Alan,

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:51:03 -0000, Alan B. Pearce wrote:

>... 
> The other one that puzzles me is where someone is charged with something
> "and x other offences are taken into account" - does this mean on the basis
> of these he will get a longer sentence for this charge?

Ah, well this *is* an English thing - after the guilty verdict and before sentencing the accused can ask for 
"x similar cases to be taken into consideration" and the judge can then add to the sentence, but less so than 
if a whole series of other cases were heard by the court.  For the miscreant it means that (s)he can't be 
charged later for the other cases, and they get away with a lesser total sentence.  For the court it saves 
them time and money hearing the other cases, for the police it means they get an improvement in their clear-up 
rate!

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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