Respect to the Lads who are Now Doing Time!

[dave230485]

10 of east anglia's organisers have been locked up for 4-6 months for the rave at kings forest last year.
keep your heads up boys!!!

[process]

Pretty harsh.

[spangle]

Eleven men sentenced after illegal rave

23 December 2008 15:40

Police chiefs said they would continue to act tough on illegal ravers after ten men were given custodial sentences for their involvement in an unlicensed event in Thetford Forest.

The seven men from Suffolk and three from Norfolk were today sent to prisons and young offenders' institutions for periods ranging from four to six months following their part in the disorder that followed a large rave in King's Forest, near Bury St Edmunds, last year.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that the revellers caused fear and distress to local residents and damage to a Site of Special Scientific Interest after more than 1,000 people gathered at the forest site.

More than 100 police officers from across Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex - many dressed in riot gear - were called to disperse the illegal rave at Forestry Commission land on the morning of July 15, some of whom were pelted with bottles, stones and sticks.

Sentencing the men, Judge John Holt said the situation had been exacerbated by the presence of people among crowd who were drinking to excess and taking illegal drugs. He added that police had shut down the rave in a “sensible and proportionate” manner.

Kirk Austin, 19, of The Causeway, Stow Bridge, Kings Lynn, Wayne Saxton, 20, of Mellis Road, Yaxley, near Eye, and Christopher Hood, 19, of Normanston Drive, Lowestoft, were each sent to a young offenders' institution for four months.

Judge Holt jailed Adrian Rowbotham, 28, of Kings Green, Fairstead, King's Lynn, and Luke Parker, 26, of Norwich Road, Brockford, near Stowmarket, for four months each, Wayne Roberts, 24, of Lake Avenue, Bury St Edmunds, and Craig Kirtley, 24, of Verneuil Avenue, Stowmarket for four and a half months each and Christopher Kerry, 23, of Church Close, Roydon near Diss, who had also breached a conditional discharge for an assault offence, to a total of six months.

Another man, Stuart Brown, 25, from The Street, Bergh Apton, near Norwich, who handed himself into police, was given a four and a half month sentence suspended for 12 months and was told to complete 300 hours of unpaid community work.

All nine men had pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder.

Michael Hodges, 20, of Finborough Road, Stowmarket, who admitted conspiracy to organise an unlicensed event and aiding and abetting violent disorder was sentenced to four months and ten weeks in custody.

Joshua Barrington-Lee, 22, of Canterbury Close, Ipswich, who admitted conspiracy to organise an unlicensed event, was jailed for four months.

After the hearing, Det Insp Jenny Benham, from Suffolk Police, said the sentencing showed that illegal raves would not be tolerated.

“This should act as a deterrent to anyone considering organising or attending an illegal gathering in the county. The message is clear - if you come to Suffolk intent on attending an illegal rave and causing disruption and intimidation, you will be arrested and put before the court,” she said.

EDP24 - Eleven men sentenced after illegal rave

pretty harsh, for violence fair enough but some of them doing time just for organising

[process]

Originally posted by spangle

EDP24 - Eleven men sentenced after illegal rave

pretty harsh, for violence fair enough but some of them doing time just for organising

was gonna say something along those lines as well, wasnt sure about posting the news link up on here, but i guess it only takes a google search...

You reckon the police would have been a little bit more lenient if they'd turned the system off when the trouble started kicking off..?

[binge]

Harsh.

Was going to happen at some point though- if you don't turn the system off you're asking for trouble.

[General Lighting]

I would say its more a case of two lads getting sent down for organising a rave and nine others getting in trouble for trying to fight coppers after they had decided to enforce laws brought in by our elected representatives.. harsh but unfortunately this has been brewing up for half a decade, no one was listening when we were pointing out the growing backlash from non-ravers in East Anglia from 2004 onwards on this site.

Many younger EA ravers walked away from here to either SJ or bebo and murdochspace (which hand over loads of info to the feds) because there was "too much boring bad news", carried on as they wished and now this has happened..

There's a culture of stubbornness and rebellion against authority in East Anglia stretching back centuries, so anyone in authority here has simply learned to use both greater force and brainpower together to deal with rebellion - more so even than in London or Yorkshire, this isn't immediately apparent to someone from outside the region...

it would have been better to give the two "organisers" a suspended sentence and community service (tidying Forestry land?) but there has been such a backlash from non-participants against raves that particularly older locals want to see "justice" done.

Another issue is that some defendants are on benefits so the public sector are paying to support them anyway, it doesn't matter to the system if its paying housing benefit or paying for a prison cell (even though its obviously cheaper in financial terms to have a community based sentence!)

Its all well and good giving the "respect" on a internet forum, but the real test for the community is gonna be in a few months when they are out.

Those of us what live in this region know its a small world (particularly in the areas around Stow), and "troublemakers/criminals" are remembered and often don't even get considered for employment with local businesses if there are better candidates.

I know if either of them tried applying for a job with my employers (unlikely as it would be) it would take a lot of convincing to even consider them, because the unlicensed event charge is viewed not as harmless mischief but as ripping off the public purse and passing costs onto taxypayers (so wouldn't be much good for a organisation with an element of public sector funding!). And thats with both myself and another manager being former ravers!

Are those of us what enjoyed the parties willing to help them get back on their feet? Perhaps even speaking to peopel with businesses explaining that what they did won't mean they are gonna rob the tills etc? Are we willing to maybe even speak to their families (if they haven't been forgiven by them) and try and build bridges?

[MisterDuck]

Originally posted by General Lighting

There's a culture of stubbornness and rebellion against authority in East Anglia stretching back centuries, so anyone in authority here has simply learned to use both greater force and brainpower together to deal with rebellion - more so even than in London or Yorkshire, this isn't immediately apparent to someone from outside the region...

I'm not too sure about that... I mean, we fronted the miner's strike and the major riots, and we have had the most recent race riots in Bradford...

Maybe it's because of this that the police are eager to avoid confrontation in our area though?

[process]

Originally posted by General Lighting

Are those of us what enjoyed the parties willing to help them get back on their feet? Perhaps even speaking to peopel with businesses explaining that what they did won't mean they are gonna rob the tills etc? Are we willing to maybe even speak to their families (if they haven't been forgiven by them) and try and build bridges?

tbh i doubt a load of ravers talking to the families or local buisness' is gonna make the slightest bit of difference. Most people have an image in thier head of what a 'illegal raver' is and the fact that people have now been sentanced will in a lot of peoples eyes make this image a reality if you know what i mean. Once people have made up thier mind its pretty hard for them to see the wider picture unless they've had a son or daughter that they've had this happen too...

[General Lighting]

Originally posted by djprocess

tbh i doubt a load of ravers talking to the families or local buisness' is gonna make the slightest bit of difference. Most people have an image in thier head of what a 'illegal raver' is and the fact that people have now been sentanced will in a lot of peoples eyes make this image a reality if you know what i mean. Once people have made up thier mind its pretty hard for them to see the wider picture unless they've had a son or daughter that they've had this happen too...

whilst many normal people in mid Suffolk I've spoken to felt that those what definitely attacked the cops should be punished, many don't agree with the harshness of the penalties for the two organisers (they think community service would be more appropriate and something environmentally based)

People have large families here and many parents of teens are fairly young (i.e my sort of age!) - so have had their own children get in trouble with the Police for various reasons (not just raves) or just go off the rails and are often more compassionate. There seems to be greater emphasis on family values here than in SE England or London too..

[General Lighting]

Originally posted by boothy

I'm not too sure about that... I mean, we fronted the miner's strike and the major riots, and we have had the most recent race riots in Bradford...

Maybe it's because of this that the police are eager to avoid confrontation in our area though?

more the case that they've already defeated the miners and calmed down the racial tension at least to the point where whilst its still bubbling under its harder for people to openly kick off - (in this later case more by using brains than force). (A similar situation exists in East anglia with regard to relations between long term residents and new immigrants).

There isn't a region or country in the world where angry youths would be allowed to defeat trained law enforcement agencies, or otherwise it would be pointless spending taxpayers money on having a Police service in the first place!

I do think Northerners are slightly better at reaching consensus (however grudging) then simply "agreeing to disagree" and thus forming entrenched groups and an uneasy truce like down South - I don't think its a coincidence that most successful workers co-operatives are all based in the North or Scotland..