A justice system only works if it is respected by the people it affects and is seen to be fair.

By and large, British justice is revered around the world and is free of the political interference we see in many other countries. Sentences are sometimes questioned for being too lenient or too severe, but in a free country, we’re all entitled to have a view on sentences and express it.

Yet we always have to bear in mind that we weren’t in court, we didn’t hear all the evidence, so our conclusions are often based on very little apart from gut instinct and our own prejudices.

On Monday, a 25-year-old woman, Victoria Thomas Bowen, pleaded guilty to an attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in Clacton on 4 June during the general election campaign. She approached him in the street and threw a cup of milkshake on him.

The formal charge was “assault by battery and criminal damage”. At the time, the attack provoked much mirth and hilarity among Farage’s critics, but it will have sent a........

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