Council Sweet Wrapper Prosecution "most inappropriate set of proceedings I've personally ever, ever seen" says Judge
That such ridiculous proceedings have arisen in this day and age should not surprise us. Disproportionate use Total and utter abuse of powers by little despots in local councils is a well recorded phenomenon. Take our article last week on Terror Law Abuse – councils spying on people for such minor issues as bin contents, failing to pick up dog mess, and littering are worryingly common these days. Larissa Wilkinson, a 19 year old art student, has been charged with …
That such ridiculous proceedings have arisen in this day and age should not surprise us. Disproportionate use Total and utter abuse of powers by little despots in local councils is a well recorded phenomenon. Take our article last week on Terror Law Abuse – councils spying on people for such minor issues as bin contents, failing to pick up dog mess, and littering are worryingly common these days.
Larissa Wilkinson, a 19 year old art student, has been charged with depositing controlled waste after toddler Lila Henderson dropped a mint wrapper out of her car window as she was driving in Huddersfield! Miss Wilkinson was prosecuted by Kirklees Council through the courts over the course of 15 months. After three appearances at a magistrates’ court, and one at a crown court, common sense prevailed when Judge Roger Scott stepped in to prevent the case going before a jury at an estimated cost of £10,000.
Judge Scott said: "It’s the most inappropriate set of proceedings I’ve personally ever, ever seen and it’s a fantastic waste of community charge payers’ money ". "This was a grotesque misuse of the powers of the authorities to proceed on indictment for dropping a sweet wrapper ."
He added "Can you explain to me why this charge was ever brought against this lady – she has dropped a single sweet wrapper ?" "Is it controlled waste? I’ve looked it up and I don’t see how you could possibly argue that it was controlled waste ." "I cannot for the life of me see it’s appropriate ."
Despite being on the receiving end of that lot; in a display of pure bloody-minded defiance, a spokesman for Kirklees Council said that the judge’s words had "been noted " but stood by the decision to prosecute – "There can be no doubt that rubbish thrown from vehicles contributes greatly to the defacement of our streets and is a problem local authorities need to address ," he said, "Miss Wilkinson was charged with an offence because by virtue of Section 33 (5) the person in control of a vehicle is liable for waste thrown from that vehicle whether they threw the waste out or not ."
Something about the word rather than the spirit of the law?
June 23, 2009
A good example of, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
June 23, 2009
The sad thing that this case highlights is that, while more and higher taxes are imposed on us every day, the amount of wastage (no pun intended) continues to rise with it.
June 23, 2009
This is a fine example of petty, authoritarian socialists losing their grasp of reality. Did someone mention Gordon Brown.
June 23, 2009
Typical public sector behaviour
June 23, 2009
The response of the council spokesman says it all. These peolpe are bereft of common sense and blinded by their own sense of self-importance. It is a sad indictment of this country.
June 23, 2009
Too many councils behave in this arrogant authoritarian way, rate payers should sue the ba$tards for wasting their money.
June 24, 2009
This was clearly a ridiculous prosecution but to ascribe it to “petty authoritarian socialism” or “Gordon Brown” is a moronic comment hopefully atypical of your readership. New Labour has objectively done more to destroy socialism than even Maggie Thatcher.
June 24, 2009
Excuse me – has nobody noticed how filthy the streets are, and do you know how much council tax money is spent tidying up after the people who have dropped litter? -Tens of millions of pounds a year. Unfortunately the only way you will persuade people to be more responsible is by enforcing strict sanctions until behaviour starts to change.
Admiittedly this does seem to be an extreme example, with a toddler involved and the litter constituting no more than a sweet wrapper. I would like to know a bit more about the circumstances – but generally speaking zero tolerance of littering seems to be the only way of preventing our country from becoming steadily more scarred by rubbish – which, incidentally then has a significant impact on other aspects of human behaviour. When one social norm is breached, people are more likely to breach others…so eg crime is more likely to take place in an environment full of graffii than one without grafitti.