UK: Woman escapes conviction for carrying a knife - after she was spotted handling a sausage

The Evening Standard (U.K.) ^ | June 4, 2008

[Stoat]

Woman escapes conviction for carrying a knife - after she was spotted handling a sausage

Last updated at 01:34am on 04.06.08

 

Banger: A humble sausage saved the day for market stall worker Jane Bellas, 29

A woman facing up to four years in jail for having a kitchen knife in her car was saved - by a sausage.

As Jane Bellas runs a fast food stall and has to slice bread rolls, she knew she had a legitimate reason for having the knife. But she was unable to prove her occupation to the satisfaction of the authorities.

It left the 29-year-old market trader being dragged through the legal system in a four-month ordeal that ended only when she appeared before a Crown Court judge this week.

It was revealed that she had been seen with a sausage in her hand at the market where she works in Penrith, Cumbria - and only then was it finally accepted that she did indeed run the stall and therefore had a valid reason to have the knife.

Miss Bellas was on her way home from work when she was stopped by police near her home in Penrith in January after officers noticed the knife in her car.

She was charged with having a knife in a public place without good reason, which carries a maximum four years' imprisonment.

Until this week, her lawyers had tried in vain to get the local council to provide proof that she had a licence to operate the stall.

The breakthrough came at Carlisle Crown Court when Tim Evans, prosecuting, told Judge Barbara Forrester of the crucial evidence which had come to light only that morning.

'There had been a complaint against the runner of this particular business that they had been tinkering with a generator while handling a sausage.

'The environmental health team at Penrith took it very seriously and investigated, finding that the person running the business was Miss Bellas. She was plainly associated with the catering business.'
 

Miss Bellas was formally found not guilty and given £10 to cover her travelling expenses.
 

One experienced local defence lawyer, John Smith, said the case was 'symptomatic'.
 

'There's a lack of common sense in the way that laws are being enforced,' he said.
 

'If they had looked into this in more detail at an earlier stage, it might have been resolved sooner.'
 

The case is estimated to have cost around £2,000.

[null and void]

Baloney, I can do far worse!

[Army Air Corps]

Friends don't let friends tinker with a generator while handling a sausage.

Indeed. One may end-up with a damaged crank...

[DeFault User]

Do you want to scrapple about it?

[Stoat]

Bureaucracies are stupid. They grow larger linearly; they grow stupider exponentially.

From the article:

Miss Bellas was on her way home from work when she was stopped by police near her home in Penrith in January after officers noticed the knife in her car.

So, are we to understand that she perhaps had a knife visible, perhaps lying on one of the seats....perhaps she is taking it home because it's an expensive Chef's knife and she didn't want to leave it at work for fear of theft.

So then it's on a seat and she's perhaps stopped at an intersection, and a foot patrol officer peers into her vehicle, becomes alarmed at the sight of a knife and stops her car.

Or, perhaps the car was parked in a lot near the market where she works, and a policeman notices the knife inside or a nosy, hysterical passerby calls in a complaint.  The car is watched, perhaps for several hours until she returns to it, whereupon she discovers her 'criminality'.

And then it becomes her obligation to prove that she has a legitimate reason to have it.

And because of the type of work that she does, getting ironclad employment verification is difficult, and so the case drags on for FOUR MONTHS.

It left the 29-year-old market trader being dragged through the legal system in a four-month ordeal

Just astonishing.

[null and void]

Nahhhh.

I'll let you be the big head cheese...

[DeFault User]

I might get shredded.

[Grizzled Bear]

That’s enough.

I want to meat ya both at high noon!

[Stoat]

It was revealed that she had been seen with a sausage in her hand at the market where she works in Penrith, Cumbria - and only then was it finally accepted that she did indeed run the stall and therefore had a valid reason to have the knife.

Whew! I thought it might be another Loraina Bobbit-like story!

Thankfully for all of the gents in her vicinity, there's no indication of any emasculative intent on her part.  She merely made the mistake of assuming that she might be able to bring a tool of her trade home, perhaps for safekeeping, perhaps for sharpening.

It was revealed that she had been seen with a sausage in her hand at the market where she works in Penrith, Cumbria - and only then was it finally accepted that she did indeed run the stall and therefore had a valid reason to have the knife.

Whew! I thought it might be another Loraina Bobbit-like story!

[DeFault User]

I admire a bear with true grit(s).

[Stoat]

UK? Is that where Lorena Bobbitt ended up?

Considering that I'm a male stoat, I realize now that I should have taken considerably greater care in tracking Lorena's movements.  I have no idea at all where she is, and that now troubles me greatly.

[null and void]

It sounds like we're gonna get grilled...

[ETL]

I repeat: WHEW!!

BTW: thanks to a previous posting, I realized I mispelled her name. I wrote "Loraina" Bobbit. Should have been "Lorena".

[DeFault User]

Yup, I suspect he could smoke us both.

[ETL]

"UK? Is that where Lorena Bobbitt ended up?"

Yahoo search results for "Lorena Bobbitt":
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=ytff1-&p=%22Lorena%20Bobbitt%22&ei=UTF-8

[null and void]

That was coaled...

[Grizzled Bear]

What have I done to deserve this roasting?

[Stoat]

I realized I mispelled her name. I wrote "Loraina" Bobbit. Should have been "Lorena".

If she reads this thread, your correction and attention to detail will most likely cause her to be "slightly" less likely to follow you home and practice her 'specialty' upon you...

With that in mind, may I say that I find Lorena to be an utterly magnificent human being who casts sunshine upon every path she walks.

 

[Stoat]

From the Wikipedia page that you so kindly linked to:

Lorena Gallo (Bobbitt)

After the trial, Lorena was treated as a feminist "hero",^[3] though she attempted to keep a low profile and resumed the use of her maiden name. In December 1997, Lorena made news when she was charged with assault for punching her mother, Elvia Gallo, as they watched television.^[13] She was eventually found guilty of assaulting her mother. As of 2007 she is employed in the Ashburn, Virginia area as a hair stylist.^[14]

^{***************************}

^{<<<  making a mental note to avoid the Ashburn, Virginia area whenever I need a haircut or a date.......}

 

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I hope this stops before it goes any furter.

[Stoat]

Frankly, my guess would be that we’re banging along just fine and the thread is just getting heated up.....