In 2005 73-year-old Sylvia Hardy didn't pay £53 of her Council Tax, and was sent to prison by the Exeter magistrate, who told her "You may think you're a martyr, but you're not".
In 2006 former church minister Josephine Rooney, aged 69, refused to pay a £798.97 debt to Derby city council because they had failed to respond to claims that antisocial behaviour, litter and disrepair of properties had blighted area of Derby where she lived. She said "When people are pushed into a corner and their rights are taken away, there comes a time when one has to take drastic action. I have always believed we live in a free a democratic country and yet I see current policies set by our local authority that are in conflict with these principles." She said the council had promised to improve her neighbourhood, with schemes to tackle antisocial behaviour and housing conditions. But "in this regard they have failed miserably in their stated aims and at the same time caused immeasurable distress and hardship to the poorest and most vulnerable residents in our community."
She was jailed.
Also in 2006 a 75-year-old retired soldier refused to pay a £1,300 council tax bill on "principle". Great-grandfather Richard Fitzmaurice, of Heacham, Norfolk, said he was not paying because he thought the tax was unfair, because he was angry that taxpayers' money had been used to pay a legal bill run up by Conservative council leader John Dobson.
He was jailed.
In 2007 a 44-year-old man, Stephen Gordon, was on a tram in Croydon. He had difficulty pushing past another passenger, 97-year-old Shah Chaudhury, who was standing in the aisle leaning on his two walking sticks. As he squeezed under the pensioner's arms Gordon's hat was knocked off and he reacted by swearing at the man and punching him in the face.
Policeman Darren Stenning said "This was a particularly nasty attack on an elderly man who was obviously very frail and was physically not able to defend himself. The blow to the victim's head caused serious injury, which has resulted in the victim losing sight in one eye. And unfortunately since this assault, the victim's health has deteriorated and he now resides in a care home."
The attack was caught on CCTV and witnessed by dozens of passengers. Two school children who were on the tram chased Gordon and later gave evidence against him.
Gordon was found guilty of GBH. Judge Kenneth Macrae admitted that a "significant prison sentence would well be justified", but let him off. Instead he sentenced Gordon to a three-year community order, saying that jail would "do nothing to protect the public".
The GOS says: Unless you're a frail old man on a tram, that is.
As for those vicious, antisocial pensioners, well … lock the bastards up and throw away the key. They deserve everything they get.
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