner cannot be released. Once this time is served, a Parole Board must approve release once it is "satisfied the risk of harm the prisoner poses to the life and limb of the public is no more than minimal."

The determinations involved in setting a minimum term are set out in Schedule 21 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Judges must first choose a starting point which reflects the broad circumstances of a murder - this can be either a 'whole life order', 30, 25, 15 or 12 years (the latter for offences committed by those under 18). From there, the trial judge weighs up additional factors to either lengthen or shorten the minimum term.

https://fullfact.org/crime/how-long-do-murderers-serve-prison/

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. Good to see someone go to jail for this.

[yellowcanine]

7. I guess the UK doesn't value a "well regulated militia" as much as the U.S.

The NRA would likely give him an award if he did it here.

[Bad Dog]

8. We place no value in private armies whatsoever.

We've got a parliamentary system going back for over 700 years. Freedom through the ballot box, not some idiot with a gun.