The front page of the Metro newspaper today reveals that police guidance instructs rank and file police not to register car vandalism as a crime. In sharp contrast, Gwynneth Lester is fleeing the country because she faces arrest over £1,200 of unpaid Council Tax. According to local newspapers, the 59-year-old disabled war widow was due to be arrested last Monday but the police failed to turn up, giving her enough time to escape.
This wouldn’t be the first time Mrs Lester had been persecuted by the authorities. She spent 28 days in jail last year for not paying the tax. She made the stand after being burgled eight times in two years.
What sort of country is it where the government and police crack down harder on a disabled pensioner than those who commit vandalism? Are the government’s priorities that skewed that crimes against the state are more ‘serious’ than crimes against the person or property? What a nation…