Bizarre case smacks of victimisation

BRITAIN’S bizarre policy of charging released prisoners for bed and breakfast is bemusing, to put it mildly.

The warped obsession of civil servants with minutiae has dogged second generation Irishman, Michael O’Brien of Cardiff.

Freed following a miscarriage of justice ruling on a murder case after spending years in prison, he was awarded stg£647,000. But he also got a bill for stg£37,000, the estimated amount he would have spent on food, rent and general living expenses had he not been in prison.

The irony is that if you end up behind bars in Britain, as long as you’re guilty you won’t have to pay for the privilege of being a guest of Her Majesty. But if you are innocent and your conviction is overturned, you will be charged.

Michael O’Brien’s case smacks of victimisation.

As Birmingham Six member Billy Power put it so succinctly, it would be akin to President George W Bush charging innocent detainees at Guantanamo Bay for a Cuban holiday.