《中英對照讀新聞》Briton jailed for 4 months for wasting police time 英人浪費警察時間 坐4個月牢

◎ 張其賢

A man who claimed he had been recruited to be a suicide bomber in London recently pleaded guilty to wasting police time, and was sentenced to four months in prison.

倫敦一名自稱被招募為自殺炸彈客男子，最近就浪費警察時間的罪名認罪，被判處4個月徒刑。

Imran Yaqub Patel, 27, admitted that he had lied to a reporter for News of the World, Britain's largest-selling Sunday newspaper. Prosecutors said police wasted 4,700 hours at a cost estimated by police at 60,000 pounds investigating the claim.

27歲的伊穆朗．雅庫卜．巴泰爾坦承向英國銷路最大的週日報紙「世界新聞報」的一名記者撒謊。檢察官們表示，警方浪費了4千7百小時和6萬英鎊的費用調查他的說詞。

Patel was arrested at his home in Dewsbury, which was the home of Mohammed Sidique Khan, one of the four suicide bombers who killed 52 underground and bus passengers in London on July 7.

巴泰爾是在他位於杜斯伯里鎮的家中被捕，該鎮是穆罕默德．西迪克．卡恩的住家所在，卡恩是7月7日殺死52名倫敦地鐵與巴士乘客的4名自殺炸彈客之一。

"The offense, by your own admission, was one born purely out of greed, but nevertheless having enormous consequences," District Judge David Kitson said.

「根據你自己的供詞，這樁犯行純粹出於貪念，卻有重大後果」，地院法官大衛．基特森說。

Kitson added that the offense "came three months after one of the worst atrocities committed on the Britain mainland and led to survivors and relatives of those that were killed having to relive experiences." As he was led away from the court, Patel simled at his wife, who was crying in the public gallery.

基特森還說，此一犯行「是在英國本島有過的最慘暴行之一發生後3個月犯下，導致倖存者和死者親屬必須再度經歷那些（痛苦的）經驗」。當巴泰爾被帶出法庭時，他向旁聽席中哭泣的妻子微笑。

新聞辭典

recruit：動詞， 吸收新血（組織）；招募新人（軍隊）；招生（大學）。

suicide bomber：名詞，自殺炸彈客。

public gallery： 名詞， 法庭或議會的旁聽席。gallery最常見的意思是「藝廊」或「美術館」，如倫敦兩大最知名美術館就是National Gallery（國家美術館） 和Tate Gallery（泰特美術館）。但它也可指「劇院頂層觀眾席」、「狹長的空間或走道」。shooting gallery就是「室內靶場」。