It's a long way ...

Yesterday I went to Camborne.  I first knew of the trip was at about 5.0 the previous afternoon.  I had time only for some essential admin, a little research, a snack and about five hours' sleep before I was on the road.  During the journey I was very glad of the company of my mp3 player and radio.  The mp3 facility is a facet of my mobile phone, so I don't run it constantly to avoid running down the battery and denying myself the use of the phone. 

I tend to favour Radio 4, and the regular news updates through the day - beginning at 5.30am - told and retold of the conviction of Levi Bellfield for the murder of Milly Dowler, and the unfolding unrest caused by the treatment of the Dowlers in the witness box, and the subsequent dismissal of the case against Bellfield in respect of the attempted abduction of Rachel Cowles.  Only so much of this repetition can be endured, and it was soon time to hit the off-button.

In the silence I reflected on the views expressed and reported in this case.  Obviously I sympathised with the Dowlers that they'd had to undergo the pain and embarrassment of their home life being revealed to all and sundry amid their lingering bereavement over Milly's death.  My thoughts turned to what lay behind all this.  Naturally I realise my inability to imagine fully their situation but, subject to this, I marvelled that in the nine years since these events the family seemed not to have moved on emotionally from their initial grief and loss.

Then there was the disappointment of Miss Cowles, at not having received justice in respect of the case that had had to be dismissed because of certain matters that had been made public after Bellfield's conviction on the murder charge.  I could understand the legal nuances of this decision, but my main reaction was to this lady's quest for justice.  What is justice?  How does it relate to revenge?  If justice is more closely allied to the determination of blame and thence to punishment, then surely (I contend), in her mind at least, blame was already determined, so what about punishment?

And this led my wondering further, to a fundamental point not touched on by anyone else I've listened to.  It was reported that Bellfield is already serving a life sentence for other crimes.  Unlike many life sentences, which result in the criminal being released after ten, fifteen or twenty years, or whatever term the judge has recommended, this was said to be 'all of life', so he was already committed to spending the remainder of his life in prison.  Since death sentences were abandoned many years ago, what further punishment could possibly inflicted upon him ... torture?

Amazingly, I found myself on the brink of dismissing the whole concept of prisoners' rights.  Of course there was the need to draw these cases to a close, to ensure that 'it was Bellfield what dunnit!' and that there was no possibility of a real offender escaping unprosecuted.  But, I asked myself, - given the impossibility of imposing any further sentence upon him - could this closure not have been achieved in a manner a lot less flamboyant and costly, and the associated pain, indignity and frustration completely avoided?

With my thoughts totally unresolved, and the radio on once more, I headed for home ....