Burned Alive During 18th Birthday

[Squiddles]

A 3 and a half years prison sentence for a 20 year old (Jordan Sheard) after setting a 18 year old (Steven Simpson) on fire during his birthday, later finding the words "Gay Boy" written on lipstick on Steven Simpson's head.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4854123/Thug-who-burned-a-lad-to-death-will-serve-just-21-months-sparking-campaigners-fury.html

I personally think that 3 and a half years is quite a lenient sentence since the minimum for manslaughter is around 5 years.

And I know the news source of "The Sun" isn't deemed the best by most people but it's the only one that (seemingly) is giving a fuller story of the event than the court case. But from another source (this being "The Mirror"), it states that Steven Simpson was going along with Jordan Sheard's doings before his apparent "prank" to set his groin on fire, after covering Steven in oil, got out of hand leading to Jordan fleeing the scene.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jordan-sheard-jailed-manslaughter-setting-1777616

What do you all think of this event? Should Jordan be given longer prison time for what he's done?

EDIT: Also a link to The BBC on the event http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-21887535 thanks to the user elvor0

Quote

Thank you for finding the link.

 

[krazykidd]

If he set another guy on fire adn got 3,5 years and the minimum for manslaughter is five years...what?

I really can't tell if 3.5 years is long enough, since I've never been to a prison in my whole life, or even met a criminal (or atleast, someone who said they were a criminal).

Prison is about rehabilitation, and if he can rehabilitate in 3.5 years, then it's long enough.

Yeah but , rehabilitation from what? It's a prank gone wrong . An accident if you will . You know teenagers , dumb as bricks . I blame Jackass . Anyways . I think this is fair . It was an accident , but the fact that he fled from the scene , instead of , you know , doing something is punishable by law ( as far as i know ) .

Also , while iv'e never been to prison , 3 years is a long time . People don't seem to realise that .

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

From all that I've read (checked out Mirror, BBC News, and one other article), it sounds like a prank gone wrong, so the sentence definitely fits. I'd say it is too much, but the fact that he ran from the scene shows that he did know that he did something wrong.

 

[Frungy]

Its a hate crime, the guy was targetted for harassment, assault, and ultimately death because of his sexual orientation and speech impediment. What aggravates the issue is the victim's mental condition, that he was autistic, and therefore unable to assert himself and resist the harassment and assault that ultimately lead to his death.

This wasn't horseplay gone wrong, this was a KKK style burning of a vulnerable minority (gay, autistic).

The sad fact is that if he hadn't died this time he would have died in a subsequent assault. The death was inevitable, it was just a question of how long it would be until it happened.

As far as prison sentences go, I'd say that rehabilitation should be the goal, but with a sentence of 3 1/2 years, of which he'll probably serve only half, about 21 months, I'd say that rehabilitation is unlikely. As such this sentence is shockingly light.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

It's a prank gone wrong . An accident if you will .

Come on, according to the news story the guy and his buddies crashed this poor autistic kid's 18th birthday, made him strip naked, wrote all kinds of homophobic crap all over his body and then held a lighter to his groin, not to mention the piece of shit fled like a coward instead of trying to help when he realized what he'd done.

Sure they might have never intended to kill or harm him but in my eyes that is WAY too far for a prank and this piece of shit deserves to burn in hell, or at least be imprisoned for significantly longer than 3.5 years.

 

[generals3]

If at that age you don't know lighting someone who is basically soaked up with oil isn't a beyond retarded idea you probably need to be lobotomized. Obviously he ain't using that brain anyway.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Setting someone on fire because he is gay and autistic and has a speech impairment. Yeah, that's not a prank gone wrong.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

I don't have the words. I... I just...
I think I'm just gonna leave the world for a while. Poor kid... So much pain. Probably one of the worst ways to go.

 

[dyre]

If he set another guy on fire adn got 3,5 years and the minimum for manslaughter is five years...what?

I really can't tell if 3.5 years is long enough, since I've never been to a prison in my whole life, or even met a criminal (or atleast, someone who said they were a criminal).

Prison is about rehabilitation, and if he can rehabilitate in 3.5 years, then it's long enough.

Yeah but , rehabilitation from what? It's a prank gone wrong . An accident if you will . You know teenagers , dumb as bricks . I blame Jackass . Anyways . I think this is fair . It was an accident , but the fact that he fled from the scene , instead of , you know , doing something is punishable by law ( as far as i know ) .

Also , while iv'e never been to prison , 3 years is a long time . People don't seem to realise that .

Eh lighting someone on fire is a lot closer to negligent manslaughter than a prank. It's like calling chaining someone to the back of your car and then driving off is a prank gone wrong.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Sounds like it was one hell of a birthday party.

But with more seriousness, I'm a little confused about the whole "gay boy" written on him. This may have been a little pre-mediated? Or it could be a deliberate crime of hatred? I can understand him fleeing the scene, but writing that kind of stuff on him? Sounds like less of a prank to me.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

It's a prank gone wrong . An accident if you will .

Come on, according to the news story the guy and his buddies crashed this poor autistic kid's 18th birthday, made him strip naked, wrote all kinds of homophobic crap all over his body and then held a lighter to his groin, not to mention the piece of shit fled like a coward instead of trying to help when he realized what he'd done.

Sure they might have never intended to kill or harm him but in my eyes that is WAY too far for a prank and this piece of shit deserves to burn in hell, or at least be imprisoned for significantly longer than 3.5 years.

Yeah, I'm with you on this one.

I read it on the Daily Mail site - yet another crap publication, but what I've read about this case is plenty enough, methinks.

The guy set a person on fire, then ran away. So, he was not too stupid to realize that something bad just happened, and he was the one that did it. He was the one that even went to pick up the tanning oil in the victim's bedroom and he scrawled all sorts of abusive insults over the victim's bare body.

Oh, and the killer - by the name of Jordan Sheard - first tried his luck blaming the victim for setting himself on fire. Doesn't look too sorry to me. At least I know it wouldn't feel too sorry for me, if Steven had been my son or brother.

He did something that pretty much directly led to the death of a kid with severe issues, and I think 3.5 years in jail would be a laughable sentence, would it not be so utterly wrong and sad.

I don't care if the nitwit shooting me in the head with a shotgun, running me over with his truck, raping me for the lulz with a broomstick or setting me on fire realizes that what they do could harm or kill me, I want them out of my sight, out of my town, out of my friggin' world. Anyone worrying about Jordan Sheard, the killer, are invited to try to consider this: What if Steven had been your son or your brother? Would you still feel like 3.5 years are enough?

I'm not a fan of the loudmouthed LBGTABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ community, but this here is a hate crime, and it should be treated as such.

 

[Muspelheim]

Seems the filthy swine had company in court, that much is certain. And even if it was a complete accident, and Mr. Sheard genuinly had no hate motives, I'd still not like to know that such a person was loose. He is a danger to himself and others around him, and should be handled as such.

Personally, I'd rather he be tried for manslaughter by hate motives, at the very least, or sectioned by force. Such irresponsibility is likely to endager more people in the future, if that is the cause.

Horrid, that's what it all is. I doubt we've seen the last of Mr. Sheard...

 

[Darken12]

What. What the everloving fuck. How do you set someone on fire and then just let them burn. What kind of person.

Just horror. Just pure horror.

Oh, and in case there was any doubt: this was a hate crime.

 

[likalaruku]

Well The Sun is a tabloid, falling somewhere between FOX News & The Onion, & has admitted to making shit up, so before I say anything, I need proof it happened at all.

 

[Shadowstar38]

What if Steven had been your son or your brother? Would you still feel like 3.5 years are enough.

The court that sentenced the guy thought it was enough. That would be sufficient for me.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Well The Sun is a tabloid, falling somewhere between FOX News & The Onion, & has admitted to making shit up, so before I say anything, I need proof it happened at all.

Trust the BBC?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-21887535

Sheard, who was egged on by others, set light to the teenager's groin area after he was sprayed with suntan oil in the early hours of 23 June.

This stinks of stupidity and cruelty. 3.5 years in prison shouldn't even be a minimum sentence for an assault (Non-murder) of this nature (setting fire to someone), let alone actual murder.

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

Being a functioning human being, I'm afraid I can't believe for a second that the kid actually agreed to basically being lit on fire. Autistic doesn't mean that the person in question doesn't have braincells. In fact, being a gay autistic person (gasp, who would have thought that I can type literate?!) I'm just a bit pissed off that anyone's even trying to make such a notion. I'm sorry, but setting someone on fire IS NOT A PRANK. I can't believe I have to actually say it, but there we go. This is what the world has been to reduced to. Also, this Sarah Wright character has absolutely no credibility. How does she know that he was 'enjoying him self'? Sounds to me it's more like a morally depraved lawyer that's trying to say anything she can to win the case.

In fact, here's what a prank is. A prank is covering someone in tar and chicken feathers. Not fire and oil. Seriously.

 

[Fire_Drake]

What do you all think of this event? Should Jordan be given longer prison time for what he's done?

Dude! That shit is fucked up. Three years for murder is pretty much bull. I'd call that 2nd degree with the bullying before the burning.

Shit man, I misread the title of the thread and thought it said someone got buried alive and i was like sweet, that sounds like a funny story where someone lives through a funny prank, but what I got was a hate crime murder. That sucks.