Sgt Danny Nightingale

I'm sure you are all aware of the travesty of justice which resulted in former SAS Sgt Danny Nightingale being jailed for 18 months for possessing a small firearm he had forgotten an Iraqui soldier had given him some years ago.

If you share my concern that this man is being unfairly incarcerated when so many other scum are set free, then please sign this petition http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/danny-nightingale

So far 70,000 people have signed it but there is a push to get the numbers up to 100,000 before it is handed in on Thursday.

Thanks in advance.

Good call LP, and to make matters worse he was at home in the UK sorting out funerals for colleagues, and due to an accident wasn't able to return. His kit was packed for him and sent back to Hereford, so had no idea the pistol was in his kit.

Thanks for flagging this up LP. Signed.

I just had a little peek over on the dark side and saw this mentioned there. Someone (I think it was diggers) mentioned how it depended on whether the reporting was accurate or not.

There is something about this story that doesn't feel quite right to me. IF the reporting is accurate then there is something clearly wrong with the incarceration but there is something about the whole story that just sounds a little "Daily Mail" to me.

I'd rather not sign a petition when we can't be sure of all the facts. If the facts ARE correctly reported then I've no doubt he will be released - but just consider for a moment that even if he IS a war hero, and there was something not quite right about the widely publicised story, then where would this high profile story stand?

Davie - it has been widely reported in all the press (not just the Daily Mail) and all reports have been consistent. But I repect your decision not to sign - after all, this is a free country (just)!

The Court of Appeal has reduced his sentence to 12 months and suspended it with immediate effect and so he is free. Common sense has prevailed! More than 106,000 people signed the petition in the end, so thanks to those on here that did.

He's now had the conviction overturned but he faces a retrial and he has stated that he is going to plead not guilty at the new trial.

I wonder if DLT will still be pleading not guilty also after todays turn of events?

Wrong thread Blue! Do you think they'll ever get to, excusing the pun, the bottom of it?

Sorry Grumps, didn't realise you couldn't cope with more than one thread at a time

Difficult to say, possibly a lot of people are going to be dragged through the mud who perhaps might not have been if Jimmy Savile had been charged and convicted of his crimes when he was still alive.

I'm worried you're taking this one off topic

Like you say difficult to say, is it guilt by association now, a who's next mentality?

Danny Nightingale was found guilty at his second trial. He has been bailed pending sentencing due to a separated case being heard on the court's sentencing powers.

Unbelievable. It was a military court so no trial by a jury which I think is wrong. I'd like to know where the "tip-off" came from which led to his house being searched ... he must have pissed someone off big-time. Hopefully the court's jurisdiction will be found wanting and he will be released. He's said that all this has virtually bankrupted the family - a sad way to treat a Special Forces soldier who served his country well and was injured in the process.

How I read it was that the "tip off" was about the housemate and came from his ex and Nightingale got caught up in the aftermath of that. But, a terrible way to treat someone who has served his country so well.

I'm in two minds about this. Yes he is an ex serving soldier and I give them all the respect they deserve. But part of his defense was that he suffered brain injuries; Maybe the "punishment" is going too far but do we really want brain damaged, ex killing machines wandering around civvy street with lethal weapons?

Sounds a bit US culture to me

If it was an accident then these things are handled when the weapon is highlighted and turned into an armoury.

My question, and the one which has probably damned this guy, is why did you feel it was appropriate to hide the weapon?

He didn't hide it - apparently it was in a kit bag which was returned to him some time after he came back to England having been injured. He put the kit bag in his loft and didn't think any more about it. So he wasn't wandering the street with it and didn't hide it.

I tend to disagree LP.

After a trip of any kind you would unpack your bags and wash the items inside.

Never would a serviceman take his kitbag and just throw it in the loft. They have more pride in the uniform than that.