Talk at Starbucks
Monday, 3 August 2009
I’ll be doing a talk in Starbucks at Borders in Birstall, West Yorkshire on Tuesday 15th September 2009. The event starts at 7.30pm and will be followed by a Q & A session. It would be great to see you there, but please call the store on 01924 474914 as places need to be reserved.
Michael,
I read your book yesterday, it was outstanding. I picked it up in the Shanghai airport on the way to the States, so your distributors must be working hard!
Incredible story, congratulations on your survival, tenacity and success. I’ve wondered from time to time how the average person could possibly survive in prison and the general answer is: be ready to fight. It’s as Darwinian as it gets. Your book shed a lot more light and nuance on the subject–nevertheless it sounds every bit as harrowing as ones worst nightmares.
I’ll be following the story now to see what the Review Commision rules, if anything, but hopefully you are exonerated someday. I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories but it seems like someone big was out to get you. Either that or it was just the judge actively railroading you for some bizarre reason. What a heinous prick he was.
Best wishes!
tom
Posted by Tom | August 15, 2009 6:02 pmJust finished reading your book which was an excellent read. I can sympathise with your plight as I had a similar circumstance myself 9 years ago. I was attacked and ended up with 2 weeks off work with a broken nose and 2 black eyes. The culprit who had previous form for assaults on Police pleaded not guilty and I ended up going to Crown Court to defend myself against this scum. He ended up recieving 6 Months (3 months with good behaviour and HDC tagged) Whilst serving his term in prison the force wrote to him to confirm whether he wished to complain about my conduct! Of course he did. The henious crime I had comitted was using cs spray on this idiot who used a weapon against me and temporarily blinded me.The next 30 months then became a degrading and scary time for me. I was criminally interviewed under caution by 2 senior officers and had to wait a long time before my case was closed. Throughout this time I had to wait and many a time I envisaged myself in the dock and being sent down unjustifiably as yourself. I now suffer with excessive anxiety and apprehension in confrontational situations as such was the violence of the attack upon me. I am still in the Police having done over 20 years and I am disgusted at the CPS and the rules they impose under their self imposed guidelines. I am very cynical about the judicial process. There are too many obstacles imposed in order to bring real criminals to court. The ones that are well versed and know the system backwards know how far their actions would result in a prospect of conviction. On the other side of the coin I have also witnessed my colleagues losing their jobs for a minor Public order offence of which the job spent thousands of pounds and resources investigating. I have been on many prison visits in my career whilst in CID (been spat at and jeered at)and can only commend you on how you held up and never gave in. There is no doubt as in your case the judge could have used his discretion and influenced the jury. It seems to me that he was out to get you from the start and I hope that Sgt Milburn can sleep at night after stitching you up the way she did. I am glad you have been able to move on with another career and bring out this book. Good Luck for the future. Chris
Posted by Chris | September 2, 2009 11:14 pm