Anna Worth, 38, denied a charge of being outside of a place where she was living without reasonable excuse during a coronavirus emergency period.
A trial held at Colchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday heard how she was the passenger in a BMW which was stopped by three police cars in Harwich Road, Colchester, on April 9 last year. Giving evidence, PC Bright (Ed: SNORK!) said the officers had stopped the car to carry out a drugs search, which returned no results.
The officer said when he asked Miss Worth to explain the purpose of her journey, she replied she had been shopping. “I had searched the vehicle and there were no items of shopping found within, or on Miss Worth herself,” he said.
Hmmm, doesn't timing matter here? I don't have any shopping when I pull into the Tesco car park, either...
Miss Worth disputed this, insisting she had told the officer she and her partner were “going shopping."
Gosh! Who to believe? But as the police say, there'll always be another chance:
The court then heard evidence from PC Mond, who spotted the same BMW on Clingoe Hill later that day. She told the court she wished to stop the car to warn the driver of their speed and followed it to the car park at Hythe Tesco. Miss Worth was again the passenger and PC Mond issued her with a ticket for breaching coronavirus regulations. Giving evidence, Miss Worth told the court she had been left so shaken by the first stop, she and her partner had travelled to her home, in Colchester Road, Wivenhoe, without their shopping. Realising she still needed to buy essentials, the couple and their daughter ventured out to the Hythe Tesco several hours later.
Why is it always her? Surely the driver too has breached the same law?
Clearing Miss Worth, Judge Cohen said the prosecution had failed to convince her she had not merely been travelling to the shops on each occasion.
They've failed to convince me too. And maybe the Essex plod should rewatch 'A Few Good Men'?
What say you, Reader?
No comments:
Post a Comment