This morning has been an interesting one already. I've just been into the local magistrates court, to act as a witness if needed, to an absurd case to be brought before the magistrate. To understand what I mean, here's the background.
As some of you will know, I like to spend my Sunday lunchtimes at a local coffee shop, and have done for some years now, so I know the staff and owner fairly well. I went in one Sunday as normal when the owner told me she had been visited by the local police the previous day, to present her with a fixed-penalty notice (similar to a parking ticket but non-specific) for a 'public order offence' allegedly committed by her the previous Sunday. I won't go into the detail, but at the time the offence was supposed to have happened, she was in the coffee shop serving customers! The officers presenting the ticket apparently did not allow the opportunity to make a statement at the time, other than making a visit to a police station to do so. As the shop was full (9-30 on a Saturday) closing it to go to the police station to make one, well it would have been ludicrous.
She refused the ticket, as entitled to do, and appealed against it. The matter was then referred to the local courts to deal with and after entering a 'not guilty' plea, the date was set for this morning.
As I was a regular customer, and was in the shop at the time of the alleged offence, I offered to be a witness to that fact. So this morning we both went to the local magistrates court for the hearing. Before the hearing though, the owner had a chat with the duty solicitor on the matter. After hearing the statement, the solicitor went into the court dealing with the case to see what evidence had been presented by the police. Turned out there was none, none whatsoever. So it was thrown out by the court there and then, and neither the owner nor myself had to go before the court, and could leave immediately, which of course we did.
I would just love to know how the case was taken to the court by the police in the first place if there was no evidence to back up their allegations. This can't be right, and I would be interested to see a statement from the investigating officers, on how they decided an offence had been committed in the first place, given as how it was based on one persons evidence, with no corroboration. Plus how was it brought to the court on the same evidence, as there was no statement from the owner either. This isn't a good example to be setting by the beleaguered police force in this area.
Some said I was a fool to go be a witness, but I still believe that if someone says they are innocent, and I know that to be true, then I will defend them and stand up with them. Perhaps I am idealistic and naive but being convicted of something you didn't do, even if the punishment is only an £80 fine, is not something that I can allow.
