Police chief says prison sentence for football thug Paul Mitchell after punching Jack Grealish ‘won’t do him any good’
Birmingham City supporter Paul Mitchell was jailed on Monday (March 11) for attacking the Aston Villa midfielder.
But speaking at yesterday’s (Thursday, March 14) Durham and Darlington Police and Crime Panel, Ron Hogg, the Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner (PCVC) for Durham, said prison will not do Mitchell “any good”.
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Hide Ad“Take the guy who punched the footballer [Jack Grealish] and got a 14-week sentence,” he told the meeting at Darlington Town Hall.
“That won’t do him any good – he would be better off sweeping the terraces at the stadium.”
Mr Hogg is an advocate of ‘restorative justice’, in which victims of crime and offenders are encouraged to interact with each other.
He is also opposed to short sentences, which he claims do not allow prison or probation services enough time to address the issues which caused people to commit crimes in the first place.
“It’s about the benefit [you get from it],” he said.
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Hide Ad“There’s a lot of evidence that short sentences are counter productive, particularly with pressures on prison staff proactive work [with prisoners] has diminished.”
James Harrison
James Harrison , Local Democracy Reporting Service