[Nicola_Red]

Good. It's obvious what I think about the idea of "forgiving" someone for such disturbed behaviour, I don't actually need to type it out!

[DevilsDuck]

/me smacks head against a brickwall

He probably is guilty and a raving looney...

I think you are currently going down the route of guilty until proven innocent.

[Nicola_Red]

I think that's a very easy trap to fall into and that's why I specifically said "I know he has pleaded not guilty" in my original post. I understand the allegations could all be false. But IF it is true I can empathise, and IF it is true he needs serious psychological help.

[DevilsDuck]

/continues banging head against brick wall

I'm going back into hidding...that joke back fired

[a-moron]

What do you expect? You're telling it to a woman.

[DevilsDuck]

Exactly!

[a-moron]

Huh! Bloody women. With their poor sense of humour and personal hygiene.
Don't know what I see in them to be honest.

Where's Foots?

[Yudster]

I know that nothing has been proven in the JLC case, and I assume that the jury who are hearing it are hering a lot more detail than is being reported. But at the end of the day, they have to make up their minds based on what they have heard in evidence. So far, on what I have heard of the evidence, I find myself getting ready to sadly and disappointedly change my previously held opinion of JLC. I hope this changes over the next few days.

[Emmy]

Obviously none of the trial stuff is funny if true, but I will admit to being slightly amused by one bit of today's Mail report on what happened in court.

'Collins, sitting in the dock and wearing his trademark beard and long hair, listened as Mr Shaw added that he had threatened to 'put her in hospital unless she shut up' and after once becoming jealous of a previous lover smacked her on the vagina with an open hand.


A party of schoolchildren on a field trip was sitting in the public gallery. Half left during the prosecution opening.

I wonder what the other half made of it all. That may have been one school excursion they'll remember well.

[a-moron]

...smacked her on the vagina with an open hand.

I know I really shouldn't be smirking like an idiot but that line has set me off.

[Nicola_Red]

I'm glad it makes you smirk. It makes me feel sick. If found guilty, these actions put him in the same category as Chris Brown.

[The Deadly]

Oh come on nobody is that bad.

[chrysostom]

Yeah, it's cool to hate Chris Brown whereas JLC's persona is cuddly and lovely. NOTHING is worse than a severe isolated incident of domestic abuse, including a prolonged campaign of psychological torture.

[Yudster]

My thoughts are along the lines Chrysostom laid out there at the moment. If this is true - IF - it doesn't make Chris Brown any less revolting, but it does make JLC considerably more revolting than Chris Brown.

Like I said, I hope it isn't true but my belief based on what I've heard and read so far is that it is. I am open to being persuaded otherwise but given how compelling the evidence for the prosecution has been, the defence is going to have to have something pretty amazing in its pocket.

[neilt0]

Like I said, I hope it isn't true but my belief based on what I've heard and read so far is that it is. I am open to being persuaded otherwise but given how compelling the evidence for the prosecution has been, the defence is going to have to have something pretty amazing in its pocket.

What evidence? There is no evidence, it's all just allegations made by the prosecution right now. I haven't seen any news reports of "sex books" being shown on court. Please stop saying "evidence" unless there is actual evidence.

The phrase is not "guilty until proven guilty".

[chrysostom]

A case is presented to the Crown Prosecution Service, and they review the evidence & police reports to see whether it's in the public interest to pursue a criminal prosecution.

There has been a bit of evidence presented in court.

Clips were played in which Collins is heard shouting: “You f***** up at the pub. When you’re f****** with me, you look at the f****** ground, you look at a tree, you look at a bench, you look at any f****** inanimate object, you do not look at any other f****** human being, you slag, do you understand?”
In the recording, Collins accuses Ms Larke of being “very promiscuous” and having had 50 lovers.
At one point he states she had unprotected sex “on a train with different ethnicities”.

I have to say, I really hope that JLC didn't do these things as I only have positive associations with him.

[neilt0]

Yes, the voicemails are evidence, but the talk of the creepy book and the physical assaults are all allegations by the prosecution, I don't believe any evidence of those has been presented to the court. M'lud.

[Nicola_Red]

Even if there's no other evidence at all (and we have to remember that not every detail is reported in the papers), that recording in itself is proof that he's basically a crazy. Nobody in their right mind speaks to their partner that way.

ETA:.and 50 lovers? SHOCK HORROR.

[Yudster]

Perhaps. I don't want to say that there's no smoke without fire, but all to often it is the case. And I know its not any kind of basis to form an opinion, but I also can't help thinking that if the woman was telling lies she has to know that she's going to look very stupid very publicly - I know that reality TV has shown us that people do this routinely these days, but she presumably must be pretty sure of her ground. This whole hearing will be humiliating enough for her even if she is vindicated - how much worse would it be for her if she was found to be lying? Unless she is a complete idiot, putting herself through this must be for a damn good reason, surely?

Or of course she might be a complete idiot, I have no idea.

Also don't forget that there has been enough "evidence" presented prior to this hearing to have a restraining order placed on JLC, and they don't get given away in cornflake packets.

[chrysostom]

That's if the recording is authentic - and we don't know the overall context of the argument, or at what point the recording began. There's a lot that's not being reported and that we'll probably never hear as only the salacious details are interesting for the public , basically I'll have faith in the judgement of the jury.

If the allegations are true, then he does need serious help. And certainly isn't the cuddly, jovial man that he is on TV in real life.

[neilt0]

As I said to a colleague after Bobby Davro left my place of business (he was a complete arsehole) -- "He must be a 'crying on the inside' type of clown."

That made said colleague laugh a lot -- maybe you had to be there...

[Yudster]

I used to live next door to Bobby Davro, he came to my 22 birthday party with his girlfriend. He was a bit of a tosser, I agree. Fairly harmless on a non-intimate social level though. He was probably at his most exposed on TV at that time, which wasn't really a lot. He's always been a kind of "nearly-man" when it comes to his career, hasn't he?

[The Deadly]

I never thought I'd see Bobby Davro mentioned this evening. He'd be delighted that he's being spoken about.

[Yudster]

He would, bless him.

-- "He must be a 'crying on the inside' type of clown." ...

He can't cry on the outside. Botox.

[The Deadly]

I thought he was excellent in Eastenders and the two impressions he can do are world class.