25 November 2010

Update: Mr. and Mrs. Batten’s Case

In a sensational ruling, an East London judge has declared that wives share full criminal liability for the actions of their husbands when it comes to TV licensing. Stratford Magistrate Court’s District Judge Celia Dawson has convicted Mrs. Batten under Section 363 of the Communications Act because of her husband’s refusal to pay the TV license fee.

Gerard Batten, the UKIP MEP for London, has been openly refusing to pay the fee since 2009 in protest against the BBC bias on such issues as the European Union and the climate change. Mr. Batten wrote to the TVLA informing them he was joining our campaign and giving his reasons. Nonetheless, the notorious agency declined to prosecute him and chose to target Mrs. Batten instead, taking advantage of the fact that she lives at the same unlicensed address. In fact, her only fault was answering the door to a TVLA officer and telling him there was a TV set in the house but it was her husband who was responsible for the household bills. This was enough for a prosecution.

At the trial this November, Mr. Batten told the judge his wife was in no way involved in the matter. It had always been solely for him to pay the bills, including the TV licence fee. All such bills had always been addressed to Mr. Batten and not his wife. The decision to withhold the licence fee to protest the BBC bias was taken by Mr. Batten alone. Giving evidence from the witness box, the MEP condemned the KGB-style tactics of taking a hostage from his family in order to put pressure on himself. If the TVLA sees his refusal to pay the licence fee as unlawful, he said, they should prosecute him and not an innocent member of his family.

Mrs. Batten did not appear at the trial, but was represented pro bono by a leading human rights barrister Paul Diamond. Mr. Diamond questioned the TVLA claim that Mrs. Batten had confessed to watching television without a licence, and argued that the prosecution had been brought in bad faith. The Court had no right to convict Mrs. Batten, he said, without first ascertaining her culpability for the alleged offence.

However, the District Judge stated in her decision she was satisfied that Mrs. Batten used a television set without a licence, and did not have to look into the matter any further to find her guilty as charged. Mrs. Batten was ordered to pay a fine and the full costs of her prosecution.