Natwest Three inmate Ferries review claims US system loaded ‘risk to services’
BRITONS extradited to the States have no chance of being cleared as the pleabargaining system empowers prosecutors to act as “judge, jury and executioner”, one of the Natwest Three claimed.
David Bermingham, who was one of three bankers jailed for 37 months over an Enron-related fraud in a deal with US prosecutors in 2008, said no sane defendant would risk dozens of years in jail when a plea bargain could see them home within months.
Plea bargaining is common in the US, with defendants often able to secure a more lenient sentence if they admit an offence and co-operate with prosecutors, rather than go to trial.
US prosecutors often quote maximum sentences, rather than the most likely jail term, for each offence.
But the system leaves those extradited to the US from the UK with little choice but to accept a deal if they want to return home, Bermingham said.
Bermingham was sentenced to 37 months along with Gary Mulgrew, of Glasgow – the son of former Labour MSP Trish Godman, and Giles Darby.
“A prosecutor can now effectively be judge, jury and executioner,” Bermingham said. “Aprosecutor can threaten a defendant with the rest of his life in prison. However, if you are willing to plead guilty, 30 years becomes five years.
“If you are then co-operating and willing to give evidence against others, five years becomes two.”
Bermingham, 49, of Goring, Oxfordshire, said negotiating the US system was akin to “game theory”.
“Do I sell my soul and all my principles in order to get my lenient sentence, or do I risk a trial and being jailed for life?”
Bermingham spoke out as his book, A Price To Pay, was published. Mulgrew has also written about his experiences, with the book due to be made into a film starring Dougray Scott.
A US Embassy spokeswoman said: “Similar to the UK system, US criminal defendants in appropriate cases are able to receive reduced sentences by pleading guilty at an early s t age of t he j udicial process.” COMMUNITY land owners have warned that lifeline ferry services are under threat as part of a blueprint for future services.
Community Land Scotland said the Scottish Gover nment’s ferries review did not take into account economic regeneration of fragile areas and the potential for future development of islands and coastal communities.
Responding to the review, the organisation said it was “counterproductive” for the ferries review to be recommending a “diminution in ferry services to many of these communities”. They are now calling for services to remote communities to be protected or enhanced.
David Cameron, chairman of Community Land Scotland, said: “We believe that ferry services provide an excellent return on investment to the public purse and, indeed, we would advocate greater levels of investment to produce better outcomes for communities and the nation as a whole.
“We expected the ferries review to be visionary in its outlook for island and coastal communities, and to aspire to the development objectives of those communities.
“Disappointingly, the draft ferries review appears to focus on recommendations which shall result in the minimum investment which will allow lifeline ferry services to continue.”
In its submission to the review, Community Land Scotland called for the Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service to be reintroduced to reduce journey times to South Uist.
It also asked for assurances on the Armadale to Mallaig service, the Tarbet to Uig route and services between Tobermory and Kilchoan, and Lochaline and Fishnish.