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Janet Devers opts for trial by jury at Magistrates' hearing 18 January 2008
Location: Thames Magistrates Court, 58 Bow Road, London, 18 January 2008. In court were Janet Devers, her barrister Nicholas Bowen, solicitors from Bates, Wells & Braithwaite, Neil Herron, Colin Moran, the two Hackney Council Trading Standards Officers who took the scales, the Hackney Council press officer, and journalists from London Tonight, The Times, Wall Street Journal, Hackney Gazette and a Dutch magazine.
Eighteen people were in the public gallery, including John Gardner, Derek Norman and Robert Stevens for BWMA, Leigh Thoburn, wife of the late Steven Thoburn, Colin Hunt, Gerrard Batten MEP, Mike Faith and Stuart Delvin. Space was limited and some people were left outside.
The hearing was scheduled to start at 2.0pm; however, it started at 2.34pm.
Three magistrates were in attendance, two female and one male, the latter sitting in the middle of the three. He asked: "Where is Ms Devers?" Janet Devers stood up to give her name.
Her barrister Nicolas Bowen said that counts one to ten were covered by the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and its delegated legislation. These related to "selling by other than net weight", that is, by the bowl: Chinese cabbage, sweetcorn, scotch bonnets, ocra, and dates.
Counts 11, 12 and 13 concerned "not using for trade a unit of measurement not allowed under the Weights and Measures Act 1985". Mr Bowen said that the double negatives were confusing but that, in essence, it meant selling in imperial. Count 11 was imperial pricing, counts 12 and 13 related to the use of imperial scales for trade.
Mr Bowen said Janet Devers' customers were happy for pounds and ounces to be used, but she also had the facility to weight out in kilos if asked to do so. He turned to Janet Devers for a confirmation of this and she indicated yes.
The magistrate wanted to establish whether the magistrates' court was the correct court for the case i.e. whether it had powers to make a decision.
After some discussion, the magistrate said that the court's powers were sufficient, but the case could be heard "either way": suitable at a magistrates' court, but also at a crown court.
The magistrate asked Janet Devers to stand again. He observed that she was in some discomfort and asked whether she would like to sit down again. She replied that she was fine. The magistrate said that she had a choice: she could be tried today in the magistrate's court, or by jury at crown court. Janet Devers said she wanted trial by a jury.
The magistrate set the date of 29 February for committal proceedings; however, Janet Devers said she had booked a holiday on 24 February. Committal proceedings were therefore rescheduled for 7 March at 1.30pm. The magistrate said the prosecution would need to get a new set of papers. The magistrate set unconditional bail, but emphasized that Janet Devers must not be late.
Hackney Council seizes imperial weighing scale 13 September 2007
At 11am, Thursday 13 September 2007, two Hackney council officials, accompanied by two police officers, seized weighing scales belonging to market trader Janet Devers. The offence was that the scales were calibrated in pounds and ounces.
Photo from http://neilherron.blogspot.com/2007/09/hackney-trading-standards-officers.html
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