Realist sentencing

Criminal sentences in this country are totally out of proportion to the actual crimes that criminals are being punished for. Take this 41-year-old man who was cautioned after he walked into a motorbike dealership and threatened staff with a 3ft axe.

He should have been sent to prison for a couple of months or at the very least given community service. He sounds like a psycho and probably should have been held under the Mental Health Act.

Serious offenders are always given an easy time under this government. Rapists and dangerous thugs are going to get shorter prison terms even though they have already said that indeterminate sentences are a vital weapon in the fight against crime. Labour is either backtracking on this or they are putting the public in danger. Both reasons should mean that you won’t vote Labour again.

While they are going easy on serious offenders they are punishing people who don’t do anything wrong. A retired journalist was fined £75 for putting litter in a bin. If this man is an isolated case he won’t be for long. In Chester the council has decided to give residents £100 fines if they put their rubbish out before collection day.