Express & Star comment: Sentence is another shambles
What an absolute shambles Britain's criminal justice system has become.
Readers of this newspaper will be accustomed to seeing reports of criminals being handed lenient sentences at the end of their day in court.
Yet the all round ineptitude and depressing state of our courts never ceases to astonish.
Take the case of Cheru Dakari Allen, for example.
Last month he was handed a 20-month jail term, which means he could have served just 10 months for this quite disgraceful crime.
In itself, such a sentence would be regarded as lenient by many law abiding members of the public.
With that in mind, the fact that judges at London's Court of Appeal have now seen fit to reduce the sentence down to just 14 months simply beggars belief.
Allen abused his position to feed his drug addiction. He shamelessly preyed on the weak.
And, with the possibility of his sentence reduced further for 'good behaviour', he could be back out on the streets in time for the New Year.
This is an utter disgrace.
The initial findings from the Express & Star's crime survey show that thousands of people across the Black Country and Staffordshire have lost faith in our criminal justice system.
When we see the likes of Allen getting his sentence reduced, is it any wonder?
It is a fair bet that the judges' insistence that he has shown 'clear remorse' will not impress too many readers of this newspaper.
A cynic may say that Allen, like many criminals before him, has simply taken advantage of a weakness at the heart of our criminal justice system.
When punishment and harsh lessons are required, we see leniency, excuses, and second chances handed out by the courts.
What sort of message does this send out to the public?
One thing is certain.
If Theresa May ever attempts to claim that her Tory administration is tough on crime, she will be able to hear the howls of derision from the West Midlands all the way down in Westminster.
