February 1, 2010
Buckfast monks: ‘Blame drug and knife makers too’ 0
Buckfast monks have blasted claims their tonic wine is behind Scotland’s shocking crime rate.
The religious order, led by Abbot David Charlesworth, rubbished allegations the tipple is responsible for hundreds of violent offences – insisting knife and drug manufacturers are just as much to blame.
Abbot David, from Buckfast Abbey, Devon, said: "We are as concerned as anyone about the problems which undeniably exist in parts of Scotland.
"In very many areas of life people produce, quite legitimately, all sorts of products from kitchen knives to motor cars and pharmaceutical products in the reasonable expectation that they will be used properly and responsibly.
"In some cases they are not so used, but misused and abused to do harm. Does anyone lay the blame for such abuse at the door of manufacturers of such products in the same way and to the same extent as that to which we have been subjected?"
A BBC documentary last month claimed Buckfast had been a factor in more than 5,000 crimes in Strathclyde over the past three years.
One in 10 offences involved violence and the bottle was used as a weapon on 114 occasions.
• Full story at The Sun.
