LBC Radio’s James O’Brien clashed with caller Rhys, a police officer, who disputed The Independent Sentencing Review’s findings of increased harsher sentencing.

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The airwaves heated up on LBC Radio on Tuesday (February 18) as host James O’Brien clashed with a caller over the interpretation of new sentencing statistics. The debate ignited when Rhys, a veteran police officer from Manchester, outright refuted the findings of the Independent Sentencing Review, which reported a significant increase in harsher sentencing since 1993.

The veteran broadcaster, known for his sharp tongue and quick wit, didn’t hold back as he challenged Rhys’s reliance on personal anecdotes over empirical data. The report, which Rhys dismissed due to its association with former MP and review chair David Gauke, stated that 40% of all sentences have become more severe over the past decades.

Rhys countered: “Having served as a police officer now for a number of years, I see the direct impact that what I would describe as lenient sentences has had on victims. Once you deliver that message to them that the offender has received—what I would describe and colleagues would describe as pitiful sentences—it crushes them.”

The heated host replied: “If you get arrested by Rhys later today, great news, you’re going to get a really lenient sentence. If you get arrested in the real world, you’re probably going to get a sentence that’s 40% longer than it would have been in 1993.

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LBC Radio as host James O’Brien clashed with a caller (Image: LBC YouTube)

“And there it is, the most perfect — albeit unintentional — answer to the question of: Why does the British public believe things that are demonstrably untrue?”

As the tension escalated, O’Brien blasted back, questioning the basis of Rhys’s arguments. “Here are the facts. Why did the British public believe the opposite, and you as a police officer are just denying the evidence of your own eyes and ears?”

Rhys, clinging to his lived experience, argued that personal reality sometimes contradicts published data.

O’Brien was relentless, insisting: “No, no, no, for the whole country, that’s what the independent sentencing review – we can’t all have our own statistics. 60 million people in the country, they all choose their own statistics!

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The caller refuted the findings of the Independent Sentencing Review (Image: LBC YouTube)

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The caller dismissed the report by former MP and review chair David Gauke (Image: Getty)

“The ones that the government will use to legislate and the ones that the population uses to understand what is happening and the numbers involved. I give you the independent sentencing review, you, Rhys, 15 years in the police service, give me?”

The standoff reached a boiling point when Rhys attempted to qualify his stance by insisting, “Well, if they’re the facts, they’re the facts but in my lived experience…” only for O’Brien to cut him off with a biting retort: “They’re the facts, they’re the facts but I know better.”

Fans flooded the exchange with comments, with one citing: “A cop…disregarding evidence to go with his preconceived bias I’m SHOCKED!!!” while another penned: “Guys please disregard national level statistics. This man has stepped in with his anecdotes. ‘Yeah, but me personally’. Ok, guy.”

Others blasted O’Brien as one said: “They get the facts from experts like this caller… James shouting over an interrupting the caller. Embarrassing.”