A teenager has been convicted of not insuring his car when he was sectioned in hospital and receiving treatment for a life-threatening eating disorder.
The 18-year-old’s harsh prosecution and conviction was brought through the Single Justice Procedure, a deeply-flawed fast-track court process which is shrouded in secrecy.
Court papers obtained by The Standard show the young man was prosecuted by the DVLA when his car was spotted as not having the correct insurance, in April this year.
In a heartbreaking letter to the court, the teenager, from the northeast of England, explained what had happened.
“At the time of the offence, I was detained under section three of the mental health act and receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital for an eating disorder and being fed under restraint”, he wrote.
“Due to the physical effects of the disorder, I couldn’t comprehend basic ideas and also severely lacked mental capacity, so after following my parents’ advice and cancelling my insurance I didn’t think to SORN my car.”
The teenager entered a guilty plea in writing to the offence of keeping a motor vehicle which does not meet insurance requirements.
And last week, a magistrate sitting in Northampton decided to convict, sentencing him to a three-month conditional discharge with an order that he pays a £26 victim surcharge.
The magistrate had the option to refer the case back to the DVLA for further investigation, but appears to have chose not to do so.
Due to the fast-track design of the Single Justice Procedure (SJP), it is likely the DVLA – as the prosecutor – did not see the mitigation letter, and the chance to withdraw the criminal case would have been missed.
The Labour government is dragging its feet on reforming the SJP system, after a consultation on possible changes ended more than four months ago.
During the consultation, the DVLA itself lobbied for changes so that prosecuting bodies always see mitigation letters as part of the justice process, while it is now 18 months since the Magistrates Association broke ranks and told politicians that the SJP system is broken and in need of urgent reform.
The teenager’s case is the latest in a long line of examples found by The Standard of harsh justice being meted out in private court hearings.
Members of the public and journalists are banned from attending hearings to watch magistrates as they decide on cases, and to scrutinise the court process.
But it has been revealed that SJP cases are sometimes dealt with in less than a minute, while some courts have been caught issuing targets for the number of cases that have to be processed.
The government has been repeatedly urged to set a timetable for reforming the SJP system, but has yet to set out any proposals, saying it is still looking through responses to the consultation.
In the meantime, thousands of prosecutions for low-level offences each week continue to pass through the fast-track courts each week.
In the teenager’s case, a conditional discharge means he has been spared a fine as punishment. But he does still have a criminal conviction to his name, which may impact on future insurance premiums.
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