Quote:
Originally Posted by garinda
You imagine wrongly.
Ross and Brand could have been prosecuted under more than one of those laws.
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It would have still required Sachs to say and PROVE he found it threatening or harassment or whatever. Just because the calls are made doesn't mean they automatically fall into those laws. They all have requirement of psychological distress in some form.
I very much doubt they'd have received a strong punishment under any of those laws. They are designed to protect people against terrorising and nasty phone calls, not light pranks.
I like Andrew Sachs because he's been really mature and reasonable about the whole situation rather than turning it into an even bigger mess. He's an old man, he doesn't need a pointless court case at his age, he's old enough to know to forgive and move on, which he HAS done, and people should just let it drop now.
How many cases do you know like this one where a practical joker was prosecuted?
How many do you know where a malicious phone caller was prosecuted under the very same laws?
You'll find the numbers are substantially different. Anyone who believes the law is designed to prosecute anyone who steps slightly out of line and will be used in such a way needs to open their eyes to the real world. The only damage that has been done is to their own reputations and careers. Andrew Sachs was satisfied with the apologies they gave him and his family and everybody else should probably mind their own business now and accept it too. The only thing you are doing is providing more work for the media and they're leaching off you for it.
There was once a time when Charles Dickens wrote for the media and his literary genius was shared with the public, now all we get is rubbish overblown tales of a prank phone call gone wrong and 'celebrities' on drugs or having sordid affairs and the sad thing is that millions of people are willing to PAY for it. It's just crazy.