George Michael Jailed

Asked by Channel 4 News to comment, leading motoring expert lawyer Rodney Hylton-Potts said:

“At issue is whether a celebrity status should be relevant to sentencing. The story starts back in 1967 when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, were jailed for 3 months for minor drug offences.

A famous Times leader referring to ‘Breaking a butterfly on a wheel’ was believed to be very influential in persuading the Court of Appeal to overturn the sentences, and release them.

Judges, a magistrate, however are human, as they should be, and their deliberations are in private. There can be no doubt that in practice a pop star like George Michael, or a football star, can expect harsher treatment because he or she is an icon, and has let down young people, who look up to them.

This may well have been in the Judge’s mind in George Michael’s case.”

See Rodney’s TV interview on Channel 4 on below: