It wasn't a murder charge if he got 3 years as that has a minimum tariff. He got out on licence after completing 50% of his term but if he did anything to break the term of the licence he would be back in again, that's the system, not the law and it's the twats on the hill who decide that.
Travellers do choose to live that way in the same way as we choose where to live, it's freedom of choice which we all live under not just some parts of society.
Even on this site we have referred to a tiny minority of motorhomers who "give us all a bad name" by dropping litter, emptying toilets in the wrong place, park in considerately etc, it's exactly the same for the travelling community, there are those that have given them a bad name and we all think of them as being the same.