Practically 130 individuals are prosecuted daily for failing to pay their TV licence with many nonetheless being discovered responsible regardless of having crippling medical circumstances.
Aged folks of their 80s and 90s and people with dementia and cancer are among the many 44,000 within the yr to June 2022 who have been convicted and fined as much as £1,000 having been hauled into courtroom by the BBC – making it the commonest crime within the nation, excluding motoring offences.
The poorest folks in Britain struggling to pay the £159 TV licence make up the overwhelming majority of instances with a authorized charity fearing ‘we may even see the identical stage of miscarriages of justice as befell within the Submit Workplace prosecutions’.
Former CPS chief Lord Ken Macdonald mentioned all felony instances must be introduced by the Crown Prosecution Service and warned there was a battle of curiosity within the BBC launching its personal authorized motion.
Whereas the Taxpayers’ Alliance desires the licence payment scrapped and changed with a normal tax for a slimmed down BBC.
The findings have been unearthed in a Talk TV investigation, with tens of hundreds of instances – 70 per cent of which contained girls – being heard in closed-door hearings beneath the much-criticised Single Justice Process.
Have YOU been prosecuted regardless of being in poor health? electronic mail matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
A Discuss TV investigation aged folks of their 80s and 90s and people with dementia and most cancers amongst these being prosecuted for not paying their TV licence
The poorest folks in Britain struggling to pay the £159 TV licence make up the overwhelming majority of instances with a authorized charity fearing ‘we may even see the identical stage of miscarriages of justice as befell within the Submit Workplace prosecutions’
The controversial system – the place instances are determined by a single Justice of the Peace – was launched in 2015 to hurry up courtroom hearings for low-level offences however critics say it doesn’t maintain the identical transparency as open courts.
Ministry of Justice figures present that there have been 47,622 prosecutions and 44,106 convictions for failing to pay the tv licence within the yr to the tip of June 2022.
Discuss TV obtained authorized papers to disclose how critically in poor health folks have been nonetheless prosecuted regardless of writing statements to the courts to defend themselves.
One mentioned: ‘I am at present critically in poor health with ‘very extreme left ventricular systolic dysfunction’ and have been referred to the transplant group.
‘I am struggling emotionally with what my future would possibly appear to be or if I’ll even have a future. My husband misplaced his job and his earnings has dropped about £600 a month.’
One other mentioned: ‘I’m the primary carer for my spouse and kids who all have psychological well being points. I’m being handled for most cancers myself so I’ve loads to take care of for the time being.’
Lord Macdonald says there’s a battle of curiosity within the BBC launching its personal authorized motion.
He mentioned: ‘The curiosity of the BBC on this matter, after all, is guaranteeing that folks pay their licence payment and that is a company curiosity which should not essentially be wrapped up with a prosecutorial curiosity and certainly should not be.
Tradition Secretary Lucy Frazer’s (pictured) mentioned in December threatening to ship folks to jail for not paying the TV licence was ‘morally indefensible’
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has known as for the licence payment to scrapped and changed with a normal tax for a slimmed down BBC. Pictured: The BBC headquarters at New Broadcasting Home
‘I feel all felony prosecutions must be introduced by the unbiased prosecutor – The Crown Prosecution Service. We noticed what occurred within the Submit Workplace.’
The authorized charity Enchantment warned MPs about what it noticed as comparable dangers dealing with TV Licensing in 2020, telling the Justice Choose Committee: ‘We may even see the identical stage of miscarriages of justice as befell within the Submit Workplace prosecutions.’
Talking to Jeremy Kyle and Rosie Wright on Discuss At this time, Joe Ventre, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, mentioned: ‘What we wish to see on the Taxpayers’ Alliance is a whole reform of the system that jettisons the licence payment altogether.
‘So in essence, what we would prefer to see is a very slimmed down BBC… funded by normal taxation.
‘Whether or not you help it or not, the licence payment mannequin is shortly working out of steam.’
In December the Tradition Secretary Lucy Frazer mentioned threatening to ship folks to jail for not paying the TV licence was ‘morally indefensible’ as she introduced a £10.50 rise within the annual payment.
Writing completely within the Each day Mail, she put the company on discover with a pledge {that a} assessment into its funding mannequin will ‘particularly have a look at the difficulty of felony prosecution of the licence payment’.
In an announcement, a TV Licensing spokesperson mentioned: ‘TV Licensing’s major goal is to assist folks keep licensed and keep away from prosecution – which is all the time a final resort.’
MailOnline has contacted the BBC for remark.
Have YOU been prosecuted regardless of being in poor health? electronic mail matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
- Watch Discuss At this time, Monday to Friday from 6am – 9:30am, on Freeview 237, Sky 522 and Virgin Media 606.
- Additionally obtainable on DAB, Amazon Hearth TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, discuss.television and TalkTV iOS and Android apps.
