Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on 15 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Jon Burrows

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

15 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5615415

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It was not challenged — in fact, it was accepted — that the ability to investigate, to confirm guilt, to dispel, to exonerate, to impose bail conditions, and to put bail conditions on two people not to conspire, not to be in contact with each other and not to contact a victim — all the tools that the police rely on to keep victims and the public safe — would be robbed of the police. Those are not theoretical examples. About 15 years ago, I launched an operation at the Fountain interface. We released the images of young people who were rioting, week after week, throwing petrol bombs, some of which landed through the window of the residents of Alexander House, which is a nursing home. The elderly people stopped reading at their front window. They had to go to the dark back of the nursing home. Someone who is towards the end of their life deserves to be able to sit there on a nice day or a nice evening. I get emotional about this. They could sit out in the sun in their 80s and read a book or listen to the birds sing, but that was disrupted because kids in masks were throwing petrol bombs and bricks. The only thing that we could do to stop it, after we had appealed for weeks for parental responsibility, was to arrest, to put in curfews and to use bail conditions. I could not look one of those residents in the eye and say, "I did not do everything that I could to protect you". I gave them an oath in 2007 that I would do so, and I give them that assurance today in this place. I will do nothing that stops the police protecting those 80-year-olds.

That is the reality. It is about the 13-year-old who cannot be controlled. I do feel sorry for those people. At the end of that operation, when we had dealt with about 200 young people, do you know how many we formally put through the criminal justice system? About three.

I will.

Public protection. Protecting the vulnerable. Supporting those who go astray. Getting the truth. Getting justice. We live in a society where we should be grateful that we have a police service that is remarkably restrained. We have a justice system that is remarkably rehabilitative and puts children in prison only in extremis.

I will give way to Mrs Middleton, who knows the Fountain very well.

It would. I was in the community centre in the Fountain that is run by Jeanette Warke MBE, a wonderful lady. After the difficult week that we have had, a really inspiring thing to hear is that children of colour who are in that youth club run up to Jeanette and call her "granny". They are newcomers, and, when they are walking out of that youth club, they have to dodge stones. Even that night, five people attacked the Fountain. People, coming up with golf clubs to attack the Fountain, were arrested. The last children who were arrested there were 11 and 12. What do you want the police to do with them if they cannot even arrest them, if they cannot intervene, if they cannot put them on bail and if they cannot take them home — if they cannot do anything but ask nicely? That is not the way that the world works. I had a privileged upbringing, apart from the fact that we lived under a very high threat. Where I lived, there was no antisocial behaviour to any great extent. There was no danger in the streets, but some people in parts of Northern Ireland do live in very difficult and dangerous areas. They are the ones who will be most exposed. What if an e-scooter ran over a granny or a child and killed them? The offence would be death by dangerous driving, but that is not on the list. This is not to suggest that a suspect's being a migrant should have anything to do with how we treat them, but let me give you a practical example. Look at the disorder last year in Ballymena and think about this for a moment. There have been suspects who are newcomers in our country and who, like people who are from this country indigenously, have committed extremely serious sexual offences against children, and the police have said, "We can't touch them. They're not even at the age of criminal responsibility". The place would be in flames, and do you know why? It is because the public would say that there is no accountability. There is a gap that we need to fill. That would be wrong; it would send the wrong signal. Our society is rules-based. It has accountability, and it is there to protect. I look at the Members on that side who represent Derry. You know the problems that we have with interface violence. The problem in the Fountain would be exponentially higher if the police could not intervene. Year after year, at parades, we are able to make arrests, put people under bail — "Don't come out that day, abide by bail conditions, don't have a face covering, don't contact the following victim". All of that, gone. I come now to "Finally", and then I will sum up briefly. We already have a wonderful youth diversion system. Please do not break it with an ill-thought-out Back-Bench amendment. The system has flexibility and nuance and does not have cliff edges. What difference does it make to someone's ability to get justice, or to be held to justice —.

I will in one second. What difference does it make if you are 13 and 300 days or have just turned 14? One day's difference could mean that you could be held responsible for a serious crime and go to prison for years. The day before, you could not even be touched. That does not make sense; it does not make any rational sense whatsoever. We have cliff edge offences.

I will give way. You are going to talk about 10 to nine, but I am not proposing a change of law.

There is.

I will give way, and then I will answer the Justice Minister.

1,046 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification