I have little sympathy for Tracy John, fined a total of £465 for dropping a cigarette end outside her own home.
She was offered a £75 fixed penalty notice and when she didn’t pay was summoned to court. The fact is she didn’t attend court and was therefore unable to give her side of the story and the court, without details of her circumstances, had no alternative but to set the fine at a level commensurate with assumed national average earnings.
Had she attended court, and argued a case she seemingly feels strongly about, I suspect she would have been acquitted – the Council would have been unable to offer evidence of the actual ‘litter’ or show intent to litter as she took the offending article indoors with her.
She says she'd rather go to jail than pay, if so she should make sure she's sentenced on a Friday, that way she'll get a free trip to jail and her bus fare back home on the same day!
Puzzled?
A 7 day sentence means release half way through, ie 3 days actual jail time but...... From Friday, which counts as the first day, 3 days would mean release on Sunday and as prisons don't release on either Saturday or Sunday she would have to be released on Friday, the day of sentence (can't keep her until Monday, that would be 4 days and more than the specified half sentence).
And you thought British Justice was fair?
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