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The robbers, clad in balaclavas, break in during a raid in Holt, Norfolk
Six people have been jailed for terms of between 20 months and 20 years after being convicted over a string of cash van robberies between 2007 and 2009.
The gang targeted night-time deliveries to cash machines and supermarkets in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
Police said the East London gang spent the money on fast cars and high living and robbed again when it ran out.
The Flying Squad’s Detective Sergeant Jason Hendy said they were “one of the hardest teams we’ve ever targeted”.
The gang, led by Danny Speed, did not carry guns but were usually armed with sledgehammers, axes, machetes and Tasers and wore black overalls. They were described by witnesses as looking like the SAS.
THE GANG
Danny Speed, 30, from Beckton, east London (top left)Mark Richards, 30, from Rainham, Essex, (top centre)Andrew McCracken, 31, from Barking, east London (top right)Lee Watson, 43, from Beckton (bottom left)Scott Guy, 36, no fixed abode(bottom centre)James Cook, 29, from Dagenham (bottom right)Paul Oughton, 31, no fixed abode – yet to be sentenced (not pictured)
The crime spree came to an end on 19 November 2009 when armed police ambushed the gang as they prepared to rob a delivery to a Morrisons supermarket in Hadleigh, Essex.
Four members of the gang, including Speed, were sitting in a stolen pick-up truck in the car park of Morrisons fully kitted out in black overalls and balaclavas when armed officers from Scotland Yard’s SO19 unit arrived.
All four men in the car admitted conspiring to rob Morrisons but Speed and several of his accomplices continued to deny their involvement in the other robberies.
After a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London four men were convicted. On Friday they were sentenced along with Mark Richards, 30, and Scott Guy, 36, who had pleaded guilty.
A seventh man, Paul Oughton, 31, was convicted after a retrial but will be sentenced on Monday.
Two men – Allan Wiltshire, 23, and James Sweeney, 29 – were acquitted of all charges.
Speed, 30, from Beckton, east London, was jailed for 20 years for armed robbery.
Lee Watson, 43, also from Beckton, was jailed for 16 years and Andrew McCracken, 31, from Dagenham, east London, got 15 years, also for armed robbery.
THE ROBBERIESOctober 2007 – Brightlingsea, Essex: got away with £80,000January 2008 – Holt, Norfolk: £81,000March 2008 – Mildenhall, Suffolk: £47,000April 2008 – King’s Lynn, Norfolk: £21,000October 2008 – Great Yarmouth, Norfolk: £40,000February 2009 – Brightlingsea: £111,850March 2009 – Norwich, Norfolk: aborted robbery because of police surveillanceSeptember 2009 – Canvey Island, Essex: left empty-handed19 November 2009 – Hadleigh, Essex: four men arrested by armed police
Richards, from Rainham, Essex, was jailed for 13 years, for armed robbery and Guy, 36, of no fixed abode, was given nine-and-a-half years for a single armed robbery.
James Cook, 29, also from Dagenham, was locked up for 20 months for conspiracy to burgle.
The gang, who stole a total of £341,000, had been so prolific that since their arrest, police say, there has been a 100% reduction in cash-in-transit robberies in Norfolk.
The gang usually waited until the guards had opened the cash machine and removed the money from the boxes.
They knew that if they stole the money in the cashboxes it was worthless because of the dye inside which is triggered if the boxes are opened by anyone but the guard.
They would smash their way in and terrify the guards into handing over the money.
One guard, Christopher Allen, told the trial how they smashed their way in as he and a colleague were replenishing a cash machine in Brightlingsea, Essex.
He said two robbers were armed with an axe and a Taser. They told him to get on the floor, saying: “If you ever want to see your wives or families again, if you want to get through this, lie on the floor.”
The robbers got away with £111,850 on that occasion.
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The chancellor will claim his Budget will confront the forces of stagnation
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The Budget later this month will be “unashamedly pro-growth”, Chancellor George Osborne will tell his party’s spring conference on Saturday.
He will tell Conservatives in Cardiff it will break down the barriers that stop Britain getting back on its feet.
Mr Osborne will announce that 10 new enterprise zones will be set up in England in his Budget on 23 March.
But Labour says government plans to eliminate the budget deficit by 2015 will damage growth.
Mr Osborne will tell his party’s conference that the Budget, the coalition government’s second, will confront the forces of stagnation.
The chancellor will tell party members that new enterprise zones will be established in areas of England that have been hit hard by the economic downturn – mainly in parts of the Midlands and the North.
Firms will be offered reduced business rates, simplified planning rules and less regulation at a total cost to the Treasury of £100m over the next four years.
Earlier enterprise zones set up by the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major have been criticised by two reports this week for creating too few jobs at too high a cost, and for providing only a short-term boost.
But ministers claim to have learned lessons from the past, and say they will work in areas with high potential for growth, while working closely with local councils to tailor specific incentives to local needs.
The first enterprise zones were launched in 1981 by Michael Heseltine, offering tax breaks to firms to create jobs and prosperity.
They were pioneered in areas such as London’s Docklands, the Isle of Dogs, Corby and Tyneside.
The coalition government’s autumn Spending Review outlined plans to cut about £80bn by 2015.
Labour has criticised ministers for going “too far, too fast” in attempting to bring down the deficit, arguing it should be halved in four years not eliminated.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls says the coalition government is endangering the UK’s future by “putting the economy into reverse gear”.
But the government says the spending cuts are needed because of the financial “mess” left behind by the last Labour government and are vital to getting the economy moving.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid hoped to use the Duke of York’s relationship with the Qatari royal family to secure a voting alliance, the BBC has learned.
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Watch: ‘US recovery is pretty broad based’ says Standard Chartered’ s Sarah Hewin
The US unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.9% in February, down from 9% the month before.
It is the third month in a row that the jobless rate has fallen, with February’s figure marking a near two-year low.
Employers added 192,000 jobs last month, the US Labor Department said, above market expectations.
Paul O’Neill, former US Treasury Secretary, described the data as “very positive”.
A Labor Department statement said that most job gains were in manufacturing, construction, business services and transport.
State and local government slashed 30,000 jobs, the most since November as budget cuts continue to bite.
The data showed that the jobless rate for adult men was 8.7%, for adult women 8%, and for teenagers 23.9%.
The unemployment rate has come down from 9.8% in November.
“We have moved into the expansion phase of the economic cycle and the economy is self-sustaining,” said Brian Levitt, an economist at Oppenheimer.
Data for December and January was also revised upwards to show 58,000 more jobs created than previously estimated.
The total number of unemployed people now stands at 13.7 million, still almost double pre-recession levels.
The Labor Department estimated that, when factoring in the number of part-time workers who would rather be working full time and those who have given up looking for work, the percentage of “underemployed” Americans dropped to 15.9% in February.
This is the lowest in nearly two years.
The improving jobless rate reflects growth in the economy. Recent retail and export data have been healthier.
Manufacturing is growing at its fastest pace in nearly seven years and the service sector is expanding at its fastest pace for more than five years.
Share trading on the US futures market rose in expectation that the data will be well received by investors when Wall Street opens.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the fight against drug traffickers
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Thirteen soldiers in Mexico have been charged with drug trafficking after they were allegedly found in possession of almost a tonne of the synthetic drug methamphetamine and 30kg of cocaine.
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant often made in home labs.
A military commander said the soldiers had been transporting the drugs to Tijuana, on the US border.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed around 50,000 soldiers to help fight his war on drugs.
The military commander in Tijuana, Gen Alfonso Duarte, said the accused had been transporting the drugs by land from the capital, Mexico City, to Tijuana.
The Mexican Ministry of Defence said it would not tolerate such acts and announced that the men would be brought before a military court.
According to the United Nations’ 2010 World Drug Report, the US methamphetamine market is predominantly supplied from Mexican-based criminal groups.
The report says that the number, size and sophistication of meth laboratories in Mexico has increased dramatically over the past five years, as well as the amount of methamphetamine trafficked into the US.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Nick Clegg says his the Liberal Democrats expected criticism after entering coalition government
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Nick Clegg says conclusions should not be drawn from the Liberal Democrats’ Barnsley by-election defeat for their Welsh assembly election hopes.
Lib Dems came sixth in Barnsley Central and his candidate lost his deposit.
But the deputy prime minister, at the Welsh Lib Dems’ spring conference in Cardiff, said there would be many other issues at the assembly election in May.
He said voters understood Lib Dems were in the Westminster coalition government “to do the right thing”.
Mr Clegg arrived in the city centre hotel before about 30 protesters gathered outside chanting.
He welcomed the Yes vote earlier in the day in the referendum on direct law-making powers for the Welsh assembly, and said the next step was set up something similar to Scotland’s Calman Commission to look at issues such as funding and taxation powers.
“If you don’t deal with this great black hole that Labour has left behind you are simply going to be asking the children and grandchildren of Wales to pay off our debts”
Nick Clegg MP Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader
Mr Clegg said the referendum was “a big sign that the Welsh people wanted more power and authority and we must play our part in the Westminster government to answer that call”.
He said that could allow “greater financial responsibility to be built into the system”.
Asked if that could mean tax-varying powers for Wales, Mr Clegg said: “Let’s look and see what it means. Lots of people have different views. In the Scottish case it did lead precisely to that.”
Of the Barnsley Central result, Mr Clegg said: “Wales isn’t Barnsley of course and I don’t think one should make generalisations from one specific by-election in England to elections in Wales.
‘Big issues’
“The Welsh elections have many other things at stake: how is the Welsh economy going to recover from the incompetence of years of the Labour government?
“How is Wales, like the rest of the country, going to deal with some of the savings we are doing, and at the same time rebuild the kind of jobs that we need to offer our young people? Those are the big issues that are at stake.”
On the falling ratings for him and his party, Mr Clegg said: “Opinion polls change all the time – an opinion poll last week put us back up on 18%. Politicians and political parties of course wax and wane in popularity.
“Obviously when the Liberal Democrats are in government in Westminster for the first time for generations and at a time when we have been left with this unenviable task of having to fill this huge black hole left by Labour, yes, we are doing things which are controversial… which will court unpopularity.
“We always accepted that. The Liberal Democrats went into this coalition in Westminster with our eyes open.”
He said that “if you don’t deal with this great black hole that Labour has left behind, you are simply going to be asking the children and grandchildren of Wales to pay off our debts”.
Mr Clegg told party members that after the general election failed to produce a conclusive result last May, they could have “chosen to sit on the sidelines, risking economic instability and turning our back on the challenge of governing”.
He said change would “always encounter fierce criticism” but unlike Labour, the Lib Dems had taken responsibility.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Jared Loughner faces the death penalty if convicted
The man accused of shooting a US congresswoman has been charged over the killing of a federal judge who died in the attack in Arizona in January.
Jared Loughner, 22, was charged by a grand jury with 49 counts, including the murder of Federal Judge John Roll.
He was already charged in the attempted killing of Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords and the death of her aide.
Six people were killed in the attack on Ms Giffords as she held a constituency event in Tucson, Arizona, on 8 January.
In addition, more than a dozen were injured, including Ms Giffords.
Mr Loughner, who was rejected by the US military and had been suspended from college over concerns for his mental health, has been in jail since the attack.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury returned a new indictment, superseding the one returned in January.
Mr Loughner is due to appear in court next Wednesday in Tucson on those counts. He pleaded not guilty to the earlier federal charges.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Among the new counts is a murder charge over the death of Judge Roll.
Investigators and prosecutors determined that Mr Roll was performing official duties when he was killed, making his killing a federal, rather than a state, crime.
Mr Roll had stopped by Ms Giffords’s constituency event outside a store in Tucson that morning, and investigators say they believe he hoped to talk to her about overcrowding on the federal court docket.
The other counts relate to the killing of a federal employee; use of a firearm to commit a violent crime, cause injury or death; and injuring or causing death to participants at a federally protected activity.
“This was an attack on Congresswoman Giffords, her constituents, and her staff,” US Attorney Dennis Burke said in a statement.
He said the four victims who were private citizens, including a nine-year-old girl, were killed “while exercising one of the most precious rights of American citizens, the right to meet freely and openly with their member of Congress”.
Ms Giffords has made what doctors call remarkable progress, and is undergoing a course of intensive rehabilitation at Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston, the Texas city where her husband Mark Kelly works as a Nasa astronaut.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The timing of the Queen’s visit to the Irish Republic has yet to be announced
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The Queen is to pay a state visit to the Irish Republic this year, the first by a British monarch for a century, Buckingham Palace has announced.
Queen Elizabeth II accepted an invitation from the Republic’s President Mary McAleese.
King George V was the last reigning monarch to visit the country in 1911 when it was then part of the UK.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the visit was an indication of a changed time but “premature”.
The success of the Northern Ireland peace process is thought to have made the visit possible.
President McAleese’s office said the timing of the visit would be confirmed at a later date.
BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said it was a “watershed moment” in British-Irish relations.
The war of independence and use of the British army in the Troubles in Northern Ireland strained relations between the UK and the Irish Republic for much of the 20th Century.
Analysis
The historic visit by the Queen to Ireland is likely to take place in May and last a number of days.
It will be seen by many as the final piece of the jigsaw in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Months of tentative planning has already gone into the visit, but it was only when the Irish election was over that the visit could be confirmed.
The Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is set to become the next Irish prime minister, and he has signalled his strong support for a royal visit.
For the Queen, it will be one of her shortest journeys, simply crossing the Irish Sea, but it will be a huge step in British-Irish relations.
The Queen also suffered personal loss when an IRA bomb blast killed her cousin Lord Mountbatten on his boat in Ireland in 1979.
Our correspondent said: “During the times of the Troubles 40 years ago, some Dubliners actually burnt down the British embassy.
“Here we are four decades later talking about the Queen actually visiting Dublin.”
He said he expected the visit to take place early in the summer.
The Irish government welcomed the trip which it said would “further improve” the “very good” relations between the two countries.
The British ambassador to Dublin, Julian King, said the invitation symbolised how far the relationship between the two neighbouring countries had come.
“The UK’s relationship with Ireland has never been closer, or more important,” he said.
“Our common bonds enable the UK and Ireland to work together as a strong, modern, forward-looking partnership focused on issues that matter to the British and Irish people, such as growth and jobs.”
Gerry Adams said: “As Republicans, Sinn Fein is very aware of the symbolism of a state visit by Queen Elizabeth of England and of the offence it will cause to many Irish citizens.
“Particularly victims of British rule and those with legacy issues in this state and in the North. We are also very conscious of the attitude of our Unionist neighbours.”
He added: “The president has invited the English monarch and Sinn Fein respects her right to do so.
“However we believe this visit is premature and we expect our views to be respected also.”
When George V visited in 1911, he stayed in Dublin Castle – then the seat of British rule in Ireland.
He received a greeting of “almost unparalleled magnificence”, according to reports at the time.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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A line from an Alfred Tennyson poem has been chosen to inspire athletes taking part in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, from Ulysses, will be engraved as a permanent installation in the centre of the Olympic Village.
The public was invited to suggest inspiring poetry representing the values of the Olympic Games last year.
Four other poems will also feature around the complex.
The selections were chosen by a panel which included Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, author Sebastian Faulks, poet Daljit Nagra and broadcasters Clare Balding and John Inverdale.
London 2012 – Begin your journey here
Sport, news and more 2012 informationBBC London 2012
Reasons for nominating the Tennyson line emphasised its universal appeal including comments such as “it sums up the courage needed to live life to the full”.
Nagra liked it because it is “a clarion call to the best parts of our searching inquiring selves that is just as suited to a gold medal winner as it is to the ordinary worker in their daily round”.
Lines from Robert Browing, Langston Hughes, Denise Levertov and Sean O’Brien poems were also selected from the public nominations.
The Tennyson installation will be seen daily by the athletes and officials living and working in the Olympic Village during the 2012 Games.
After the Games, the wall will remain after the Village is converted into new housing.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A low turn-out has long been a concern for campaigners
Initial results in the Welsh referendum have given a Yes to direct law-making powers for the assembly.
Anglesey, Wrexham, Blaenau Gwent and Denbighshire all backed change, with turnout below 30% in some areas, but provisionally put at 35% across Wales.
BBC Wales political editor Betsan Powys said it was clear the Yes camp will have a “comprehensive victory”.
A Yes vote would give the assembly direct law-making power in 20 devolved areas, such as health and education.
BBC Wales referendum live events page
A No vote would keep the current system where the assembly asks parliament for powers to be transferred to Cardiff on a case-by-case basis.
With counting in 22 regional centres well under way, Rachel Banner of True Wales told the BBC: “It doesn’t look as if it’s gone our way”.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “The turnout is in the 30s, not brilliant, but then not apocalyptic, which some people predicted.”
He said the low turnout was partly due to there being no official Yes or No campaigns, and he took a swipe at “abysmal” coverage “from UK media” of the campaign.
The 1979 ballot was a resounding defeat for the Yes campaign
Lee Waters, of Yes for Wales, said the opinion polls had been consistent for three years “but we were never sure whether that would be translated into votes in the ballot box.”
He said the result and swing in Denbighshire showed that “Wales has changed,” but the frustration was getting what they believed was a “common sense argument across to enough people.”
WELSH REFERENDUM TURNOUTBridgend 35.64%Caerphilly 34.5%.Cardiff 31.3%Carmarthenshire 44.36%Ceredigion 44.07%Conwy 33.79%Flintshire 29.4%Gwynedd 43.4%Merthyr 29%Monmouthshire 35.83%Neath Port Talbot 38%Pembrokeshire 38.7%Rhondda Cynon Taf 34.6%Swansea 32.9%Torfaen 33.8%Vale of Glamorgan 40.10%Provisional Wales total: 35.2%Source: Official counts. More to follow later
An opinion poll for BBC Wales this week found almost half of potential voters felt they lacked enough information to make an informed decision.
A poll conducted by ICM in the days leading up to the referendum found 48% of respondents said they had not received enough information. Exactly half said that they had.
BBC referendum results coverage
Website: The News website includes a live events page, continually updated as counting goes on.
TV: Referendum 2011 – The Result, presented by Jamie Owen, will be on BBC One Wales from 1030 – 1300 GMT. It will switch to BBC Two Wales from 1300 – 1345 GMT, and back to BBC One Wales until after the final result. S4C will show Refferendwm 2011 from 1030 – 1600 GMT.
Radio: There is also coverage from 1030 GMT – 1500 GMT on BBC Radio Wales and 1105 – 1530 GMT on BBC Radio Cymru.
It suggests an assembly with law-making and some taxation powers remains the most popular option – 35%.
Eighteen per cent supported the sort of law-making assembly without taxation powers that will exist if a Yes vote is declared on Friday, while 17% want the assembly to continue as it is.
Independence was favoured by 16%, and 15% wanted the assembly abolished.
ICM interviewed 1,003 adults on 1 and 2 March.
Some 2.2m people were eligible to vote in the Welsh referendum.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
If you request a tenner, that’s all you usually get
Dozens of cash machines in Sydney, Australia, were accidentally overpaying customers this week. So if you take money under these circumstances, what is the correct course of action, legally and morally?
Free cash. It sounds too good to be true. And for some customers of the Commonwealth Bank in Sydney this week, it was.
When word got around the streets that some cash machines were giving out more money than customers were entitled to, queues began to form and people took advantage.
There was talk, according to one witness, that they were giving out “free money”.
The bank later explained that an error had prevented the machines from properly identifying customer accounts, but that all transactions were correctly recorded and the bank would be pursuing the money.
But is it an offence to keep cash accidentally dispensed from a cash machine?
In England and Wales, it’s pretty clear – it’s not your money, says Mark Haslam, a criminal defence lawyer at BCL Burton Copeland in London.
“The only issue is what’s going to be debited from your account, so if you ask for £10, they give you £100 and they debit £100, then it’s yours.
“But if it’s clearly a malfunction and it’s dishing out money [without deducting it], and people come from miles around because word gets around quickly, then you’re helping yourself knowingly and that’s theft.”
‘Report it’
If you happen to be passing and someone tells you it’s handing out £200 every time, then it’s clearly theft because there’s knowledge and intent, and the intent could be proved.
“So the best course of action in terms of the law is to report it straightaway to the bank,” says Haslam. “It’s the only way you can preserve your position, but if you sit on it and wait for them to find you, then it’s a lot weaker.”
‘Take it, it’s your free lunch’
What do banks do with the money they make out of their ‘account charges’ and ‘service charges’? Well, for one thing, these charges pay for systems that protect the banks from risks like cash-machine malfunction. If those systems let the banks down, I say ‘tough on the banks – it’s a windfall for the customers’.
Just as when the bankers pay themselves huge bonuses out of the charges they exact on our accounts, the banks say ‘tough on the customers – it’s a windfall for us.’ The bankers get plenty of free lunches. Why shouldn’t their customers too?
The law concerned is more likely to be theft rather than fraud, he says, because you’ve taken money to which you are not entitled.
The 1968 Theft Act says: “A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.”
In Scotland, the same principle applies under common law theft, says a spokeswoman for the Law Society of Scotland.
But UK banks don’t always take a hard line.
Dozens of people who took advantage of a cash machine in Dundee paying out double the requested amount in January were told by the machine’s operator that they would not have to return the extra money, although it was up to individuals’ consciences.
Our advice is simple, says Brian Mairs, a spokesman for the British Bankers’ Association. “If an ATM dispenses money to you in error, you should take it into the branch as soon as possible. Taking money that is not yours is a punishable crime.
“Any moral indignation should be proportionate”
Julian Baggini Philosopher
“Banks have invested heavily in recent years in ensuring the security of customers’ money and the integrity of ATMs. There have been instances where an ATM has malfunctioned and the bank has written off the loss, but it would be wrong to assume that they will do so every time.”
Morally speaking you are doing something wrong, stealing, if you take it, says Simon Rippon of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. But the interesting question is whether this kind of stealing is more excusable than stealing from an individual.
Someone who takes cash from a malfunctioning cash machine is judged more leniently than someone else who takes cash that is accidentally left behind by the person in front of them, and who fails to inform that person of their loss, he says.
“The 18th Century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith, who is best known for his ‘invisible hand’ economic theory, provided a moral theory in his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments that can very naturally explain the distinction between these cases. On Smith’s theory, moral judgements arise out of our sympathy with the feelings of others.”
Do you back Ada or Bob?
Suppose that Ada takes the money from a malfunctioning cash machine, thinking that the bank will barely miss it, but so much money means a lot to her personally.
Now suppose that Bob is at another cash machine that isn’t malfunctioning, but rather has just been used by the absent-minded old Professor Plump, who has accidentally left his cash behind.
Bob thinks of calling Plump back in order to return his money, but decides instead to swipe it for himself, thinking that Plump is both well-off and amnesiac, and probably won’t even miss it. Don’t we judge Bob to have done something worse than Ada?
This is surely not because we think the consequences of Bob’s actions are likely to be any worse, but rather because Jones has harmed, or may have harmed, a specific, identifiable individual.
It’s difficult to identify an individual to sympathise with in the case of the misfiring cash machine, says Rippon, so it is only natural for us to judge the person in that case much less harshly than we judge the person in the second example.
This feeling that a bank cannot be a victim of crime is sometimes felt very strongly. In 2003, a family in Coventry made repeated visits to an obliging cash machine and the four of them took out £134,410, which they spent on a new car and air tickets to Jamaica. Three of them were imprisoned.
It’s a crime to take the money, but there are two reasons why many people instinctively find this kind of theft less serious or even harmless, says Julian Baggini, editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine.
One is that the transaction is completely impersonal and does not require surreptitious behaviour. The other is that people view crime against large corporations as victimless, even though prices and insurance premiums are affected by theft and fraud.
“Leading a moral life requires us to be the kind of person who does the right thing without always stopping to work out if we gain or lose by doing so,” says Baggini.
“We do what is right and hope that others will do the same because we want to be that kind of person, not some kind of egotist who is forever trying to work out what acts will serve our own petty self-interest.”
People who keep money from rogue cashpoints are not modern day Robin Hoods, he says. Theirs is not a principle act but an opportunistic one.
“But any moral indignation should be proportionate. I think given that many people struggle with money, resisting temptation, even if it is the right thing to do, is hard enough for us to understand those who don’t.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
