(237) Young gangs´ assaults of spitting in the face

Circa 6:15 p.m. on April 12th 2007, I was composing an e mail to Bob Woffinden further to an e mail interchange.
This e mail of mine, containing a link to a new verdict of assault against Charles Ingram for grabbing a 13 year old who had coughed spittle into his face -
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:32:04 +0100 (BST) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=CR1OBYN2RKO2TQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/04/11/ncough111.xml -

generated the reply from Woffinden of -
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:54:17 +0000
James, You could try writing a letter to, say, the Daily Telegraph - on the grounds that this is exactly the sort of thing that the right-wing press usually rails against. So this nasty young kid gobs at/spreads his germs over Charles, makes up half of his evidence and the wonderful CPS says - you shall have the full protection of the English law! And we will prosecute this gobbed-on person who dares to tell the truth in court! Preposterous

Woffinden was best known as a campaigner for miscarriages of justice. (See Entry 213). I was writing that I had my doubts whether that might be the best policy, and how the climate had altered with e.g. articles in the Sunday Mirror about gangs of cheats hitting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and now this new verdict against Ingram... when our door bell was rung, and then there was a knock.
When my son opened a window in the door to see who it was in the street, a boy of nearly 13, part of a gang of four or so, spat in his face. One of the others, my son´s classmate, then spat in his face, too.

My first reaction was to go to the police. But it all turned out to be a storm in a teacup, which we swiftly sorted out the next day by reporting it to the headmaster.

Portia and Shylock shifting, again?
(See Entry 213)
Then, after I had written this Entry as it stands, on May 13th 2007, a news story broke. I spotted it in the Daily Mail on line, and was about to e mail it to Woffinden when I saw that an e mail from him had just arrived, containing the very item -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6654111.stm

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