Manslaughter Charge Inroad Rage Case

DETECTIVES investigating the 'road rage' death of a young couple last night charged a motor mechanic with their manslaughter.

Jason Humble, 32, will appear before magistrates in Feltham, Middlesex, today, accused of killing Toby Exley and Karen Martin, who died after their car crossed a central reservation.

Humble's business partner Keith Collier, 49, a second-hand car dealer, will appear in the same court, charged with falsely reporting the theft of a motor vehicle.

The charge alleges he reported the theft to police on October 11, knowing the vehicle to have been involved in a fatal road accident on October 6, ‘with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of another who had committed manslaughter’.

Mr Exley, 22, and his 20-year-old girlfriend died when their Ford Fiesta crossed the central reservation of a dual carriageway and was hit by an oncoming car.

Police said the Fiesta is believed to have been rammed from behind by the driver of a car following them on the A316 road in Hanworth, West London.

Teams of uniformed police officers and detectives moved in at 6.30am yesterday and arrested both men at their ramshackle bungalow in a small close off Fernhill Road In Cove, Farnborough, Hampshire.

A neighbour said: 'There were plain-clothes policemen everywhere but it happened quickly.'

The men were taken to separate police stations in South-West London and questioned by detectives throughout the day about the crash and about another alleged road rage incident on the M3.

The grounds of the rented house have been used to repair cars and yesterday were scattered with beaten-up, rusting vehicles, piles of spare wheels and oil drums. Two massive Rottweilers guard the property. Police said later that a white K-registration Vauxhall Senator car they had been looking for since the crash had been found three miles away in the car park of the Monkey Puzzle pub in South-wood.

Last night it had been taken to a nearby police garage for examination by forensic experts and detectives.

The arrests followed a massive publicity campaign and came after a witness claimed to have seen a white vehicle drive into the back of the couple's Ford Fiesta, forcing it to cross the dual carriageway.

The families of both Mr Exley, who lived in Teddington, West London, and Miss Martin, who lived in Twickenham, Middlesex, made passionate appeals to help catch those responsible.

However, they were furious when a Sunday newspaper revealed that Mr Exley had been arrested outside a nightclub by drugs squad officers in December 1995 and found guilty in June last year of possessing Ectasy, amphetamines and cannabis with intent to supply. He was fined £210 with £327 costs and put on probation for two years.

Last night, Miss Martin's father John welcomed the news of the arrests. ‘It has lifted our spirits a little bit. It's still a bad loss,' he said.

By David Williams and Michael Harvey

1. Was your prediction right? Draw the list of offences mentioned in the article.

2. Explain the meaning of the word “manslaughter” in your own word and give an example. What will be the possible punishment in your country?

3. Retell the story.

Reading for Enjoyment

At sea

Mrs Simons glanced at a screaming headline in the newspaper which read: “Bank Robbed! Police at Sea!” She said to her husband: “Now do you hear that, Ed? It says here that a big city bank was broken in by robbers and the city police force where all off fishing. What a scandal”.

Note: to be at sea – быть в растерянности

UNIT 11

Reading Practice

Now you are going to read about constitutional law and the rights of citizens. First say what you know about the Constitution of your country and what rights you have.

The Rights of Citizens

1. In the previous units we considered how the state regulates the behaviour of individuals in society by providing rules to be obeyed /criminal law/ and procedures for them to solve disputes among each other /civil law/. There are also laws which enable citizens to take legal action against the state - against, for example, a public authority or even against the government itself, these actions are part of constitutional law.

As knowledge of the law has increased among the general public, so have the number and range of constitutional law cases. In 1991, an unmarried couple complained in the Tokyo District Court that it was unconstitutional for the local authority to register their daughter as illegitimate. They said this could lead to discrimination and was against the equality of individuals guaranteed in the Japanese Constitution. Yanomami Indians are pursuing a claim that it is unconstitutional for the Brazilian military to block a 1989 court ruling granting them autonomy over lands in the Amazon rainforest. The military has countered that border security questions must be given priority. In 1976, Gary Gilmure persuaded the U.S. Supreme that his death sentence should be carried out since he had been convicted and sentenced for murder according to due legal processes. This brought about a resumption of executions in the United States which continues today.

2. A constitution is the political and ideological structure within which a system of laws operates. Most countries have a formal written Constitution describing how laws are to be made and enforced. The French Constitution, for example, sets a seven-year term of office for the president; the U.S. constitution sets a four-year term. In Switzerland, a referendum /national vote/ must be held on any issue for which a petition signed by 10,000 people has been gathered, in Ireland, referenda are to be used only in the case of changes in the constitution itself. In Germany, a change in the constitution requires a special majority vote in parliament, not the simple majority necessary for other laws. Many other countries put the constitution above other laws by making it difficult to change.

3. One of the reasons for having special constitutional laws is to prevent governments from becoming too powerful and from interfering too much in the lives of individuals. Whereas socialist legal systems have tended to try to define exactly what the state allowed citizens to do, Anglo-American law has been more concerned with defining what the state could do, arguing that citizens are entitled to do everything other than that which the state forbids. As a check upon overpowerful government most modern constitutions have adopted the principle of separation of powers, developed in the 18th century by the French political philosopher Montesquieu.

4. Montesquieu argued that the functions of the state could be divided into policy formulation and direction /executive/, lawmaking /legislative/, and in­terpretation and application of the law /judicial/. To stop governments from becoming too powerful these functions should be carried out by separate institutions, and there should be a balance between them. In the United States, for example, the president /executive/ is elected by the people and attempts to carry out his policy promises through a presidential office of advisers. The Constitution gives him many important powers, such as control of the armed forces and appointment of Supreme Court justices, but many of his decisions and all new legislation must be approved by a majority in Congress /legislature/, which is also elected by the people. Many presidents have had important policies blocked by Congress. The Supreme Court /judiciary/ has the task of interpreting laws which have been disputed in lower courts, and of deciding whether a law passed by Congress or by one of the individual states is in keeping with the Constitution.

Comprehension Check

1. Look through the text and say whether the following statements are false or true.

1. All the countries in the world have written constitutions.

2. France, Britain and the United States all have constitutions.

3. In Germany and Ireland it is more difficult to change the constitution than other laws.

4. Anglo-American law defines exactly what the state allows citizens to do.

5. Interpretation and application of the law is the function carried out by the president.

2. Look through paragraphs 1 and 2 and try to explain the following.

1. What law enables citizens to deal with the state?

2. What are the main aims of constitutional laws?

3. How does constitution in your country differ from the one in Britain?

4. In what cases is referendum held in your country?

3. On the basis of paragraphs 3 and 4 expand the following statements. Add information from the text.

1. It is necessary to have special constitutional laws.

2. There are some differences between socialist legal system and Anglo-American law.

3. Montesquieu divided the functions of the state.

4. The US Constitution gives the president many important powers.