In another characteristic outburst Gills Chairman, Paul Scally reckons that members of the Canterbury Magistrates Court bench should ’Hang their heads in shame’ for finding him guilty of using a mobile phone while driving. Scally lost his licence for six months after being convicted for using a mobile telephone behind the wheel of his black BMW in Dover Docks during August last year.
Scally had received six points on his licence for speeding in 2008 plus already had a further three points for a previous driving offence. The points he received for his latest misdemeanor took him to the 12-point threshold that results in an automatic ban.
However, Scally is incensed at what he perceives as an injustice because the magistrates found him guilty without the chance to defend himself. The Gills Chairman had been convicted in his absence after he failed to turn up for previous court hearings, but his solicitor said at the time that Mr. Scally had not been aware of the proceedings against him.
Court correspondence was sent to his UK address but Paul spends most of his time residing in Dubai and relies on Gills Football personnel, including apparently manager Mark Stimson, to pick up his mail and deliver to his secretary at the Club.
In addition to the six-month driving ban, Paul was fined £500 with £85 costs and a £15 court surcharge. In a letter passed to Canterbury magistrates and the local and national media, Paul Scally accused the court of acting in an "unfair and unjust" way.
Chairman Scally, now living in Dubai and only returning to the UK for Gills home games, said the members of the bench should “hang their heads in shame” for finding him guilty before he had the chance to defend himself.
He continued his outburst as reported in the Kent News by saying, “This is one of the reasons why I don’t live in England any more”. “The legal system is a disgrace and it’s failed me yet again”.
“I don’t believe anyone should be found guilty without having the chance to defend themselves first, and I’m going to take the matter further.”
When asked if he thought the magistrates were making an example of him because of his high profile, Paul replied: “Of course they are. It’s pathetic, the whole thing is pathetic. “They clearly had an axe to grind and I think it’s a disgrace.”
If Paul had known about the impending court case he indicated that, “I would have attended to defend myself if I had because I’ve got hands-free in my car. The police have got it wrong – horribly wrong.”
Paul has had previous reasons to doubt the legal system. In January last year his son Max was jailed for two years, reduced following an appeal, after being found guilty of grievous bodily harm for breaking a schoolboy’s jaw at a house party. At the time Paul said the sentence was another example of how the legal system had let his family down, saying, “The appeal judge couldn’t understand why he was given such a long sentence”.
“I’m sure that if it was anybody else but me who had been facing this charge, they would have been treated a lot better.” The Gills Chairman intends to appeal his driving ban and fine through Canterbury Crown Court.
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How's the legal system in Dubai? What a chavy chairman.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article198453.ece
“The legal system is a disgrace and it’s failed me yet again”
So I gather he doesn't get it. May I explain it in leymans terms:
Scally you numpty. Dont speed and don't talk on your mobile whilst driving a motor vehicle. That way, we wouldn't be infused with your boring rhetoric drivel that seeps into the nations media because you think people are interested. The only person that is in fact interested, is yourself, you simplistic idiot.
/end rant
Ask 100 people and 97 would never have heard of him.
Tit.
If I ever met him I say, "I used to support Gillingham but then Charlton started running coaches up to The Valley from Kent, so I changed to them".
Yeah I know what you mean, whisper it but I thought that sometimes Jordans rants were quite funny, whilst Scally ........
Fantastic!!!!
I happen to know Ellen (his ex wife) very well and all I can say is she is a lovely lady.....looks like he lost again!