UK: Headmaster's killer to get new identity (may get 24hr panic button, lifetime cost in millions)

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | August 26, 2007 | Tom Harper

[Stoat]

Headmaster's killer to get new identity

By Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph
 

Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007

 

The government is preparing to give the killer of headmaster Philip Lawrence a new identity.

	Learco Chindamo: Secret identity will cost millions

Under the plans, Learco Chindamo, 26, and his close family will be given new names and moved to an address away from London, where he grew up and where his mother, stepfather and brothers still live.

They would then be provided with 24 hour police protection via a panic button.

The media may also be barred from reporting details of Chindamo's new identity, what he does or where he lives. The cost to the taxpayer during the rest of Chindamo's life would run to millions of pounds.

The revelation will reignite the anger which erupted last week when a bid to deport Chindamo to Italy, where he was born, was rejected. Ironically, the Ministry of Justice, which is to appeal against that decision, would ultimately find itself responsible for ensuring the Chindamos' safety.

Mr Lawrence's widow, Frances, reacted angrily to the proposal, pointing out that the cost would dwarf the sum her family received from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority following her husband's murder.

"I think that ordinary people will be outraged to hear that he will be afforded 24-hour police protection," she said.

Chindamo, who was jailed for life when only 15 in 1995 for knifing Mr Lawrence to death outside St George's school in Maida Vale, west London, has served 12 years in prison. He has applied for parole and could be released as early as January.

Past recipients of the type of protection under consideration include Mary Bell, who served 12 years for the murder of two young children in Newcastle in the Sixties.

Others are Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, the killers of Liverpool toddler Jamie Bulger, and Maxine Carr, the girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley.

When Carr was awarded lifelong anonymity in 2005, the Home Office estimated that it would cost £1 million a year to protect her.

In those cases, the Government decided that the risk of the individuals being attacked by members of the public meant that they required new identities.

A source familiar with Chindamo's case said: "The Government knows what the reaction will be if Chindamo is put into witness protection, which is extremely expensive.

"It is very, very sensitive. If it went wrong and he did something else, the political fall-out would be hugely embarrassing."

Despite claims by the Government that Chindamo was "a genuine and present and sufficiently serious threat to the public", an asylum and immigration tribunal decided that deporting him to Italy, where he lived until the age of six, would breach his right to a "family life".

The Ministry of Justice refused to be drawn on what protection measures might have to be undertaken for Chindamo after his release.

A spokesman said: "It is simply not possible to speculate further about what our future stance would be."

However, Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: "Due to the high profile nature of the case, it is inevitable that Chindamo will be relocated on release."

Meanwhile, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, criticised the Government's "incompetence" over the way it had handled the matter.

He said: "If the Government had fought a successful -deportation order, the cost would be a fraction of this massive expenditure."

[Stoat]

I think that here in the USA, placement in the Witness Protection Program is usually limited to organized crime figures or high-value informants.....I haven't ever heard of it being used for individual murderers.

From the article:

Mr Lawrence's widow, Frances, reacted angrily to the proposal, pointing out that the cost would dwarf the sum her family received from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority following her husband's murder.

"I think that ordinary people will be outraged to hear that he will be afforded 24-hour police protection," she said.

Particularly when her husband wasn't.

May God Bless you Mrs. Lawrence, and help you to one day find some small measure of peace amidst your grief.

 

 

[Rocky]

The media may also be barred from reporting details of Chindamo's new identity, what he does or where he lives.

Of course, they can't stop someone from exporting the information to someone else outside the U.K., who would then post the information on the Internet. Just a thought. Sending him back to Italy sounds like a pretty good idea.

[Stoat]

Sending him back to Italy sounds like a pretty good idea.
 

 I would hate to inflict this trash upon the Italian people either.  Apparently he's still regarded as quite dangerous..  From the article:

 

"It is very, very sensitive. If it went wrong and he did something else, the political fall-out would be hugely embarrassing."

Despite claims by the Government that Chindamo was "a genuine and present and sufficiently serious threat to the public", an asylum and immigration tribunal decided that deporting him to Italy, where he lived until the age of six, would breach his right to a "family life".

It seems that this scum's 'right to a family life' outweighs the British public's right to safety.

[MIT-Elephant]

I don’t get it - why is this guy deserving of the guvmint’s protection? Are they afraid he might be in danger from society at large?

Tough beans - maybe you should have thought of that before you killed somebody.

[SatinDoll]

Good Gawd! I’m so glad most states here have capital punishment. The idea that this piece of poop would be walking around, strolling through parks, shopping in markets....no one in Britain is safe.

[Stoat]

I don’t get it - why is this guy deserving of the guvmint’s protection? Are they afraid he might be in danger from society at large?

From the article:

".....the Government decided that the risk of the individuals being attacked by members of the public meant that they required new identities."

Tough beans - maybe you should have thought of that before you killed somebody.

Perhaps the foreknowledge of how he would likely be treated made making the decision to murder a bit easier for him.

I don’t get it - why is this guy deserving of the guvmint’s protection? Are they afraid he might be in danger from society at large?

From the article:

".....the Government decided that the risk of the individuals being attacked by members of the public meant that they required new identities."

Tough beans - maybe you should have thought of that before you killed somebody.

[Stoat]

Good Gawd! I’m so glad most states here have capital punishment. The idea that this piece of poop would be walking around, strolling through parks, shopping in markets....no one in Britain is safe.

The good, decent people of Great Britain are in my prayers.

[singfreedom]

Lordy, Lordy, I just told my husband I wanted to visit the British Isles, but the fear factor is beginning to be a little worrisome.

I truly love the way some nitwit was concerned about this subhuman’s right to a “family life”, totally discounting Mr. AND Mrs. Lawrence’s right to a “family life”. How very, very sad. God Bless, Mrs. Lawrence, just bless your heart.

[John Leland 1789]

This kind of story ought to make anyone (or, anyone with half a brain) go to work in favor of not only keeping the death penalty, but expanding its use, and using it more consistently.

[Stoat]

Lordy, Lordy, I just told my husband I wanted to visit the British Isles, but the fear factor is beginning to be a little worrisome.

I recently traveled to Great Britain and Ireland, and had an absolutely splendid time.  Wonderful, friendly people, the weight of history and permanence in so many places.  Please don't be frightened, just take normal precautions.

I truly love the way some nitwit was concerned about this subhuman’s right to a “family life”, totally discounting Mr. AND Mrs. Lawrence’s right to a “family life”. How very, very sad. God Bless, Mrs. Lawrence, just bless your heart.

Agreed, and I think that Mrs. Lawrence will one day feel the benefit of your prayers.

Lordy, Lordy, I just told my husband I wanted to visit the British Isles, but the fear factor is beginning to be a little worrisome.

I recently traveled to Great Britain and Ireland, and had an absolutely splendid time.  Wonderful, friendly people, the weight of history and permanence in so many places.  Please don't be frightened, just take normal precautions.

I truly love the way some nitwit was concerned about this subhuman’s right to a “family life”, totally discounting Mr. AND Mrs. Lawrence’s right to a “family life”. How very, very sad. God Bless, Mrs. Lawrence, just bless your heart.

[John Leland 1789]

I certainly would like to know what kind of bird that is behid that woman and what it is doing there.

[ketsu]

The problem is that kid was 15 when he killed the guy. Even the US doesn’t give the death penalty to juveniles.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

An apology for a killer.

[DieHard the Hunter]

Pierrepont and a few feet of rope would certainly have been cheaper!

[John Leland 1789]

I don’t have have a problem with a 15 year old being put to death for such a violent act, myself. If they are that bad at 15,. . . The kid knifed a man to death!

The man only served 12 years of a life sentence? Pathetic. There must be a little island in the North Sea these types can be dumped on. Give them a fishing pole and a wind breaker (that’s mercy).

[Stoat]

Pierrepont and a few feet of rope would certainly have been cheaper!

And it would also have sent an extremely effective and meaningful message to all criminals and criminal-wannabees that innocent human life is held in the highest value, so much so that ending the life of a wanton murderer is easily justified and is appropriate punishment for the most heinous of crimes.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I think that here in the USA, placement in the Witness Protection Program is usually limited to organized crime figures or high-value informants.....I haven't ever heard of it being used for individual murderers.

I believe that you have failed to notice something in this article. In the US the Witness Protection Program is reserved for WITNESSES!! Nothing in this article even hints that this kid testified against anyone. This program appears to be a Guilty Murderers Protection Program. I do not think that we have anything like this here,

[Captain Rhino]

I hate to sound like an ignorant colonial hectoring decisions of the mother country and the treaties she has signed with the EU, BUT...

if the words “life in prison” meant what they do over hear on this side of the pond (U.S.), you wouldn’t be having this discussion; at least now. Even with the possibility of parole, it would still be decades more before this criminal was eligible for it.

And he would receive exactly zero consideration for witness protection or “the possibility of a family life.”

Sheesh.

[Stoat]

I think that here in the USA, placement in the Witness Protection Program is usually limited to organized crime figures or high-value informants.....I haven't ever heard of it being used for individual murderers.

I believe that you have failed to notice something in this article. In the US the Witness Protection Program is reserved for WITNESSES!! Nothing in this article even hints that this kid testified against anyone. This program appears to be a Guilty Murderers Protection Program. I do not think that we have anything like this here,
 

Point taken.  It seems that the definition of "witness protection" has been altered (corrupted?) in order to achieve......what?  Not any definition of justice or protection of the public that I am familiar with.

I think that here in the USA, placement in the Witness Protection Program is usually limited to organized crime figures or high-value informants.....I haven't ever heard of it being used for individual murderers.

I believe that you have failed to notice something in this article. In the US the Witness Protection Program is reserved for WITNESSES!! Nothing in this article even hints that this kid testified against anyone. This program appears to be a Guilty Murderers Protection Program. I do not think that we have anything like this here,
 

Point taken.  It seems that the definition of "witness protection" has been altered (corrupted?) in order to achieve......what?  Not any definition of justice or protection of the public that I am familiar with.

[goldstategop]

I'd be the first in line to volunteer to garrote him. I don't believe murderers deserve to breathe. Then again, that's me. I hate evil - especially evil abetted by the government.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus