Talk of the Town
The 'talk of the town' today in the UK media is the ridiculous, trivial story about a 'ball-boy' - who hit the headlines during last night's Swansea v Chelsea football game.
The public 'outrage' that has been blown up as a result of the incident is completely crazy - to my mind - since all that's happened is that:
1 A young man - who should have known much better - behaved in a nasty, 'ned-like' fashion
2 A professional football player - who should also have known much better - then overreacted in trying to get the ball back into play.
3 The player was punished for his behaviour - and was sent- off.
4 The young man got away Scot-free - despite initiating the incident.
Now contrast the outpouring of public comment about the 'ball-boy' incident - with the following article which appeared on the BBC web site yesterday.
Like most sensible people I can't begin to understand how Scotland's criminal justice system can sentence this vile bully, rapist and child abuser - to only four and a half years in prison - because if he keeps his nose clean he will be back out on the streets in just over two years.
But what has anyone got to say about the issue?
Not a lot as far as I can see - the silence is deafening from our newspapers, MSPs and MPs - maybe they're all too busy doing other things.
http://youtu.be/sd38KUjmOho
Robert Wilson, 21, filmed himself raping teenage girl
Wilson admitted raping the girl and threatening to distribute pictures of her.
A man who filmed himself raping a 14-year-old girl as she cried has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Robert Wilson, 21, admitted indecently assaulting and raping the girl and threatening to distribute pictures of her between October 2007 and June 2010.
He often taunted her and called her "fat" and said she "looked like a dog".
Wilson was caught after he set up a Facebook account in the girl's name - featuring pictures of her - before sending a link to the girl's mum
Jailing him at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Bracadale told him: "You have pled guilty to a number of offences which, taken together, display a course of cruel sexual conduct, which not surprisingly has had a bad effect on the girl."
The court earlier how Wilson, then aged 17, began having sex with the girl when she was just 13.
He soon asked if he could record them having intercourse, which the girl felt uncomfortable with.
Prosecutor Kath Harper said there were times when she consented to sex as she was scared he would publish photos of her.
But, there were occasions when she did not agree and he would force himself on her.
On one instance, Wilson, of Carluke, North Lanarkshire, filmed himself forcing the girl to carry out a sex act before raping her as she cried.
In 2010, the teenager stopped seeing Wilson and was angry when he sent a text to her mother claiming they had sex a few days earlier.
In March the following year, Wilson set up a bogus Facebook site in the girl's name and posted photos of her in her underwear.
He then forwarded the page to her mother, who alerted her daughter.
The court heard how the distraught girl later took a number of paracetamol tablets and required hospital treatment.
When Wilson was later questioned by police, he claimed not to know it was an offence to have sex with a girl under 16.
He also insisted anything that happened was consensual.
Wilson confessed to setting up the Facebook page, adding he had done it because the girl had told people he had raped and beat her up.
