Cyprus-Forum.com

[Svetlana]

A 66 year old pet shop owner has been fined £1000 for selling a goldfish to an underage (14 year old) boy!


Her offence was to unwittingly sell a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy taking part in a trading standards 'sting'.
At most, pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, expected a slap on the wrist for breaking new animal welfare laws which ban the sale of pets to under-16s.
Instead, the great-grandmother was taken to court, fined £1,000, placed under curfew - and ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months.
The punishment is normally handed out to violent thugs and repeat offenders.
The prosecution of Mrs Higgins and her son Mark is estimated to have cost taxpayers £20,000 and has left her with a criminal record.
Mark, 47, was also fined and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.
Last night, as an MP criticised the magistrates, Mrs Higgins - who has run the pet shop for 28 years - said the family's eight-month ordeal had left them traumatised.

She added: 'It's ridiculous. I mean, what danger am I that I have to wear an electronic tag? These last few months have been a very stressful time.'

The seven-week curfew imposed by the court means she is unable to babysit her great-grandson at his home or go to bingo sessions with her sister, and will be unable to attend a Rod Stewart concert after tickets were bought for her by her nephew, actor Will Mellor.
Joan Higgins, 66, and her son Mark, 47, have both been ordered to pay fines after selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy
Her son said: 'I think it's a farce. What gets me so cross is that they put my Mum on a tag - she's nearly 70, for goodness' sake.
'She's a great-grandma so she won't be able to babysit a newborn baby. You would think they have better things to do with their time and money.'
Mr Higgins claimed the undercover operation was a clear case of entrapment - when a person is encouraged by someone in some official capacity to commit a crime - and said the case should never have gone to court.

He said: 'The council sent the 14-year-old in to us. It is hard to tell how old a lad is these days. He looked much older than 14.'
He added that his mother almost fainted in the dock when magistrates told her she could go to prison for the offence.
'I told her they wouldn't send her to prison but she was still worried,' he said. 'The only other time she has been in court is when she did jury service.'
Majors Pet shop in Sale, Greater Manchester, owned by Joan and Mark Higgins
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 it is illegal to sell pets - including goldfish - to children under the age of 16 unless they are accompanied by an adult. Pet shops must also provide advice on animal welfare to buyers.
The maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to 12 months, or a fine of up to £20,000, or both.
The Higgins family's ordeal began when council officials heard that Majors Pet Shop in Sale, Greater Manchester, was selling animals to children.
They sent the 14-year-old schoolboy into the shop to carry out a test purchase and Mr Higgins sold him the goldfish without questioning his age or providing any information about the care of the fish.

[cyprusgrump]

Oh yes, quite mad!

The police are too busy ticking boxes to catch habitual career criminals so easy targets like this are a much more efficient way of meeting quotas...

See also: -

Match the crime with the sentence:

1) A man who used his two-year-old daughter as a decoy so he and his pregnant girlfriend could steal from three Poppy Appeal tins and a Multiple Sclerosis charity box over a period of two weeks last year, hiding the cash in their daughter’s buggy.

The 25-year-old also pleaded guilty to carrying a lock knife, stealing a guitar, and the attempted theft of another collection tin. He has a string of previous theft convictions dating back five years.

2) A pub landlord convicted for non-payment of a fine for allowing a “mass smoke-in” in his pub on the day of the smoking ban. He no longer owns the pub, and is bankrupt.

a) Six months in jail

b) A suspended sentence and a six-month drug rehabilitation order

[TALISMAN]

One of the reasons I no longer live in the Y UK

[cyprusgrump]

One of the reasons I no longer live in the Y UK

Likewise...

[skyvet]

Ditto

[miltiades]

The entire judicial system is geared towards issuing fines to unsuspecting motorists who either get hot in junction boxes because the car in front comes to a standstill that you are somehow expected to predict , parking tickets on loading bays when you have bee on them for a few seconds , cameras everywhere and to top it all up the country is full of third world creatures that look as if the stepped out of stone age.
Im in the process of coming out for good !

[IMPOSTALIEDUS]

the uk goverment and its judicial system has totaly lost the plot.no one in their right mind would want to live there, this is why most of us are now living a lovely peasefull life in sunny cyprus , every morning i wake up and thank god im in sunny cyprus

[Wingnut]

Just got back from the UK last week. My God, what a toilet. Crime, filth and madness everywhere. What a horrible place. Who in their right mind would want to live there? I just don't understand it at all.

And what really makes me laugh is that the expat brigade, especially those over on Cyprus Dying, who have the nerve to criticize Cyprus. They all just need to go home back to that sh1thole and leave us in peace.

So glad I escaped from the UK all those years ago. The relief is huge and palpable.

[Jerry]

And foreign rapists can stay and marry, no doubt the UK will provide a home or him and contribute to the wedding reception via benefit payments.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8595062.stm

[Oracle]

A fine fine for fecklessly failing a fair fate for our fayre-finned friend!