Granny fined £1,000 for selling goldfish to child. PETA rulez the UK!

Yahoo news ^ | Wed Mar 31 2010 | AFP

[Antioch]

LONDON (AFP) - A British grandmother was heavily fined and electronically tagged for selling a goldfish to a child, triggering criticism Wednesday of over-zealous use of animal protection laws. Pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, was fined 1,000 pounds (1,500 dollars, 1,120 euros) also given a dusk-to-dawn curfew for selling an animal to a person under the age of 16, but her 47-year-old son Mark -- also ordered to do community service -- slammed the ruling as a farce. The pair were prosecuted after the local council sent a 14-year-old boy

[Nuc1]

John Bull, throw off these Tyrants!

[ZULU]

Another sterling example of what Great Britain isn’t Great anymore and why we must STOP looking to them as a role model.

[LongElegantLegs]

I hope that kid’s name gets out and he is rightfuly ostracized by his friends...

[Ol' Sparky]

Yet, girls under 16 can have an abortion without parental consent. Talk about an upside down country.

[Quix]

It seems like whatver has been masquerading as leadership in the UK

has long been leading the lemmings over the cliff into

Alice’s Rabbit hole.

I bet Nancy Puhlousey is the Red Queen over there, too.

[lastchance]

If a 14 year old is not capable of caring for a goldfish it is not the pet stores that need a comeuppance and a heavy hand.

[marlon]

Coming to a neighborhood near you soon courtesy of the “progressives” now running the show here.

[xp38]

If you look up the term soviet you find they were workers councils during the last years of Imperial Russia.

[Darnright]

“But Trafford Council in northern England defended the decision to prosecute, noting that the gerbil sold to the teenager with learning difficulties — who was also 14 — was put in a cup of coffee.”

And just because a disturbed person passes a certain birthday, this assures these british animal rights whack-a-doos that he no longer might put a gerbil in a cup of hot coffee??? Ok, whatever.

[Spok]

I always think of PETA when I watch ‘Deadliest Catch’. I’m sure they’re big fans!

[Levante]

Sounds like a couple of English councils, judges and politicians need to be SHOT. ;)

[The Duke]

How does that old saying go ... "Those who the gods would destroy they first make mad."(?)

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Yeah, they could get a Jury Trial (technically, they are entitled to one by the Bill of Rights*), but taking it to Crown Court can have unpleasant consequences if you are found guilty anyway. As it is, a magistrates court can only give a maximum 6 month jail sentence or a fine not exceeding £5,000. A crown court can impose much heavier sentences, and as they are more expensive to hold and will look dimly upon having to deal with a case that they felt should have been dealt with in the lower courts, it is usually a good idea have a summary case (roughly the equivalent of a misdeamenour offence) heard in a Magistrates court.

*However, recently a pair of alleged armed robbers was convicted in the first juryless crown court trial in 350 years, due to concerns with 'Jury Tampering', thanks to Zanu-Labour's 'Criminal Justice Act' 2003. Why they didn't resort to remanding the defendents in custody or screening the jury off from the defendents to avoid this danger instead of establishing this dangerous precedent probably speaks volumes about our borderline evil government's intentions to create a state were it is possible for the gov to prosecute dissidents without the safeguard of a jury to stand in the way of achieving their objective of using the justice system to persecute citizens, a concept even the medieval English mind understood when the Magna Carta was drawn up in 1215...

[Antioch]

Britain is the most regulated, inspected, restricted, nannied, spied-upon country which still pretends to be a democracy on earth. A whole raft of offences has been created, all punishable by huge fines out of all proportion to the assumed ‘offence’. Just look at the penalties now handed out liberally to people who leave their dustbin lids open half an inch.

Example: Riding a bicycle without a bell carries a fine of £2,500 and up to two years in jail.

[the scotsman]

Children are used by local councils in Britain EXACTLY to test which shops and businesses are adhering to well known laws regarding selling to minors.

There is no point in sending a legal age person to buy an item if you are testing which shops are illegally selling underage children booze, cigarettes, glue...

[the scotsman]

There is more to this story than the tabloids are printing.

The BBC and Sky have pointed out that the woman is also in trouble for keeping and trying to sell a badly injured animal which was being kept in pain and in poor conditions.

[the scotsman]

Good, that leaves Britain for the Americans who realise Britain has its faults like everyone else, and is no better but no worse.

[the scotsman]

Please see my earlier reply to this thread regarding the story the tabloids havent reported in their rush to post a shock headline...