[VintageKrug]

Is this chap home yet? Seems ridiculous that he’s still being detained.

[Henkel.Trocken]

But VintageKrug, you were in Central Park over the weekend or so you claimed. Surely as a visitor to the US you have assessed the risks of being there and know that it has one of the most unjust and discriminatory judicial systems on the planet where foreigners are concerned.

Or perhaps you weren’t in Central Park in New York and perhaps it was in SimCity or Skegness or somewhere and equally, perhaps you didn’t come in to LHR T5 last night because although you didn’t see them, others who are credible on this board know there were queues in immigration.

[RichHI1]

In the US they have a system called trials. You get the verdict at the end of the process and only come home if you are innocent.

I would hope that you believe in the Rule of Law and judicial process?

Call me a cynic but why are you bumping this? Which of the threads are you trying to lose? The UKBA fiasco-thon?

[Bucksnet]

Rich, a fair trial and the presumption of innocence are essential, and the verdict does indeed come at the end of the process.

However, there is no need to detain, in harsh conditions, an old man for what maybe years when he is not a flight risk and could be delivered for trial just before the start.

Saying he will only come home if innocent means he’s never coming back if found guilty.

[RichHI1]

I do not know the reasons for refusal of bail. If this agffair had been handled in 2007 when the papers were filed I do not think there would have been these issues. Mr Tappin had to be served with extradition papers after 5 years of attempts to get him to answer the charges. I knwo from the court reports that the proximity of teh Mexican border to El Paso courthouse was a factor in teh prosecution’s request.

Anything else is rumour. His attorney has filed for an appeal and i would hope that somehting can be worked out. As it is being held in Federal Court maybe they could move it to a more secure location.

Prisons are not pleasant places in any part of the world, though the US Federal system had in cell plumbing long before the UK. Mr Tappin has been held away from other prisoners for his protection at hios request. After an intial security concern he is being allowed access to reading material and is allowed access to telephone his family. All other details are speculation.

This is not meant to excuse or explain anything but to set out the facts as dispassionately as possible.

With regard to coming home, if someone is found guilty of selling weapons or other prohibited materials to a banned nation which sponsors terrorism then it is unreasonable not to expect a substantial pprison sentence. In such circumstance I can see a high possibility that Mr Tappin would be transferred to a UK institution. I stress here that he has been found guilty of nothing and as such there is a presumption of his innocence.

My point to the poster who cannot be named is that his remarks could be seen reasonably as contempt of court.

Having spent years studying, as a non practising lawyer I have strong beliefs in the necessities that our legal systems deliver and do not accept the contemptuous comments such as those from the poster.
Sorry for being heavy but I take security seriously and selling batteries for anti aircraft missiles for terrorist use. Thise who do such things should be stopped and punished, those who don’t should be acquitted and allowed to continue the lawful pursuits.

[VintageKrug]

Very amusing.

I’m afraid I do hold the court in contempt; he shouldn’t have been deported. End of.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Henkel, your post at 20:34 above is devoted to a gratuitous personal attack on another poster. Hardly appropriate in light of the thread you started recently “What is this board about”. You have now completely trashed your own argument and any credibility you may have had in asking for higher standards of behaviour on this site. Hypocrisy is most unbecoming.

As to the comment from another poster about “the war on terror being bullsh*t” – tell that to the relatives of the 3,000 people murdered on September 11. What an ignorant, insensitive and disgraceful comment.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

JohnPhelanAustralia – 17/04/2012 01:30 GMT

I must disagree with your post. IMO HT has done more to clean up this board and get it focussed on business travel than anyone else. The post you refer to is a measured response to the behaviour of the person in question who many people doubt the authenticity of and who now appears to be posting contradictory things damaging the little credibility they have left. The poster in question’s experiences differ so much from the rest of us that it’s difficult to believe what he says about anything very much. The board was a more pleasant place without him.

I’ve seen HT flamed before but strangely enough, people who go away and think often come back and support him.

I’ve said before, if he were willing to do it, he would make an excellent moderator of a new board where there may be a bit more control over what is posted and what isn’t.

RichHI1, thanks for the clarity on the plight of Mr Tappin.

[RichHI1]

BT please can you remove the following post to avoid any legal liability for this site and posters. I can only presume this was the result of an unwise consumption of alcohol. It goes without saying I totally disassociate myself with these ill thought out comments.

VintageKrug – 16/04/2012 22:09 GMT

I hope the new site will prevent such unacceptable behaviour.

[stevescoots]

HT,

i was in skeggy at the weekend, seriously…I was..didnt see any VK types there.

[Henkel.Trocken]

JohnPhelanAustralia – 17/04/2012 01:30 GMT

I take exception to your post both in tone and content.

I take exception to a troll who posts contradictory posts to try and win on every point for his pet subject and I will point it out when that happens.

Thanks LPPS, I appreciate your comments.

Steve – maybe it was Clacton!

[Bucksnet]

Good news – it was just on ITV news that bail is expected to be granted for Mr. Tappin later this week.

[LuganoPirate]

Good news indeed. However, as more and more snippets of information come out, I wonder if he is really 100% innocent? Perhaps Rich has a point after all?

[Bucksnet]

Everyone should be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The point of this case is that there is no need to keep an old man in harsh conditions for years before the trial, if there is no real reason to do so.

[MartynSinclair]

The guilt / innocence of Mr Tappin was not the reason for the thread.

The manner in which the USA are able to reach over the Atlantic and take a British citizen without a producing a shread of evidence and place in him jail is.

If the evidence was there, it should have been shown and this is what worried me as someone who has a home and business in the States.

I have no problem with guilty people being sent to jail but Mr Tappin is not currently guilty and no evidence was submitted before he left the UK.

[Author]

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