A Royal Marine left with severe mental health trauma after a tour of Afghanistan has been convicted of falling behind on a car bill, in the latest case to emerge from the scandal-hit fast-track courts.
The 39-year-old was accused by the DVLA of failing to pay tax on his Honda Civic, and ended up being prosecuted in the Single Justice Procedure.
His parents wrote in to the court, setting out how their son’s mental health had sharply declined after his military service, leaving him with struggles managing his own finances.
They also revealed he had previously been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and continues to receive care.
But the letter – entered in mitigation – would not have been seen by prosecutors at the DVLA due to the design of the court system. The DVLA could, if they had seen the letter, have chosen to withdraw criminal proceedings if they were adjudged not to be in the public interest.
The Standard has exposed deep flaws in the Single Justice Procedure which have led to care home residents, dementia patients, and even dead people being prosecuted and convicted over unpaid bills.
The Labour government has promised to review the way the fast-track courts operate, with magistrates sitting behind closed doors, handing out convictions based on written evidence alone, and sometimes spending less than a minute on each case.
But ministers have not yet revealed what plans they have to better protect vulnerable people who find themselves being prosecuted.
The case against the Royal Marine, who lives near Devon, is one of more than 13,000 which were dealt with by SJP magistrates last week.
Court papers show he failed to keep up with Direct Debit payments for a Honda Civic, and when a demand for the full amount was not answered in mid-August a decision was taken to bring a criminal prosecution.
His parents entered a guilty plea on his behalf, and set out how their son bought the car after he was forced to sell a property he had invested in.
“He had been struggling with mental illness since coming back from the Royal Marines where he fought in Afghanistan with horrific circumstances”, they wrote.
“He cannot work with banking or monies properly even though he is well able to drive his car. He is on benefits and has severe mental incapacity at the moment – which prevents him to be able to do a series of payments via the bank.
“Simple buy and sell is no problem but he is not able to do any other financial responsibility. The best way to obtain finances from him would be to take it out of his benefits.”
They said his benefits had been stopped for three months at one stage when he was unable to go to meetings about Universal Credit “because of the stress and fear and mental thing”.
“We as parents have stepped in to help but can not pay for him”, they added.
“He has been sectioned last year and is a bit under the care of the Devon Step team.”
They said they had tried to declare the vehicle ‘off-road’ seven weeks ago, had to phone the DVLA to confirm the notification, and are hoping their son will be “restored to perfect health in the future”.
The Royal Marine was given a discharge by the magistrate with an order to pay £126 in back duty. He will also now have a criminal conviction against his name, which could affect future insurance bills and even come up when he seeks work.
The DVLA says it does not routinely see mitigation letters in Single Justice Procedure cases, and encourages anyone with important personal circumstances to contact them directly - to try to avoid unwanted prosecutions.
The Magistrates Association and former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas have recommended that prosecuting bodies see all mitigation letters before SJP cases go before magistrates.
Lord Thomas said in August that reform of the system is “overdue” and would be relatively easy to achieve.
