£2,800 case of the apple thrown out of a car is thrown out of court

12 April 2012

A woman charged with illegally dumping an apple core has had her case thrown out of court.

Kate Badger refused to pay a £60 fine for littering, saying she was not responsible.

She instead asked to stand trial before a jury at Crown Court - risking a maximum sentence of a £20,000 fine or six months in prison if found guilty.

Scroll down for more...

Kate Badger: Refused to pay a £60 fine for throwing an apple core out of a car on to the pavement

But the case was dropped less than a week before it was due to go to trial, because the prosecution offered no evidence.

The 13-month saga cost the taxpayer £2,800 in legal fees for the council and officers' work time.

It is not known whether Miss Badger received legal aid, which would push the cost still higher.

Last night Wolverhampton City Council faced angry criticism for wasting taxpayers' money. Miss Badger, 26, a promotions worker from Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, was accused of tossing the apple core out of her car on to a pavement on March 19 last year.

According to Miss Badger, she was not in the car at the time - but had left a friend in there while she went shopping.

A council spokesman said the charge was withdrawn after Miss Badger finally provided her legal team with the name of the friend.

He said: "This matter could have been easily resolved if Ms Badger had either paid the fixed penalty notice or told us who was responsible for dropping the litter."

The spokesman added: "We make no apology for taking action against those who break the law."

Miss Badger said: "I am obviously pleased about what has happened and I am very glad that it's all over.

"I hadn't done anything wrong and that has been proven.

"It should never have got this far. They knew I wasn't in the car and they shouldn't have wasted everyone else's money pursuing it."

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: "This is an appalling use of power and a complete waste of money."

The apple core saga may yet continue, as the mystery friend has apparently not yet paid the £60 fine.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in