Auriol Grey, who has cerebral palsy and lives in specially adapted accommodation, was walking along a footpath in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and was infuriated to see a bicycle coming towards her. She waved her arm at it, making the 77-year-old rider swerve, lose her balance and fall into the road, where she was hit by a passing car and died. An act of what might be called antisocial behaviour was followed by a terrible accident. Grey is now serving three years in prison for manslaughter.
Britain’s judicial system is obsessed with prison to a degree that is unlike any other country in western Europe. The number of prisoners has roughly doubled since the 1990s. Prison conditions are so bad that a Dutch court refused to extradite a convict to Britain on grounds of its “inhumane” jails.
