Criminal Should Be Thrashed, British Police Chief Says

Britain’s most controversial police chief said Monday that he would like to thrash some criminals until they begged for mercy. Critics quickly demanded his resignation.

James Anderton, the police chief of the northern city of Manchester, dubbed “God’s own policeman” for his hard-line religious views, told Woman’s Own magazine in an interview, “I’d thrash some criminals myself, most surely.

“I could punish people quite easily,” Anderton said. “Corporal punishment should be administered so that they actually beg for mercy. They should be punished until they repent of their sins.”

Anderton, who drew fierce criticism earlier this year by urging castration of rapists, also called for a ban on homosexual acts.

Opposition Labor politicians quickly demanded his resignation, with Member of Parliament David Young warning, “One must be worried about people who, but for the grace of God, would be God.”