SENTENCE—COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDER—BREACH OF COMMUNITY SERVICE ORDER
Probation Board v Sutton Coldfield Magistrates’ Court
[2008] EWHC 15 (Admin)
Queen’s Bench Division, Divisional
Court
Dyson LJ and Jack J
11 January 2008
The bare fact that an appeal has been lodged cannot afford a reasonable excuse to a defendant for failing to comply with the requirements of a community order.
Sanjeev Sharma (instructed by Richard A Steer) for the West
Probation Board.
The respondent did not appear and was not represented.
The interested parties were convicted of an offence of affray and, in 10 October 2005, were made subject to a community order for 12 months—with an unpaid work requirement of 240 hours. They lodged notices of appeal against conviction. They were required by the probation service to attend for unpaid work appointments on 8 and 22 January 2006. They failed to attend on both occasions on the grounds that they were appealing their convictions. Those reasons were not considered
