A Hard Case

As the news breaks that Kenneth Noye has lost his appeal against conviction in 2000 of the murder of a 21 year-old who supposedly 'cut him up' on a motorway slip road, spare a thought for the probation officer who has responsibility for the case. Noye was given a tariff of 'only' 16 years and therefore by my reckoning will be coming up for consideration of parole in about five years time. It may come as a surprise to many that all prisoners serving more than 12 months have an allocated home probation officer, or offender manager as we are supposed to call ourselves nowadays. But we really do have to work with everyone.

With such a high profile case there is much information in the public domain and I defy anyone who casts an eye over what is contained here not to get the hairs on the back of their neck standing on end. Nevertheless, I have absolutely no doubt that the case is very firmly in a  safe pair of hands and that, notwithstanding the shocking history and background, his case will be dealt with in an utterly professional manner as the possibility of parole approaches. It has to of course, because put yourself in the place of Parole Board members. Wouldn't you be looking for some extremely competent and comprehensive information when considering if he was safe to release?