Rubbish! Mum cleared over ‘fly-tipped’ flowers
A MUM-OF-TWO was hauled to court, with entries in her old diary about her private life read to jurors, because flowers addressed to her were found in dumped rubbish.
Lauren Pinhorne was challenged by investigators who came to her door claiming she tossed a bag with the flowers and the diary by the road.
Hampshire’s Test Valley Borough Council refused to listen to her denials and triggered an 11-month legal process, costing taxpayers thousands of pounds.
But after a day-and-a- half trial, it took jurors at Winchester Crown Court 20 minutes to dismiss the case.
Mrs Pinhorne, who had legal aid, said the council’s costs could mount to £12,000 and she hoped it would learn a lesson and stop wasting taxpayers’ money.
A council spokeswoman said officers carried out a thorough investigation, adding that it was important to prosecute people it believed had been fly-tipping.
Mrs Pinhorne, of Picket Piece, near Andover, said the flowers could have been a Valentine’s Day gift that she never received from a former boyfriend, while the diary had gone missing months earlier.
After the case, she said: “I knew I had not done this, I clearly told them I had lost the diary but I was threatened with being arrested.
“Everything I have said has been true, so I brought it to crown court because it felt like I was being set up.
Rudely
“None of the rubbish there was mine, I hadn’t dumped it and they went for me anyway.
“I have been spoken to really rudely. I had to request one of the investigators stop contacting me because of the way he spoke to me.
“As they found my old diary, my personal life has been dragged through the court as well – diary entries about personal things were read out.
“The council have spent at least £8,000 on the cost of bringing this case. On top of that, they will now have to pay my costs as well.”