Impact Statment

The impact statement made by Adele Eastman the fiance of the murdered Tom ap Rhys Pryce is staggeringly moving. It is reproduced in full here and I recommend that you read it, although it will break your heart.

The sheer awfulness of what she is going through can not be described.

In her statement it is the incomprehension as to why anyone one would do such a thing that I found particularly striking. The statement reads;

"I very much doubt that as children, any of the hopes and aspirations they held for their future included killing a man, and yet here they stand convicted of that heinous crime. What happened along the way for them to become so cruel and hateful towards others, and at such a young age? What a huge waste of life - not just of Tom's but also of their own - years in prison for an Oyster card and a mobile telephone. How, on any level, could it have been worth it for them?"

Clearly it is right that Carty and Brown are going to jail for a very long time. But if that's all politicians can do then that's not enough. We need to try and prevent these things from happening. We need to find out how it is possible for people like Carty and Brown to get so far away from what is acceptable behaviour.

Tony Blair once said that he wanted on be tough on the causes of crime. He hasn't been. When David Cameron made a speech about the causes of crime he was ridiculed by people claiming he wanted to "hug a hoodie". What is is about our political and media culture that doesn't want our politicians to address such an important problem?

There is nothing soft about wanting to prevent wasted lives, there is nothing soft about wanting to prevent potential murderers and potential muggers from becoming murderers and muggers. Next time you feel like making a crack "hug a hoodie" think about the pain that Carty and Brown have caused and ask yourself wouldn't it have been better if we could have stopped this from happening at all .