Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Hughes at slap-up family party
Tuesday 21st August 2007, 11:51AM BST.
Disgraced former Albion star Lee Hughes marked his first night of freedom from prison with a huge family gathering at his parents’ humble Black Country semi.
Hours after he was smuggled out of Featherstone Prison, near Wolverhampton, in a prison van yesterday morning, Hughes rolled up at his parents’ Smethwick home in a £30,000 Jeep Commander 4×4 with his family on board.
The 31-year-old, who served three years for killing a father-of-four in a crash, was not behind for his first visit home.
While one of his victims condemned Hughes’s release, champagne, beer and nibbles was were laid on at the gathering, according to a family friend.
However, it emerged today Hughes will have to wait longer than expected to resume his professional career at Oldham Athletic.
A sending off during his last prison game means the striker will be hit with a one-week suspension before he has even kicked a ball for Oldham, club boss Barry Owen has revealed.
Mr Owen said: “I understand that he wasn’t ordered off for violent conduct but for two technical offences.”
The ban comes into force on September 3, and means that Hughes is unlikely to play a league game for his new club until mid-September at the earliest.
Hughes looked slim and fit but far from cheerful as he set foot in Smethwick for the first time since 2004. He refused to comment on his return to freedom.
West Brom terminated Hughes’ contract on the day in August 2004 that he was jailed for causing the death of Douglas Graham in a crash near his Meriden, Coventry, home in 2003.
He fled the scene and went into hiding before handing himself into police more than a day afterwards.
Months after Hughes was found guilty, Mr Graham’s wife Maureen died in her sleep, having apparently never recovered from the aftereffects of the crash and the loss of her husband.
Albert Frisby, now 62, who was driving the car that Hughes crashed his £100,000 Mercedes into, said yesterday that he was deeply upset that Hughes was set to resume his career.
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LOWLIFE
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Disgusting!!!!
He should still be in prison
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He has served his time. Let him be to start afresh with his family. They will have been through a loss too with not having him around. Remember he is a husband and father and his relatives are entitled to welcome him back.Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
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I don’t understand why he’s free after 3 years? Thought he was given 6?
So now he can continue with his career while the ones he’s ruined obviously can’t.
And he ran off after the crash, leaving the people for dead!
He should hide his head in shame for the next 25 years.
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It’s the system that’s wrong that allows people to be released half way thru prison sentences. But he’s out now, served his time the state thought fit & should be allowed to get on with his life as long as he’s learned his lesson & if he ever in similar trouble again I hope they throw away the key.
I can’t imagine for a moment he’s going to have a easy time, from the fans or oppostion players , of it on Saturday afternoons.
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Dave Phillips, I think it may be something to do with the fact that nearly every prisoner for every crime gets out after half the time. Surely you must have noticed this in your time on planet earth?
And yes, he can continue his career like anyone else can who comes out of prison, or are you drawing some kind of moral line where one can go back to some jobs but not others? Think about it.
If you don’t like the sentence I suggest you blame the justice system, not the individual case. In the scheme of things, the sentence was actually a high one for death by dangerous driving. This isn’t to say I think it was too high, but it was high in comparison to similar ones, this probably reflecting the fact he legged it.
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Scum Bag
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I WONDER IF HE WILL WEAR A BLACK ARMBAND AND HAVE HIS OWN MINUTES SILENCE TO REFLECT ON WHAT HES DONE IN HIS FIRST MATCH? (DON’T THINK SO) HOPE ALL THE DO GOODERS ARE HAPPY! HOPE HE PLAYS IN ONE OF THE CUPS IN FRONT OF A PACKED MOLINEUX, WE,LL SEE WHAT SORT OF LOW LIFE HE REALLY IS!!
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and thats the thing isnt it backside baggie…he legged it, what a man! if he had stayed and tried to help, regardless of what he did for a living, people would be for more understanding…but he legged it, and someone died. He really is a lowlife.
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Clare how can you say lowlifes like Hughes have served their time when his victims famillies will have a longer, lifelong sentence of grief and sadness? He is free to swan about in his 4×4 and hold a nice slap-up party with his family and resume an over-rated overpaid ‘job’. Unfortunately his victims family aren’t so lucky are they? What next – a child dying at his wrecklessness?
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I agree with backsidebaggie that the sentence Lee Hughes had was harsh. Yes he commited death by dangerous driving which although was very wrong but was not premeditated or intentional he was found guilty of his crime and has done his time. I also agree with Claire that he should be given a second chance and along with his family be left to get on with his life.
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I am absolutely disgusted! this lowlife who killed an innocent man, is allowed to swan around as if nothing had happened and has been given another chance to play football when young Anton Reid,a promising young footballer with Walsall who did no harm to anyone, has had his life tragically taken away! Where is the justice in this world!!
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deedee, the fact he legged it gave him the sentence he got. I’m not condoning what he did, and I don’t think people who get sentenced for 6 years should be out in 3, but the point I’m making is no individual can be treated differently to anyone else, and that means he comes out in half the time, and he has to be allowed back to work, like everyone else who comes out of prison.
I’m not saying people should be “understanding” about what he’s done, slate him for what he’s done with pleasure (I do), but I am saying it is illogical to blame him for his length of sentence, or suggest he should not be allowed to return to work.
I must point out that I rarely hear people complaining that Leslie Grantham, a former murderer who shot a taxi driver and got a life sentence (served 10 years), was allowed to become a millionaire actor. He did his time and was allowed to work, the same as every former prisoner, and the same as Lee hughes should be.
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Number 10.
Think about it. Please tell me where the line is drawn the, and what jobs people should be allowed back to after prison?
And your comment “what next a child dying” I presume you’ve plucked from the air randomly????
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Tre
People die in many tragedies. Why you confuse a poor young lad like Reid with this case I do not know.
You say he should not be allowed to “swan around”? Please let me know what you think should be the course of action for a person who has served the sentence given to him by the legal system of this country. Should he be treated differently? Do you believe all that get done for Death by dangerous driving should get a life sentence? Please explain.
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how many other (pardon the phrase) ex cons drive around in 30 grand cars, half of them can’t even afford a bike, why should lee hughes get a career that earns the money that most ex cons struggle to make in ten years. i hope every bite of a nibble and sip of champagne made him sick!!!
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A car is a deadly weapon, the same as a gun,if he had randomly shot bullets and someone had been killed it would have been murder. What is the difference. Killed by an idiot with a car or killed by an idiot with a gun someone still died due to this mans actions. The system is wrong. He should be too ashamed to become a public figure again. He should want to hide away in shame. Maybe playing for Oldham is shame enough.
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Through out his life he will have the memory of that fatal crash with him. May the pain make him continually suffer.
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To all the ones saying “he’s served his time, blah blah blah”. Wonder if you’d all be saying the same if it was one of YOUR family? Now lets get to the nitty gritty. WHY DID HE RUN AWAY? If it was because he was driving like an idiot (most likely), drunk/drugs, either way, he didn’t want to hang around. Coward
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I dont do football, I cant stand the game. But what this says to me similar to other well known killers is that if you have a famous face or enough money or can call the racist card you’ll get away with a slap on the wrist.
Time and again we see people like this waste of space doing what they like and then laughing quietly at the “shorter sentence” they get. Why has he been let out early anyway? More to the point what message are oldham giving to fans and impressionable kids??? “its ok to kill someone and run away”
The justice system stinks and is in serious need of a review and Barry Owen needs to think about what he’s doing.
You just wait for the public outcry when some other idiot thinks hes above the law the rest of us have to follow, and someones kid gets killed.
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I just wish Lee wold make some form of public apolgy then people may ease of him a little.
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others have come out of prison and done far less a crime but will find it very hard to get jobs yet lee hughes walks out straight into the job his dreams
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Its nice to see him showing some remorse – driving round in his jeep, throwing a party – oh yes it seems like he has definately learned his lesson!
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The only jobs criminals should be excluded from are those which relate to their crime and would fail a criminal records bureau check on. eg in the case of Lee Hughes any job involving driving. The CRB is there to protect our vunerable people such as the elderly, children and sick to ensure that they are not exposed to abuse. Hopefully number 10. Lee has learnt from his mistakes and maybe can give something back to the community possibly campaigning to raise awareness to stop others making the mistakes he made would be a good idea and would help show his remorse.
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I agree with sara and he should be raising awareness to avoid others repeating his mistakes. bu at the end of the day he’s served his time and deserves to be able to get on with his life and back with his family.
However are people really so concerned that he is released because he is a footballer and constantly in the media because if it was anyone else that had commited this particular crime would so many people be making a fuss about his release…. think about it….. what about the man who drank a bottle of whiskey and then got into a car and killed the young boy in Wednesfield, he only got 6 months behind bars and that is now forgotten!!!!!!
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leehugheshas done his time leave him alone now, yeah i agree he did wrong its not his fault somebody has offered him a second chance to play football is it? all the people who love football would not turn down a chance to play whether you have been in prison or whether you are somebody off the streets, i dont agree wiht him leaving the scene i thought it was wrong but i think you should just leave him to his business. he has suffered enough maybe not as much as some people but he has suffered, slate him at football matches as much as u like but when it comes ot his family then just leave him to it.
as for turning up 2 a party in a car worth 30 grand its not his fault he had a good job. dont forget where lee hughes came from he was a builder before west brom gave him his chance and he took it with both hands just like everybody else would.
if he wouldn’t have been a pro footballer you lot would never have heard of him and none of this would have been on here it is just that he is in the public eye because of his job.
Im not saying what he did was right by any means but life is life and things like this happen from time to time, i feel sorry for the family’s loss but you forgetting lee hughes is a dad also howdo u think his daughter felt not having a dad around for 3 years shehas probably just had as much abuse as the rest if his famly.
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si……. (number 26), i can’t believe wot u just said about hughes’ daughter, at least she can see her dad at the end of the day, wot about the victims family, he had children too, they can’t be with him now can they!!
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no.26 it’s pc loony human right lefties like you thats killing this country of ours,he as not done his time they let him out because our prisons are full of illegal’s and asylum seekers thats why his walking a free man today,lets hope the old saying comes true what goes round comes round .
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