This blog makes a stand for openness and accountability, eg with the Hastings Pier Fire Justice Fiasco. The potential community justice Phoenix has not yet arisen. "We need to act if we want justice" was the first piece on this theme published in the Hastings Observer (2011). In 2014 the blog author is now working closely with people who know the arrestees.
"The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that no charges can be brought against either of the two men arrested on suspicion of their involvement in a fire at Hastings Pier in October 2010.
Tim Thompson, head of the CPS Brighton Trials Unit said: "Sussex Police arrested two suspects in connection with this fire. The focus of the police investigation has been to establish what happened and who was responsible. The case has been carefully reviewed by the CPS, in consultation with the investigating officers.
"The nature of the structure and the extent of the fire combined to make this a particularly difficult crime scene. There is evidence to place both suspects, as trespassers, on the pier at the material time. There is evidence that a fire started through some human act at the time they were on the pier. We are left in the position where we cannot show how the fire was started and cannot show that the human act must have been a criminal act.
"We cannot show that there was or must have been any kind of joint plan. We have no admissible evidence to show which of the two suspects might have been responsible. We cannot prosecute on the basis that one or other of the two suspects might have been responsible; we can only prosecute where there is enough evidence against an individual.
"All reasonable lines of enquiry have been pursued and I have concluded that the two suspects should be told that they will not be charged. The decision has been taken on the evidence and information available to us. If new information comes to light the case will be reconsidered.
"I appreciate there will be concern that no one is being prosecuted. It is disappointing that we are not able to mount a prosecution in a case that is of considerable local interest but it is our responsibility to only bring prosecutions where there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction."
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Here's a sideways response from the top of a hill:
The above response is by the incorrigible Imperfect Idealist,who has experienced a thing or two in relation to growing by facing up to what he's done.
I offered earlier (here) to share my theory about how I let Hastings & St Leonards down in 2010 in the run up to the 5th October fire. Many of us probably did something that impacted on which building caught fire that night; it's just that the links between our actions and those of some identified (yet anonymous) youths from St Leonards are not so easy to see.
I was nervous about posting this video, and the reactions I've got have justified those nerves. Am I too far out on a limb here in what I'm communicating with the community I've chosen to move into as a result of the 5th October fire?
Some would say that when I say something that doesn't go down well, I should stop digging a hole for myself:
I suggest that the best I can do is carry on in my imperfect way (my AKA is 'The Imperfect Idealist') doing all I can to share.
(My other alias is 'Lend-It-All Man':
Having worked part-time on sharing initiatives since summer 2007, when I co-founded a 'transition group' in my local area, my work has been recognised by environmental and business innovation think tanks i.e.on the importance of sharing, and the innovations that will make it happen.
Now my recommendation is that people use www.streetbank.com and that Hastings/St Leonards (where resources are scarcer than many other places) becomes a model of sharing for the rest of the UK.
Anyhow, here's the video I offered in December; I'm keen to hear what events you connect together as the deeper story of this sea-side town getting to this place of pier destruction:
