Nineteen thousand !!!

[Scrumpy]

That is the cost to the tax payer... 

Legal aid for the two idiots who chopped down the beautiful Sycamore Gap tree...
They were sent to prison for 4yrs 3 mth apiece..
 I reckon even the hardest of criminals will put the hate on.. 
I do hope so.. 
 One of the saddest moments in 2023.. In my opinion..
People across the world would visit the area to see this beautiful tree.

I wonder how many weeks/ months they will actually serve.. 
Also , will we, the tax payer foot the bill to rehouse them to a place of safety ... ?

[Michael Rolls]

But of course!

[Mups]

These two half-wits deserve all they get. 
 
They are not just kids who got led astray,  they are both grown men who planned it all in advance.

They didn't just happened to be riding past, and found a chain saw in their vehicle when an uncontrollable  urge to saw a tree down came over them.

They deserve all they get.

[Dextrous63]

Rehouse them to a treehouse.  They might realise the importance of not cutting down trees!

[muddy]

I don't think they should have gone to jail .
They are a waste of jail space .
My first instinct was to birch them in public .
Second that they do community service preferably digging holes for trees or other really hard labour .
In fact both would be preferable won't cost us much .

Save the jails for those who would do us harm not these half wits ,

[Dextrous63]

I agree about community service.  But I disagree about birching them.  Instead, I think there's a case for stocks to be brought back down that folk such as them get the chance to feel the disgust that their fellow citizens feel about their antics.

[Michael Rolls]

Like it!

[klondike]

I wonder how many weeks/ months they will actually serve

I watched the judgement on YouTube. Minimum term 40% less time already served on remand so significantly less than another 2 years. Or more simply not enough.

[GrannyMac]

I was in the 'community service' camp.  I thought they should be made to plant trees 🌲, for a very long time.   Complete half wits IMO. 

[klondike]

Would have actually served a useful purpose. Jail is just a punishment. You only need look at them to realise they aren't going to be the sharpest knives in the block.

[Mups]

Would have actually served a useful purpose. Jail is just a punishment. You only need look at them to realise they aren't going to be the sharpest knives in the block.

Yes, I thought much the same.  

[Raven]

I agree about community service.  But I disagree about birching them.  Instead, I think there's a case for stocks to be brought back down that folk such as them get the chance to feel the disgust that their fellow citizens feel about their antics.

My thoughts exactly, been saying that for years.

[JBR]

Would have actually served a useful purpose. Jail is just a punishment. You only need look at them to realise they aren't going to be the sharpest knives in the block.

Jail should be a punishment.  Unfortunately, it seems that they are now to a great extent controlled by the most serious and 'hard' criminals.  Those people take what they want from the weaker prisoners who, in many cases, must live in fear.  Why?  Because the prison warders are unable to control much of what goes on.
I have said before and I'll say it again, I believe that prisons should be like the Victorian prisons: most of the day you are in your cell; short terms of exercise in small numbers; physical punishment for offenders of the rules; compulsory manual work with minor rewards for those who will work - a 'sewing mailbags' type of work; etc; etc. 
Finally, my favourite: hanging for murder, if proved beyond any possible doubt.
Such changes would, I am sure, seriously reduce crime in this country.

[muddy]

I believe  that we have to return to capital punishment for proven heinous crimes .
Where there is no possible doubt of guilt .

Ie the Lee Rigby murder 

And more recently the murder of a young mother in the street by her husband who stabbed her to death in front of numerous witnesses .

[klondike]

The trouble is that a conviction is already supposed to be beyond reasonable doubt and people are still found later to have been wrongly convicted - sometimes on a technicality but also on incontrovertible evidence that turns up later.