In July 2016, Melanie Woolcock, a single mother from Bridgend in Wales, was given an 81-day jail sentence for failing to pay her council tax. Not well enough to work and receiving benefits, she had racked up £4,742 in council tax debts.
People in government jobs earning silly money & not doing their job properly,there's a lot of it about! Computer says No 😠
The war on the poor continues
How is such a prosecution in 'in the public's interest'
Meanwhile, MPs are buying second homes on expenses and selling them on for a profit! Corporations are evading tax! And people in need are being sanctioned and benefits being cut!
Why hasn't some high flying barrister stepped up to help this lady is it a criminal offence I don't think so
I feel so sorry for her, what is this country coming too😡Its a fcuking disgrace this story! We help all sorts but punish our own! Show some compassion for gods sake!!
It's disgusting, why didn't mp's and celebrities get sent to prison for hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions in tax evation. Is it because their are rich. When are we the people going to stand together on this.
this is the 21st century isn't it - I haven't fallen asleep for a hundred years like some fairytale creature? this is a debt - and a pretty small one too. Why weren't CAB involved or another independent debt counselling agency. Crazy and if I had the money I'd pay it off myself.
Surely Jacob_Rees_Mogg 'man of the people' can help?
chunkymark?
Is it me? but how come we let large corporations get away with not paying tax but hound the sick for & send them to prison?
£bns spent on Brexit. Who has committed the crime?
Did she have a mobile contract, big old tv, internet, car etc? She was only being asked to pay £10 a week...if she was spending her cash only luxury items rather than managing her debts I've no sympathy.
It’s madness. People who commit some worse crimes almost get away while other who genuinely struggle get sent to prison👏👏 well done England Victorian Justice System ➡️
lorraine should be you
EtonOldBoys Can theresa_may not intervene, after all she hates injustices doesn't she? Well? Doesn't she?
And no one got sentenced for grenfelltower says it all tbh the little people are targete for the fat cats.
And no one got sentenced for grenfelltower says it all tbh the little people are target for the fat cats.
This is the thing. In the UK you can get away with almost anything. Cross the taxman however and the largest, organised gang in the country will be on your like a shot. And politicians wonder why we dislike them so, so much.
So, debtors prison has made an unwelcome return. How lovely...
The Tories' talk of a war on poverty, has turned into a war against the poor
Would of been cheaper for the tax payer to pay the debt for her than to send her to jail!!! This is so wrong
Utterly disgraceful! I hope she will be ok🙏 no compassion these days, this government are a national daisgrace😡
AbdullaLoula And yet Tony Blair still walks the streets after openly lying through his Zionist teeth to involve our sons and daughters in a phoney war for israel . .
If that was an MP it would have been put down to an “administrative error” and overlooked.
Yet we can’t jail thugs and low life scum... 🙄
It's a disgrace. Surely it is only a matter of time before we have debtor's prisons again. Tory Britain 🤮
Local councils are not fit for purpose. Services keep being cut, inept council staff waste money on idiotic schemes while earning six figure salaries, paid for by increasing our council tax bills. It's scandalous.
Poll tax re-badged inworkpoverty
So we can be sent to prison for being in debt, like in victorian times, excellent. Its even more sour when you look at what the councils actually spend there money on. Just remove her council leaders car allowance and it would cover her debt.
Where’s Christopher Grayling’s prisoner sentence for wasting £2.7 billion, eh? That’s what I’d like to know.
My local newspaper recently published information regarding the enormous salaries & remuneration packages of high-level council staff, some earning up to & over £100,000 a year + £15,000 a year pensions. This is partly why Council Tax is now £900 more expensive than 20 years ago
Why is the English government still continuing this inhumane system? (Rhetorical question)
How did this come to pass? This cannot have been for 1 year? So probably several years and the Council had not managed this situation before it went out of control To cost of the rates payer and the tax payer!
I would love to be able to keep £5k to myself instead of contributing to the local system.
It is right up there with fining the homeless
... and another for the poor.
Meanwhile, BP made £5.6 billion in profit, paid no tax and even received tax credits worth £134million funded by taxpayers. Instead of putting struggling citizens to jail, why not make big corporations pay their share?
Just get an attachment to earnings ffs! And if she has no earnings then she’s exempt anyway. Shameful
Terrible, I get that. But I guarantee this too ill to work woman could afford fags everyday.
Now she has served time LA have exhausted all method of recovery. So unlikely ever to satisfy the debt meaning no one wins .In cases like this courts need to consider discretion to write off arrears not compound financial distress both debtor and public purse.
Isn't British justice marvellous?
Yet Boris Johnson and a raft of other MPs can fiddle expenses, take taxpayers money and get let off with a slap on the wrist.
A dangerous criminal off the streets.
Absolutely dusgusting, debtors prison Is this the last century? What's next? Shipping them off to Australia? 😡
it would have been cheaper to help her and write the debt off. Not only do we face a trial and prison bill on top of the unpaid tax, we also have the lost opportunity cost of 40 days work , not to mention the ethical implications of imprisoning poor people. This is insanity.
In the UK they will definitely throw you in prison for crimes against the state (council tax, tv license, protesting) but not for crimes against the public (assault, burglary, etc). They like to make an example of the little person who dissents from the totalitarian order.
Council tax has always been a con anyway, especially where I come from. All that happens here is the councilors get paid fuck tonnes, cut our services, then we get a big fat council tax increase.
Anybody working for an English Council directly, or indirectly such as a Magistrate, owes me £1k. Willful refusal to pay means it's lawful for me to kidnap them and keep them in a cage for 80 days.
It is nice to see the return of the poor house, honoring the 19th century. Makes me feel proud to be British (or WTF)
How much will her custodial prison sentence cost vs the council tax debt?
This is fucking disgraceful.
The rest of of us have to pay so it is only fair if she doesn’t pay
She should be sent to Mars to work off my he debt
Is it a surprise if lower income people move to the anti-establishment parties...
I thought the purpose of prisons was to incarcerate individuals who are a danger to society. But what measure does this woman represent such a threat?
Just watched the news about illegal school operators who were caught and only fined £200. Sending someone to jail for owing council tax contrasted with those illegal school people just goes to show how unfair, stupid and wrong our law is.
WELCOME TO BRITAIN THE LAND OF NOHOPE AND NOGLORY
I can't exactly afford it either but I still have to pay.
Our country is gone to the dogs.we pay thousands per week to keep her in jail. Whoops I just had a silly idea,let's help her instead.
How much will that cost the taxpayer?
Conservatives. Making Britain Great Again.
So England is bringing debtors prison 🤦♀️
Should have been an MP, then the taxpayer would have paid
And they let paedophiles walk around freely....
That’ll help!
Do all acts require consent to be given force of law? By my understanding there is no law requiring anybody to pay any form of taxes, all taxes are made out to a legal body body This is why many judgements in court fall apart.
Labour council and labour Welsh Government
But Nick off us all , molest kids & never go to court.?
The jail term was for 80 days, that would have cost the UK tax payer circa £5,100 to imprison her. She served 40, that would have come in at around £2,500. Instead of working with people BridgendCBC have worked against & lost earnings & cost the UK tax payer 👏🏼. You. Are. thick
Tories and those in work seem to agree that the poor in our society deserve rough justice.
What is the point in jailing people for non payment of council tax ,when they will have even less money and probably no job or prospect of one when they are released ?
Tory government make the poorest pay, foodbanks too, how disgraceful are our ruling class.
so wrong this councils know about peoples struggles but they ignore you they know its easier to pass it over to a debt agency for a fraction of the debt owed
Very sketchy on detail this report, she hadn’t paid the weekly amount she promised to pay first time round and then miraculously comes up with £100. Why is she too ill to work ? What has she been doing with her benefit money ? There’s more to this story than they are saying
'Woolcock was released from prison after 40 days following an appeal. A judge found magistrates had failed to conduct a proper inquiry into her means before sentencing.' I'd have expected a proper inquiry into her means to have been done. This is disgraceful. 😔
Disgusting!! They always jail the easiest targets and the most vulnerable
Ah, left wingers supporting tax evasion... fair enough.
ToryBritain
Just locking up the poor now is it? Cool...
Rules are rules
Tory policy
If the Guardian would finally communicate the need for a cooperative monetary system, degrowth, a basicincome, getting rid of the obsolete work-for-income paradigm, etc. ... then this woman wouldn't suffer. Do your fucking job Guardian.
Yet, how many MP’s were jailed over the expenses scandal? How many bankers were jailed over the financial crisis of 2008? It’s always the ordinary people who get punished. The rich and privileged get away with it.
Disgraceful, help our citizens don't penalise them.
Typical HM government punishing the poorest.