By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:18 EST, 1 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 01:51 EST, 2 October 2013 . Criticism: JP Alan Bissell has claimed too many crimes are being dealt with by police caution . A magistrate who is retiring after 25 years of service has criticised the justice system for failing to properly punish criminals. Alan Bissell said JPs are now forced to place too much emphasis on rehabilitation. He also hit out at the increasing number of criminal cases which never end up in court and are instead dealt with by a caution. Speaking out on his last day as a magistrate, he explained that punishment has ‘diminished to the point where it hardly features these days’. He added: ‘Rehabilitation is washing over everything. Although it has its place, clearly, I am personally dismayed that the work of the court has diminished to the extent that it has. ‘It dismays me that so much of the work that should be before the court is being handled by the police in terms of cautions.’ He claimed serious cases were being dealt with ‘in their thousands and thousands’ every day by cautions. Mr Bissell, 70, spent most of his working life as a civil servant in London. He moved to North Wales in the 1980s and was appointed a magistrate in November 1989, sitting initially at Flint and then at Mold. He made the comments at Flintshire magistrates’ court where colleagues gathered to pay tribute to his work as a justice. In his speech he criticised successive governments that promised to get tough with sentencing but whose policies had ‘all come to naught’. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling last week said he was appalled that crimes including rape and drug dealing were being dealt with by cautions. He plans to issue new guidance that will effectively ban officers from using cautions for the most serious offences. Born in Sheen, Richmond-on-Thames, Mr Bissell spent most of his working life as a civil servant based in St James’s Square in London. Failure: Alan Bissell said too much emphasis was being placed on rehabilitation in favour of punishment . In the mid 60s and early 70s he worked in the private office of four successive Government ministers - Ray Gunter, Barbara Castle, Robert Carr and Maurice MacMillan Jnr. In the summer of 1965 he drove an authentic, privately-owned London double-decker bus across France to Basle in Switzerland. He also drove the same bus in the film ‘To Sir With Love’ with Sidney Poitier and Lulu, which was filmed in the east end of London; and also in several episodes of the TV series ‘The Persuaders’, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. During his time as a magistrate, Mr Bissell dealt with some colourful cases, including a superstitious drink driver who blamed a magpie for a crash. He also told on defendant, who had crossed into Wales from Liverpool to steal whisky in 2005: ‘It is often said that we take great exception to people who come marauding across the border to thieve. ‘We are quite clear in our minds that is why you came over and why you were there. ‘We have been told it was an act of stupidity on your part. It certainly was, and you will have to be sentenced for that stupidity today.’ Mr Bissell also ordered a farmer who terrified a group of ramblers, including a blind man, with a hedge-cutter to attend a year-long anger management course.
JP claims serious cases are being dealt with in their thousands by cautions .
Alan Bissell said successive governments had failed to get tough on crime .
Punishment has 'diminished to the point where it hardly features'
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:18 EST, 1 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 01:51 EST, 2 October 2013 . Criticism: JP Alan Bissell has claimed too many crimes are being dealt with by police caution . A magistrate who is retiring after 25 years of service has criticised the justice system for failing to properly punish criminals. Alan Bissell said JPs are now forced to place too much emphasis on rehabilitation. He also hit out at the increasing number of criminal cases which never end up in court and are instead dealt with by a caution. Speaking out on his last day as a magistrate, he explained that punishment has ‘diminished to the point where it hardly features these days’. He added: ‘Rehabilitation is washing over everything. Although it has its place, clearly, I am personally dismayed that the work of the court has diminished to the extent that it has. ‘It dismays me that so much of the work that should be before the court is being handled by the police in terms of cautions.’ He claimed serious cases were being dealt with ‘in their thousands and thousands’ every day by cautions. Mr Bissell, 70, spent most of his working life as a civil servant in London. He moved to North Wales in the 1980s and was appointed a magistrate in November 1989, sitting initially at Flint and then at Mold. He made the comments at Flintshire magistrates’ court where colleagues gathered to pay tribute to his work as a justice. In his speech he criticised successive governments that promised to get tough with sentencing but whose policies had ‘all come to naught’. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling last week said he was appalled that crimes including rape and drug dealing were being dealt with by cautions. He plans to issue new guidance that will effectively ban officers from using cautions for the most serious offences. Born in Sheen, Richmond-on-Thames, Mr Bissell spent most of his working life as a civil servant based in St James’s Square in London. Failure: Alan Bissell said too much emphasis was being placed on rehabilitation in favour of punishment . In the mid 60s and early 70s he worked in the private office of four successive Government ministers - Ray Gunter, Barbara Castle, Robert Carr and Maurice MacMillan Jnr. In the summer of 1965 he drove an authentic, privately-owned London double-decker bus across France to Basle in Switzerland. He also drove the same bus in the film ‘To Sir With Love’ with Sidney Poitier and Lulu, which was filmed in the east end of London; and also in several episodes of the TV series ‘The Persuaders’, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. During his time as a magistrate, Mr Bissell dealt with some colourful cases, including a superstitious drink driver who blamed a magpie for a crash. He also told on defendant, who had crossed into Wales from Liverpool to steal whisky in 2005: ‘It is often said that we take great exception to people who come marauding across the border to thieve. ‘We are quite clear in our minds that is why you came over and why you were there. ‘We have been told it was an act of stupidity on your part. It certainly was, and you will have to be sentenced for that stupidity today.’ Mr Bissell also ordered a farmer who terrified a group of ramblers, including a blind man, with a hedge-cutter to attend a year-long anger management course.
criminals. Alan Bissell said JPs are now forced has ‘diminished to the point where it hardly claimed serious cases were being dealt with ‘in their thousands and thousands’ every day by governments that promised to get tough with