A rather worn out theme: A little girl is accosted by a pedophile, and in guilt, frustration and rage her father sets out to find the man in short, blue trousers and walking a dog. Two of his best friends eagerly prompt him to act, and it all ends up with one of the friends beating an innocent man - in blue trousers and walking a dog - to death. The father only delivers one single blow and tries to calm down friend, but in vain. The police puts pressure on the three and the father finally decides to tell them what happened. He doesn't conceal that the friend did the killing part, and that he himself only delivered one, first blow.
What is the verdict? The father gets a minimum of 15 years in prison, though he 1) was the one who first went to the police, 2) only admitted one harmless blow, and 3) a fundamental principle in a fair trial is that an accused is considered innocent until guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt. And it was never proved that the victim died from one or more blows from him - and not from his friends! And he never confessed to have killed the victim! His friends could walk away - grinning - because of lacking proof!
Well, miscarriage of justice happens, but in this episode the picture of the British system of justice is so gloomy that it becomes laughable. And it seems to be a dogma of the series as such that every episode has to end with the accused being crushed by a machinery of justice without any regard of mitigating circumstances. Makes the end rather predictable!
3 out of 5 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
