Tough on OAP's, tough on the causes of OAP's.

The law is a total and utter arse.
Her offence was to unwittingly sell a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy taking part in a trading standards 'sting'.
At most, pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, expected a slap on the wrist for breaking new animal welfare laws which ban the sale of pets to under-16s.

Instead, the great-grandmother was taken to court, fined £1,000, placed under curfew - and ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months.

The prosecution of Mrs Higgins and her son Mark is estimated to have cost taxpayers £20,000 and has left her with a criminal record.

Mark, 47, was also fined and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

I wonder if they are as tough on every criminal, or just those they can make an example of?

Oh but wait, no matter how bad or plainly unfair the law may be, there will always be someone to defend it:

Defending the goldfish case, Iain Veitch, head of public protection at Trafford Council, said: 'The evidence presented for this conviction clearly demonstrates that it is irresponsible to sell animals to those who are not old enough to look after them.

'Let this conviction send out a message that we will not tolerate those who cause unnecessary suffering to animals. The council will always try to support pet and business owners so that they are able to care for their animals properly, but where they continually ignore the advice they are given, we will not hesitate to use our statutory powers.'

Clearly a case of rules are rules and we will enforce them no matter what. Iain sounds like the sort of chap who twitches his curtains, looking for people putting the wrong sort of rubbish into the wrong bin. Iain I think is a sad sexual inadequate and lonely underpant sniffer, who no doubt gets a very small bulge in his stained underpants at the thought of bossing about the little people who pay his wage.

As for the crap about "continually ignore the advice they are given", when was that? She sold a goldfish, singular, in a sting operation organised by the council. No way does that justify thousands of pounds of public money to be spent in taking her before the courts.

If I had the cash I would be on a flight out of this hellhole land tomorrow.

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