The man convicted of killing Anthony Kearney - aka MC Boogaloo - has had his sentenced extended from five to eight years, following an appeal lodged by the victim's family.
But this is hardly cause for celebration for the Kearneys. They are not overjoyed. Rather, they are more relieved at this modicum of further justice, after more than a year of waiting for a conviction. They are vindicated to a point, they say, but it doesn't reverse what happened on that fateful night in 2007.
Following an argument with a man named Ulysses Carbon, Mr Kearney suffered a fatal stab wound to the leg. Carbon was jailed in December last year for a total of five years - but he had already served 502 days, or about a third of his term, meaning he would have been released in February 2010.
As it stands, Carbon will now get out in August 2011 after the Lord Chief Justice ruled his sentence had been "unduly lenient". The addition to his sentence was remarkable in itself as lawyers didn't think it would be successful - but it came too late for Mr Kearney's mother, who succumbed to rapidly deteriorating health shortly before Carbon was jailed.
Similarly, the family of Winston Dowe-Stephenson, who was stabbed to death in a Luton flat in September last year, have seen his killer locked up in the last week. Oral Seaton, 45, of Woolhampton, was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 18 years. But while the Dowe-Stephensons have said they, too, were relieved to see the man responsible put in prison - nothing will bring back a beloved father, brother and grandfather.
Justice is a peculiar thing, it seems. In both these cases, the culprits have been caught and dealt with as far as the law will allow. They will pay for their crimes. But the cost, ultimately, is not to them, but to the people whose lives they have shattered. Don't get me wrong - I'm not about to start baying for the death penalty to be reintroduced. Rather, I feel a certain sense of pointlessness, veering almost towards nihilism, in the whole thing. Justice is pointless because it cannot undo what's been done.
Finally, in a bid to mitigate the gloominess of the above, I will endeavour to end on a lighter note. Owing to desperate circumstances (a dearth of anything remotely positive to write about, making the week seem interminably long) I have unfortunately been forced into tardiness in posting this blog. If anybody was upset by this - and a certain WFG reporter has told me he was - I sincerely apologise.
Also, according to my other dear and fluffy colleagues, the only reason any of them read it is in the hope that they will one day get a mention.
Does this count?
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