Michael Hughes, author - former Detective Sergeant, Metropolitan Police, wrote a letter to HM Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London, SW1 in the following terms: -
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
LONDON SW1
6th FEBRUARY 2006
YOUR MAJESTY,
WIDELY PERCEIVED BREAKDOWN IN LAW AND ORDER LEADING TO A SUBSEQUENT CLIMATE OF FEAR IN GREAT BRITAIN’S STREETS
Quite some time has elapsed since you received a heartfelt personal letter from Mr Norman Brennan, Director, The Victims of Crime Trust and a serving Police Officer in the British Transport Police for around 27 years. He opened his heart to you as to the way, as he saw it, that expected normal standards of Law and Order control were not then being upheld.
Very recently I heard that this same Trust is on the verge of bankruptcy, for want of adequate funding. In the same week that I heard this shock news, your Government publicly announced that it is to set aside a certain number of millions of pounds, to finance voluntary, free of charge driver re-training for so-called white van men!
On 23rd January 2006, the Daily Express newspaper carried the following important message across its front page in bold type, one and three quarter inches high:-
"SHOCK RISE IN STREET CRIMES!"
About two years down the line since Mr Brennan wrote to you, little has changed - in fact it is widely held amongst the vast majority of your law abiding subjects, that the country is dominated by young, often violent, unruly hooligans - some with brains probably affected through drugs abuse - who have no idea of how to behave in a reasonable manner.
Violent crimes, acts of terror and brutality are widely reported almost daily, thus adding to the fears of many of your loyal subjects - particularly senior citizens and those with less mobility than others - that they might well become such a victim if they dare to venture out onto our streets, particularly after darkness has fallen.
Your Judiciary, when viewed through the eyes of the man on the Clapham omnibus, regularly, in High Courts and Crown Courts up and down the land, hand down sentences in criminal cases which are perceived as weak, ineffectual, inappropriate, too-lenient, non-deterrent and, most seriously and importantly - not fitting the crimes.
Even in the Courts of Criminal Appeal in which Your Majesty’s highly qualified Law Lords officiate, we regularly hear of reduced sentences which cause surviving relatives of deceased or seriously maimed victims of crime - to rush from the Court rooms screaming and weeping in sheer disbelief, literally overcome by the awful injustice of it all.
Furthermore, there is an enormous strength of feeling right across your Kingdom, that since your Government welcomed and adopted Human Rights Legislation onto the British Statute Books, those in authority in enforcing its implications, viz: your Judiciary, are perceived as apparently considering the human rights of criminal offenders, quite over and above those of the actual victims of the crimes in question.
Overall, in all the circumstances, I personally feel that the level of violent and brutal crimes in Great Britain is almost totally out of control. In my humble opinion, a large portion of accountability can be laid at the door of your Judiciary, who, unlike the old days - no longer support Police Officers, other Law Enforcement Agencies - and, most importantly, innocent victims of crime, in Criminal Courts, after convictions of offenders.
I am told by others that I have served my Country well. Firstly for 7 years as a Royal Marine and later, through over 25 years working inside the British Criminal Justice System, as a Police Officer and in one of your Young Offenders’ Institutions.
With a very heavy heart indeed at having very up to date personal knowledge of what takes place in the criminal fraternity - in these troubled and violent times - I am now humbly issuing a reminder to Your Majesty of your New Labour Government’s failed slogans from both the 1997 AND 2001 General Election Party Manifestos promises to the Electorate : -
“TOUGH ON CRIME - TOUGH ON THE CAUSES OF CRIME”
and
“LABOUR IS THE PARTY OF LAW AND ORDER IN BRITAIN TODAY”
In closing, I make an appeal on my own behalf, but also potentially on behalf of your millions of right thinking and law abiding citizens, for you to bring this letter to the attention of your Prime Minister and your Home Secretary, in order that consideration can be applied to the perceived urgent need for a
ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE BRITISH CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Thanking Your Majesty for giving your attention to this serious letter from one of your Loyal Subjects.
Yours very sincerely,
Michael Hughes
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Within a short time of the above letter to HM The Queen being sent to her - a signed, certificated First Edition copy of
JUDGEMENT IMPAIRED -
Law, Disorder & Injustice To Victims In 21st Century Britain
was sent to Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace. Inside the front cover was the following certificate in a fitting, scrolled font to mark the occasion: -
Amazingly and bizarrely, Her Majesty's personal presentation copy of JUDGEMENT IMPAIRED - was returned to the author by overnight courier without enclosed note or comment.
The reader is invited to speculate as to the reasons for this book's speedy return to sender. Some have already suggested that it is due to serious criticisms of both HM Government and HM Judiciary within the book's 800 odd pages.
The chances are that - due to Royal protocol - the gift from the author to Her Majesty was intercepted by below stairs staff members of the Royal Household employed in the Palace's Mail Room - with HM The Queen having no inkling of the book's arrival at the Palace at all.
TWO OF THE ROYAL CARS COLLECTION PARKED AT HORSE GUARDS PARADE WHILST HRH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH ENJOYS THE BEATING RETREAT CEREMONY BY THE MASSED BANDS OF HM ROYAL MARINES - OF WHOM HE IS THE CAPTAIN GENERAL