In the midst of a pre-election moral panic over guns and knives fanned by British politicians of all parties and a bid by Home Secretary Michael Howard to impose mandatory sentences for serious crimes, a scab who fired two shots at the Liverpool dockers' picket line was granted a 2 year conditional discharge by Judge Ian Trigger on 5 November.
Readers glancing at the "Daily Post" headline "Docker who fired gun walks free from court" (6.11.96) might assume one of the notorious sacked Liverpool dockers had evaded justice. But the article reveals that Ian Jones, 26, works for Coastal Containers at Seaforth and "had reached the end of his tether after being regularly harassed by sacked dockers picketing". He had driven to the line and fired two shots. The pickets were unaware that the weapon was a starting pistol loaded with blanks. Police found the gun and a further 8 blanks in Jones' locker.
When Jones pleaded guilty and his barrister declared "every day he had to run the gauntlet of abuse, had his car surrounded and rocked, hot liquids thrown at it (and been) spat upon", Judge Trigger "accepted the conditions that Jones had had to face to get to work" and awarded the conditional discharge.
Presumably, Judge Trigger would be equally forgiving if a sacked docker, incensed after a year by the daily spectacle of men driving at the picket line and doing other men's jobs inside the gates, had produced a starting pistol and fired two blanks at a car. No such incident has taken place. But if it did, no doubt the "Daily Post" would headline that story "Judge Warns Scabs 'Don't Cross Dockers Picket Lines' ". Or am I dreaming?
LabourNet Report by Greg Dropkin
