Did the canoe couple just get a long sentence because of the media hype?

Question

After all there was a program on TV a month back about a couple who conned the social & I believe they got over 100 thousand in benefits they did not deserve.

All they got was some sort of community order & asked to pay back the money.

I mean theft is theft & why should one get punished & not the other, don’t seem fair to me.

Answer 1

Definitely and also because it is a warning to all who want to follow in their footsteps. One thing the system cannot tolerate is ordinary mortals who rip them off and stick two fingers up at them!

Mind u the banks and other financial institutions can rip the public off and that's fair game!!!!!!

Answer 2

I was thinking exactly the same. I know killers who have been given a more lenient sentence, (especially driving crimes) It's amazing that someone would get 6 years for theft. MONEY,as usual comes before the lives taken by drunk drivers, and hit and run crime. Isn't our justice service wonderful????

Edit ..........2103ajay. Those "children" you talk about are full grown men. Big enough and ugly enough to take care of themselves, if you hadn't noticed???

Answer 3

It was pre medated and they caused a lot of pain and suffering to their children :-(

Answer 4

Most MPs fiddle more than that on their expense accounts

Answer 5

Yep,what they did was quite superficial.6 months each would be enough,but due to the publicity a long jail term was unfair and inevitable.

l remember,an animal rights guy,burnt down a store on the south coast as a proest.He started the fire when no-one was there,ie late at night.At that time Huntingdon Life Sciences was getting a lot of publicity and this guy got the backlash and was jailed for 30 years.Anyone famous though,never gets their come uppence.

Answer 6

The fact that both parents told their children the father was dead is bad enough, how a mother can do a thing like that escapes my understanding... In my opinion they should have gotten a longer sentence. They deserve to be put away and be forgotten.

Answer 7

No because they lied, cheated, and caused suffering to their sons who must despise them. I am glad they have gone to jail.

She crying crocodile tears, and he for being greedy and grasping.

Anyone who commits fraud should go to jail, full stop

Answer 8

who knows  here is local news paper www.Hartlepool-mail.co.uk see if that helps look at guy throwing bricks

Answer 9

it's not theft, it's fraud, and they take that incredibly seriously because the government don't want  people nicking people money off them, lol

plus the massive effort that couple put into it - it's quite funny too see it being pointless:p

they also seemed pretty evil about it, convincing their children he was dead

the other you said about though, that might be just a fluke, or maybe they showed remorse. The canoe couple lied right to the end.

Answer 10

no they got it because they were greedy for money,and the crime was pre-thought out.

and lets be right, they concocted this story up,then the mother told their 2 sons that he died in an accident, that is just sick..

them kids would have been heartbroken, and then they find years later that he"s still alive and it was done simply for money,.i couldn"t even begin to imagine the emotions that the 2 sons went through..

the sentence in my opinion wasn"t long enough for the pain they put their son"s through, it was a totally heartless act.

they don"t even deserve the title "parents".