Homeless Woman Jailed for Begging

A homeless woman has been jailed for begging, according to a headline in today's Independent on Sunday.

It's the sort of sensationalised headline I really cannot abide, as it only reflects half the truth of the story. Normally I'd expect better quality journalism from this particular newspaper. It is, of course, regrettable that in twenty-first century Britain anyone is homeless and has to beg on the streets, but that is not the reason Susan Piggott was jailed.

To its slight credit, the Indy does go on to clarify that Piggott was banned from begging under the terms of a Criminal Behaviour Order.

The North Wales Pioneer, where the Indy sourced its article from, further added that Piggott had also been handed a Suspended Sentence Order only ten days earlier.

Llandudno Magistrates' Court heard that Piggott asked for money and received it from five passers-by, despite being prohibited from sitting on the ground for more than ten minutes in town centres in Conwy County during shop opening hours.

Her solicitor, Nia Dawson, said the 55 year-old woman was in poor health, that there was no allegation of aggressive begging, and that no one had complained about her behaviour.

Even so, taking everything into consideration Magistrates deemed that Piggott's offence was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate. By going out begging she was knowingly breaching two court orders, one of which was only a few days old.

Piggott was jailed for six weeks.

Sending anyone to custody is a very sobering experience and the bench of the day would not have done so unless it had very good cause and justification.

Breaching a Suspended Sentence Order so soon after it was imposed is a sure fire way of having that custodial sentence activated in all but the most exceptional of circumstances. The public would quickly lose all faith in the justice system if breachers were given chance after chance without any consequences to their reoffending.