MORE STUPID BRITISH "JUSTICE"

Lots of serious crimes are dealt with in Britain by a "caution" [mere words] from a policeman if the crime is committed by someone who is seen as "disadvantaged". But if "you should know better", the book is thrown at you for any infraction.

Two supermarket workers who were the subject of a 30,000 pound trial for allegedly stealing fried chicken thighs worth less than 2 pounds walked free yesterday after a judge said they had no case to answer. Describing the decision to prosecute the two women as a waste of taxpayers’ money, Judge Mushtaq Khokar yesterday threw out the case at Manchester Crown Court. He criticised the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for repeatedly ignoring his advice to reconsider the prosecution.

Verity Bredbury, 28, and Cassandra O’Connell, 25, were arrested after management at Morrisons supermarket in Stockport accused them of taking fried chicken wings to eat in the staff canteen. The women proclaimed their innocence as they were first suspended, then dismissed and called to numerous court appearances. Directing the jury to find them not guilty, Judge Khokar said that taxpayers’ money had been wasted.

The saga of the chicken thighs began on a busy pre-Christmas Friday last December when Miss Bredbury, a supervisor on the oven-fresh counter, sold five pieces of cooked chicken to Miss O’Connell, from the white-goods section, but rang up only 59p, the price of one. Ms Bredbury had previously been warned about wastage in her department. She insisted that she printed off another ticket for the remaining pieces, which she intended to pay for to prevent wastage. But she said that before she was able to complete the transaction, she and her colleague were suspended. At a disciplinary hearing four days later they were dismissed. An offer to pay the difference was rejected.

Between February and May, the two women made five separate appearances before magistrates in Stockport. They appeared before the Crown Court in June for a pre-trial review but when it eventually came to court in August, they had run out of time and the trial had to be adjourned. This week the judge urged prosecutors to reconsider their decision to bring the case. He told the prosecuting barrister: “As I see it, here are two ladies who to all intents and purposes can be treated as having good characters. There does not seem to be anything that can be thrown at them which would make the charge brought against them stick. “We are talking about 1.84 pounds. Is it really in the interests of the public and taxpayers that we spend two days trying to sort this out?” Although the prosecuting barrister was asked to contact lawyers at the CPS, the case went ahead the following day. The judge ruled that there was no case to answer and directed the jury to find the two defendants not guilty.

Judge Khokar was scathing that the CPS had not heeded his advice and avoided much of the 30,000 pounds in costs. He said: “It is unfortunate that taxpayers’ money has been wasted when the result was foreseen by all those concerned with it.” The women expressed relief at the outcome, but have lost their jobs. Miss Bredbury, a single parent, said that her health had suffered. “We were innocent all the way along,” she said. “It has gone on for ten months and has been immensely stressful.” The CPS said: “We felt there was sufficient evidence to prosecute a charge of theft and that it was in the public interest.”

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