my take is when Locke left the Island with the donkey wheel, he jumped from whatever year it was to 2007. he time jumped OUT of the island, so it was not 3 years for him at all. for richard, yes, as he had last seen him around the freighter fiasco (end of S4). We know Ben time jumped too, from end of 2004 to somewhere in 2005 when he turned the wheel too.