An embarrassing mix-up allowed the first man charged as part of a clampdown on antisocial drunks in Basildon town centre to walk free from court.
Oh, this’ll be good…
John Ives, 52, of Rayside, was due to appear at Basildon Magistrates Court yesterday to face a charge that he knowingly ignored a police order to stay out of the recently introduced town centre dispersal zone.
But the case was dropped by Dinah Walters, prosecuting for the Crown Prosecution Service, because police had not provided sufficient evidence in time for the hearing to take place.
Naturally, Ms Walters is pointing the finger of blame at the police:
Mrs Walters said: “The police didn’t provide any evidence that he was ever given an order to disperse.
“I can’t prosecute without any evidence.”
And the police are pointing it right back:
A spokeswoman for Essex Police said: “The request for further information was submitted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
“But unfortunately the request was sent too late for the police to provide additional information in time for the court appearance.”
No matter who’s right, it does shed new light on the justice system’s claims that these ‘dispersal zones’ are the answer to anti-social behaviour, doesn’t it?
8 comments:
I should have thought it shed light on the justice system itself.
“The police didn’t provide any evidence that he was ever given an order to disperse.
Can an individual 'disperse'? well apart from using a well placed piece of C4 (which may be whats called for)
What the Dickens is a 'dispersal zone'?
Let me get this straight; I pay for the streets and roads in the town centre to be built and maintained, and then I pay for the Police to tell me I am not allowed to use them?
What the Dickens is a 'dispersal zone'?
I always took it to mean the immediate area which suddenly cleared around one .. after one had quietly but knowingly, released the aroma of last night's intake of Young's "Ramrod & Special" & a Meat Madras, on an unsuspecting public, in a fairly confined space ..
Pick up the fucking phone and speak to each other, you lazy fucks.
All this 3rd party CPS prosecuting sh1te...I used to take my own cases to court. If the magistrates wanted to know anything about the offence, the arrest, the prisoners behaviour blahdiblah, they'd just bloody ask me - I was there, after all and we were usually in court within 24 to 48 hrs after the offence took place.
Jaded will no doubt disagree but the thing about the Citizen Persecution Service that seems to annoy most of the coppers I know is their inconsistency...the fact that the political wind in their sails changes more often than a paedo's IP.
"I should have thought it shed light on the justice system itself."
It does indeed. How can it possibly be considered better than Hogday's example of what used to happen?
"Can an individual 'disperse'?"
Apparently, only if given a map!
"Let me get this straight; I pay for the streets and roads in the town centre to be built and maintained, and then I pay for the Police to tell me I am not allowed to use them?"
That seems to be the size of it.
"I used to take my own cases to court. If the magistrates wanted to know anything about the offence, the arrest, the prisoners behaviour blahdiblah, they'd just bloody ask me - I was there, after all..."
I suppose the system was installed to save officers time if that didn't occur, but even so, it's turned into a recipe for disaster.
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