Daily Mail - 16.08.2019

Page 10 Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019

CRIMINALS are ‘rubbing their hands

with glee’ as the number of people

prosecuted or handed penalties for

crimes dropped to a record low, experts

warned last night.

Despite more offences being reported to

police, official figures reveal the number of

criminals dealt with by the justice system

has plummeted.

In addition, prosecutions for the most serious

types of crime, including murder, rape and rob-

bery, have also fallen sharply in the past year.

Richard Atkins QC, chairman of the Bar Coun-

cil, said criminals ‘are going about their busi-

ness unchallenged’ and that the ‘grim’ figures

were ‘only the tip of the iceberg’.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation,

said the figures showed the criminal justice sys-

tem ‘is faltering as it struggles to cope with

increasing demands with diminishing resources’,

der and they remain in custody.

After the stabbing, Mr Duncan was seen

lying ‘on the floor clutching his chest’

before ambulances arrived at 6.20pm.

One witness caught up in the attack was

found shaking when she attempted to

lock herself inside a nearby restaurant.

Police were searching drains in Old

Eldon Square, the site of the city’s war

memorial, for evidence yesterday.

It was claimed Mr Duncan was followed

into the Eldon Square shopping centre

following an ‘altercation’ with the gang.

One witness who said they saw the

group after the attack claimed ‘they did

not seem too bothered’.

Mr Duncan described himself in an

online CV as legal counsel for Royal IHC

Limited, a firm involved in the offshore

industry with an office a stone’s throw

from the site of the attack.

He was previously an electronic engi-

neer, but retrained at Northumbria Uni-

versity as a solicitor.

Mr Duncan’s family said in a statement:

‘Peter was a kind and caring man who

was always first to help others.

‘He was a devoted father, husband, son,

brother, uncle and friend and loved by all

who knew him. His death will leave such

a huge hole in our lives.’

Witnesses described how the attackers

had tried to punch Mr Duncan before the

stabbing.

Muhammad Ali, 37, who works in the

shopping centre, said: ‘There were lots of

people coming inside and shouting off.

The man was wearing glasses and they

tried to hit him. They were arguing. Then

within three seconds they left.’

Stephen Humphries, 34, a waiter, added:

‘There was a group of people around the

guy on the floor, clutching his chest.

There was a group of young lads running

around shouting, they did not seem too

bothered. The young lads were swearing

and saying “he was going to get it” and

“it was coming to him”.’

A woman was reportedly punched at

the shopping centre just minutes before

the attack. Louis Almeida, a chef, said: ‘I

saw a couple arguing. She was a younger

lady. The girl got hit. It looked like she

got knocked out. She got straight back

up though.’

Chief Superintendent Ged Noble said

the inquiry into Mr Duncan’s death is at

an early stage but said it appears he was

attacked at the entrance to the shopping

centre. He added: ‘We have very quickly

made seven arrests. The persons involved

are known to us.’

Thugs ‘rubbing

their hands

with glee’ as

prosecutions

hit record low

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By Alex Ward

CRIMINALS SNEE

rise was down to improved police

recording and a greater willingness

of victims to come forward and

report when they have been a vic-

tim of crime.

A Mail investigation earlier this

year found that police are giving

up on half of all crimes, and within

24 hours of being reported thou-

sands of cases are dropped – or

‘screened out’ – if the chance of an

arrest is deemed too small.

But prosecutions for the most

serious types of crime, known as

indictable offences and dealt with

in crown courts, have also fallen by

8 per cent. At the same time, the

use of lower-level punishments for

less serious crimes has also fallen,

with the number of cautions issued

by police falling by 15 per cent to

67,000 in the past year.

On top of that, the number of

penalty notices – used for crimes

such as cannabis possession, being

drunk and disorderly and theft of

goods worth less than £100 – was

down 14 per cent. Fines have

remained the most common form

of sentence, accounting for 77 per

cent in the latest figures, an increase

of 12 per cent in the past ten years.

Mr Atkins said: ‘Criminals up and

down the country will be rubbing

their hands with glee knowing that

even if their crimes are detected

and they are caught by the police,

the chances of them being prose-

cuted or jailed are slim.

‘These statistics make for grim

reading, however the state of the

criminal justice system is far worse

than the figures show.

‘The official figures are just the

tip of an iceberg.

‘Criminals are going about their

business unchallenged: fraud goes

virtually unpunished and is not

even included in the statistics.’

The latest figures were published

days after Boris Johnson announced

an ‘urgent review’ of sentencing in

a bid to see violent and sexual

offenders locked up for longer. The

Prime Minister has also vowed to

create 10,000 more prison places,

hire 20,000 more police officers and

give an extra £85million to the

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

to deal with its caseload.

Earlier this month, Priti Patel, in

her first interview as Home Secre-

tary, told the Mail she wanted to

restore flagging public confidence

in law and order by ‘empowering’

officers to go after thugs and that

Married

lawyer

‘knifed

to death

by teens’

while the Criminal Bar Association said they

suggest it was ‘as if the police have been given a

couple of lawnmowers to keep Hyde Park in shape’.

The damning statistics, which were released

yesterday, came as:

÷ A solicitor and devoted father was stabbed to

death in broad daylight by a group of boys in

Newcastle city centre;

÷ A teenager was arrested for the murder of

another teenager in south London;

÷ A civil servant was stabbed in the head out-

side the Home Office.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said 1.59million

people were formally dealt with by the criminal

justice system in England and Wales between

April 2018 and March 2019 – a fall of 2 per cent

on the previous year which puts it at the lowest

level since records began.

Meanwhile, the number of crimes recorded by

police has risen by 8 per cent to 5.3million

offences, excluding fraud cases, which are not

counted in the figures. The MoJ claimed that

By Jemma Buckley

Crime Correspondent

Daily Mail, August 3

Inquiry: Officers carry out a search at Old Eldon Square, the site of

Newcastle’s war memorial, near where Peter Duncan was stabbed

WILD WEST BRITAIN

A LAWYER was stabbed to death with a

screwdriver by a gang of teenage boys at a

busy shopping centre.

Peter Duncan, 52, suffered a single puncture

wound in the unprovoked attack following a

chance encounter which lasted ‘three seconds’.

Witnesses at the shopping centre near Old Eldon

Square, Newcastle, heard people shouting ‘it was

coming to him’ and ‘he was going to get it’ shortly

after the stabbing.

Minutes earlier, it was claimed a woman was

punched by a man yards from the spot – though it

is not clear whether the two attacks are linked.

Mr Duncan, who was married and a ‘devoted

father’, was taken to Royal Victoria Infirmary,

where he was pronounced dead on Wednesday.

Northumbria Police arrested seven youths – one

aged 14, two 15 and four 17 – on suspicion of mur-

PRITI: I WANT

CRIMINALS TO

BE TERRIFIED