With all of the bad news about bankers of late, here is one banker who will be greatly missed. Frank McGarahan, a senior executive with Barclay’s, saw a group of youths beating a homeless man. Instead of walking by, McGarahan intervened and paid with his life. He was in East Anglia for the baptism of his niece Thea.
At about 3am on a Sunday, McGarahan saw up to 12 young men attacking a homeless man. Amateur boxers Ben and Tom Cowles are named as most responsible in the attack. Ben Cowles, 21, allegedly hit Frank in the back of the head and then Tom, 22, took over by putting him in a headlock and punching him in the head. After further beating, Frank collapsed and the father of two never recover.
Instead of holding the baptism of baby Thea, the family planned the funeral of Frank instead.
The brothers insisted that they were provoked because they were called “cowards.” The English have notoriously light criminal sentencing and Daniel Moy, 21, who admitted to beating the homeless man was given just a fine of £50 and ordered to do 100 hours of public service. That seems unbelievably light for an assault as part of a mob.
The loss of this brave and honorable man is cause of mourning on both sides of the ocean.
For the full story, click here.
How week and gutless is the English Justice system, about as week and gutless as these thugs.
Great advert for visiting England.
As a UK resident I agree that this kind of thing is ridiculous and stuff like this angers and saddens many people who live here. It is not really about legality so much as about the fragmented nature of British society itself.
Obviously the perpetrators of this crime deserve greater punishment, but more importantly the victim needs to be celebrated for actually trying to help a stranger in distress. It is VERY rare nowadays that anyone in Britain will endeavour to help a stranger, whereas 20-30 years ago it was much more common. Partly it’s because of a fear of this kind of crime, but as much it’s a fear that in stepping in to a fight you might well end up being arrested yourself. There is such privatisation and isolation now in British society, that most of the time if people see someone in trouble they will cross the street and walk past. It’s hard to imagine Britain enacting the Good Samaritan driving laws that you find in the rest of Europe, whereby you have to stop if you see someone in trouble. That would never wash with the population as they are now – private and fearful all the time.
Were there a greater sense of society and social responsibility in Britain, it’s likely that the initial drunken and wanton act of violence would not have happened in the first place. You would not have these kind of young men wandering around city centres at night, fuelled of hatred and alcohol, and feeling like they don’t have to follow the rules that everyone else does.
Community service for HOMICIDE? correct me if im wrong but in most states in the US isnt murder in the commission of a felony automatic first degree murder? I understand not having capital punsihment but it seems like England and some other European countries have gotten far too lenient in terms of punishing criminals. I also take issue particularly with UK weapons laws which are ridiculous (even pepper spray is banned) by denying means of self-defense, you deny the right of self-defense. The result in this case being a brave Father’s death.
sorry for the rant, just my two cents
Absolutely insane…
A very sad case. I do not see how these punks can get off so lightly when they brutally killed a man. These guys should spend some serious time behind bars.
JT, can the boxer-boy thugs really get out of more serious charges by pleading manslaughter? If they attacked from behind? Makes me scared to think of traveling to the UK, and we’ve always wanted to.
Matthew N 1, June 11, 2009 at 7:22 am
After reading and listening to a podcast about the ridiculous libel laws in England and then hearing about these light sentences, it makes me really glad I live in the United States. For all our imperfections, we seem to get a lot of things right.
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we do in fact get a lot of things right. However, when it is something that affects you greatly, we don’t seem to have that feeling that you stated above.
After reading and listening to a podcast about the ridiculous libel laws in England and then hearing about these light sentences, it makes me really glad I live in the United States. For all our imperfections, we seem to get a lot of things right.