Day in court...again

Day in court...again

On Saturday a woman from the B&B in the next street knocked on my door and handed me a large duck egg blue coloured plastic envelpe, addressed to me, which the postman had incorrectly delivered. As I thanked her my eyes were drawn to the scales of justice beneath which was the letters CPS. In a roundabout way they had served the papers on me for the committal hearing this morning. Yesterday, two young women came to my door and knocked and when I opened it they asked whether I rented out rooms. I said that I didn't, and pointed them in the right direction. I thought about adding that I had noticed a sign in the B&B front window stating "No Vacancies". But, I thought they may have and just forgot to remove the sign so I didn't bother.

I got to the magistrates court at 9.30. A late night or early morning getting to bed meant that I was in a rush, and Rocky's walk was cut to 10 minutes to allow me a cup of tea before I set off for the half hour walk into the City Centre. I was ready to go into court at 10. However, there was a delay the clerk of the court explained to me because Legal Aid needed to be transferred from Payne & Payne in Hull to Harrison and Bundey in Leeds. The representative for Payne & Payne had spoken to me and then went walkabout. Meanwhile, I bought a cup of tea for 50p and Mars Bar for 40p from the cafeteria. Ten shillings for a cuppa and eight bob for a Mars Bar, I thought 'what's the world coming to?'. When the Payne & Payne representative showed up again I told him he owed me 90p. He thought I was joking and walked off without paying.

There was some confusion in the court. Although I was originally arrested for assault and having a dog dangerously out of control, I was charged instead with threatening contrary to public order. My understanding at the last court hearing was that this charge was dropped when I pleaded not guilty and elected to go to trial. I phoned up the clerk of the court to confirm this and she stated that it was her understanding also. However, I did note in the CPS papers that it was intended to pursue a case against me for common assault! I might have got this wrong, but as I understand it the CPS does not intend to pursue the public order offence. He seemed to think that I had pleaded not guilty to this charge. However, the magistrates informed him that there was no record of this only a plea in relation to the dog being dangerously out of control. I would say that this supports my contention that it was decided not to proceed with it.

The Crown Court hearing is set for 19th of March. The magistrates almost granted me unconditional bail, when the CPS stated that he did not oppose bail. However, the busybody interfering clerk of the court piped up that there was previously set bail conditions. I argued that the conditions should be changed to allow me to go into Pearson Park to enable me to speak to people I know by sight to ask if they would be my witnesses. This was refused. I feel that this is hampering my defence and could lead to an unfair trial.