Mark Guard, 44, is a film maker and electricity thief. Arrested for stealing .003 pence of power, the police and prosecutors spent $8,200 prosecuting Guard before dropping the case and finally letting their Guard down.
Guard was filming a documentary about crime and the homeless when he filmed squatters going through an open window in an abandoned building. A security system was triggered and Guard (who happens to be a former electrician) took it upon himself to turn off the alarm so not to bother neighbors. He briefly turned on the electricity to spot the box. The police arrived, learned that he turned on the electricity and charged him with stealing .003 pence of electricity.
What is fascinating about this story is that neither the police nor the prosecutors were disciplined for allowing such a frivolous case to go forward — requiring multiple appearances in court.
For the story, click here.
And the surveillance society that Britain is working so hard on? It appears that the CCTV cameras are good for one thing only: invading your privacy. CCTV’s net 1 crime per 1000 cameras. Hey! That’s a pricey arrest you boys have there.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8219022.stm
Sounds like someone is living in a coma
It reminds me of a story being told by a character in a movie about a desert tracker that failed to notch his own boot before he started following suspect bootprints – he ended up following his own bootprints until he disappeared up his own a**. This somehow resonates.
So if you press someone’s doorbell without permission you’re stealing their electricity too? It’s on private property and there’s no sign saying you can use it freely…
Or if the automatic light comes on when you walk up the path to visit someone’s front door without prior approval. Willfully triggering electricity use while trespassing, eh?
It’s one reason I won’t be returning to England. The authoritarian abuse suffered is tremendous.
Pence wise but pound foolish …
The costs of prosecution should be equally distributed among the officers and barristers responsible for the charges. The whole prosecution was bad business under any analysis.
Penny Wise Pound Foolish. Makes a Country Wealthy, NOT. I am surprised that they did not charge him the fees/costs in an agreement not to prosecute. Yes, this has happened.