UK Law Articles
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The Times
May 20 1999
Cost hard to swallow
BY SIMON DE BRUXELLES
A MAN accused of stealing a 19p can of lemonade who insisted on his right to trial by jury had the case against him dropped in Newport yesterday when a judge drew attention to the cost.
The trial of William Maggs, a store detective allegedly caught drinking the lemonade in the supermarket where he worked, would have cost the public purse an estimated £8,800 a day.
Mr Maggs, 51, chose to be tried by a jury instead of magistrates. It had been expected that the hearing would take a day in Crown Court with two barristers, solicitors, clerks, the judge and a jury hearing four witnesses. The Recorder, Charles Cook, questioned the costs of the case when a vital witness was ill. The prosecuting barrister asked for an adjournment adding another day's fees to the cost of the trial.
The reorder said: "Has anyone worked out the cost of this?" After consulting the Crown Prosecution Service, David Elias, a barrister, told the judge he was not going ahead. Mr Maggs was released.
