www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/17/prisonsandprobation.law

He was one of the few judges to imply unfair prosecution in the days after my conviction (see the cuttings in Plead Guilty video).

Indeed-a good speech and I could throttle politicians bent on re-election who use a "get tough on crime" mantra.

But as for probation boards-they are really bad and do nothing to deter crime. They have unprecendented powers that are even the police don't have have. They can breach people on a whim. They really should be controlled. Basically they are utterley useless. If the country wants to get serious on prevemting serious crime they have to pull their fingers out and come up with some new thinking.

Until then-their only contribution is fingerprinting and taking DNA from 10 year olds. The dolts.