Two very different cases came before our courts this week. The first concerned Toby Hayden, 27, from Wiltshire, who beat his girlfriend so brutally that almost two months later she still has the outline of his footprint on her forehead.
He kicked her in the back of the head as she lay on the ground and then attacked the two police officers who arrested him.
The cause of his rage? He couldn’t get any money out of the cash machine.
Toby Hayden was spared jail despite the horrific attack, which was sparked by the fact he couldn't withdraw money from a cash machineLoretta Butterworth was left with horrific facial injuries after her boyfriend, Toby Hayden, beat her up
Hayden was already on a suspended sentence for a previous violent crime. He had drunk several shots of tequila and about ten pints of lager, and showed no remorse.
Yet he walked free because magistrates deemed an 18-month community order and an anger-management course sufficient punishment.
Contrast the treatment of this thug with that of SAS hero Sgt Danny Nightingale, 38, the subject of the second case.
Danny had been jailed for keeping an Iraqi pistol as a war trophy.
SAS sniper Danny Nightingale outside the High Court in London with his wife Sally where his conviction for illegally possessing a firearm was overturnedHe has always maintained his innocence, saying he was given the ‘illegal’ pistol as a souvenir by Iraqi soldiers he had helped to train in 2007.
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He was sent to military prison last year while his wife raised £100,000 to fund a legal battle to free him.
Danny was a vital member of a crack SAS team fighting suicide bombers. His commanding officer described him as a ‘great example of what the best type of British soldier can be’, a man who took on the enemy ‘without flinching’.
Only this week did his legal battle bear fruit as he kissed his wife Sally on the steps of the Court of Appeal after his conviction was quashed.
He said he was ‘absolutely elated’, an emotion shared by Sally and their two young children, the campaigners who backed him and the soldiers he fought alongside in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his fight is not over. Despite his victory, he faces being dragged through the courts again in a retrial.
How can we possibly respect a justice system which treats a hero like Danny as a common criminal — while allowing a brutal thug who beats up his girlfriend to skip free from court without a care?
Gwyneth Paltrow has been attacked by nutritionists for putting her children on a strict diet similar to her own, that bans any carbohydrates. Experts say a diet free from rice, potatoes, bread and pasta can inhibit the development of the brain. And they’ve got proof — in Gwyneth Paltrow.
Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe married Richard Branson's eldest son last week Dad’s sisterly loveVirgin boss Sir Richard Branson is over the moon after his son and heir, Sam, married society blonde Isabella Calthorpe, the girl who famously turned down Prince William.
They wed in a lavish ceremony at Dad’s South African game reserve. The groom later boasted that he had not only got himself a gorgeous wife, but had ‘inherited a very beautiful bunch of (five) sisters’.
No wonder the amorous Branson senior was so happy — that’s enough totty to fill his hot tub for days.
Westminster Noticeboard...+ David Cameron dubbed himself the heir to Blair, claiming he and George Osborne were the dream ticket. Now boy George has become so toxic he puts voters off even if they agree with his policies.
Surely the one thing Dave should have learnt from his hero Tony is that when your Chancellor becomes a lead weight, you cut him free or he’ll sink you both.
+ Devoid of policies, Labour leader Ed Miliband became a stand-up comic during Prime Minister’s Questions. After the confusion over alcohol pricing, Miliband asked if there was anything the PM could organise in a brewery, and was met with much juvenile guffawing. Oh for the days when our leaders rained political blows on opponents, rather than corny punch lines.
+ Polling guru Lynton Crosby, credited with Boris Johnson’s two mayoral victories, has warned Tory MPs vying to topple Dave that the 2015 election could be undermined by a ‘lack of discipline’. Most of us think the problem’s a lack of leadership.
+ Promoting his new book, Jeffrey Archer says Lady Thatcher’s illness means she no longer knows who he is, even though he’s one of her closest friends. ‘So terribly sad,’ he said.
Not nearly as sad as a lifelong friend, to whom Mrs T remained loyal even when he was in jail, revealing details of her condition to publicise himself.
Ergo Argo won OscarThe Iranian government is threatening to sue Ben Affleck for the way the country is portrayed in his Oscar-winning film Argo. They should stand in line behind the British, who are wrongly accused of refusing to help the Tehran hostages, despite playing a key role in securing their freedom.
Oscar winning film Argo Starring Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez, has angered the Iranian governmentIn the Hollywood fantasy version of the escape, the heroes are American, the villains Muslims and the cowards the Brits. That’s why it won the Oscar.
The BBC’s Red Nose Day has become a much-loved British institution. You can only admire its tireless work in raising money for good causes.
But it does rather stick in the craw that one of the centrepieces this year was a spoof wedding between Britain’s Got Talent’s Simon Cowell and David Walliams.
David Walliams stormed Simon Cowell's wedding to declare his love for the music mogul, wearing a wedding dress in the BBC Comic Relief Red Nsoe Day sketchThe nuptials were attended by Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, Louis Walsh, Dermot O’Leary, Stephen Mulhern, Sinitta, Caroline Flack and Rylan Clark — all of them on Cowell’s payroll.
Red Nose Day used to be known for giving aid to the needy, not free advertising for greedy millionaires like Cowell who have ailing talent shows to rescue.
Sarah Jessica Parker says a life time of wearing heels has ruined her feet, but doesn't explain her hands Hands up who loves high heelsThe mistress of Manolos, Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker, 47, says a lifetime of wearing stilettoes has ruined her feet, leaving them covered in swollen veins with ugly, disfigured joints. So did she wear heels on her hands, too?Security guards at Katie Price’s mansion were alerted after CCTV cameras caught a man inside her home brandishing a gun.
The ‘intruder’ turned out to be her latest husband, yet her own security men had failed to recognise him.With the number of men who’ve passed through Katie’s bedroom door in the past decade, is it any wonder?
Hypocrite HughPart of actor Hugh Grant’s attack on the Press during the Leveson Inquiry was that newspapers should not be able to run any old unsubstantiated rumour, and rightly so.
How odd then that he took to Twitter claiming: ‘Rumour in Westminster that editor of Times (John Witherow) instructed Cameron to call off talks. And our PM did as he was told. Murdoch rules. Still.’
It’s hard to work out what is worse, Grant’s double standards or the fact that the actor believes the editor of The Times could instruct the PM to do anything.
The BBC has produced a booklet for its bosses to help detect stress among staff. They are to be alert to ‘irritability, indecisiveness, absenteeism and reduced performance’. In the real world, such behaviour would not be mollycoddled with counselling sessions footed by licence-fee payers, but result in a P45.
For years Adele has attacked singers who did deals to promote beauty companies. Now she is said to be the subject of a battle between Dior, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal, who want her to promote their products for £10 million.
Singer Adele is apparently being fought over by cosmetic companies‘It’s shameful when you sell out,’ she said two years ago. ‘I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand. I don’t wanna be tainted.’
Her second single was called Chasing Pavements. Now it’s all about chasing endorsements. It didn’t take long, did it?
Even before Pippa Middleton arrived at Cheltenham on Thursday in an £815 yellow Katherine Hooker coat, its designer was on Twitter encouraging the fashion-conscious to follow Pippa’s lead and pre-order it. Pippa is fast becoming a greater royal liability than Fergie. And in the end, designers must have been begging fashion disaster Fergie to stop wearing their clothes.
