The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 3

THE GUARDIAN Wednesday April 7 1993 HOME NEWS 3 Skipper goes free after lenient fine JPs press for justice act reform John Mullln Alan Travis Horn Affairs Editor ICHEL MESNAGE, the French fisherman who abducted three British offi French resident on Guernsey is lending Mr Mesnage the fine. Mr Mesnage changed his pica to guilty yesterday after a maritime expert from the French embassy in London said British officers' calculations proved his three-mile line had been trailing in the six-mile zone. Mr Mesnage, with only 240-worth of fish when boarded, admitted he had been fishing inside Alderney's six-mile exclusion zone and had then failed to comply with orders from British fishery protection officers. They had instructed him to sail for St Peter Port after observing La Calypso fishing within the banned waters, but he sailed to Cherbourg. The officers were returned unharmed to HMS Brocklesby by pilot boat, but the British government complained to the French sea ministry.

John Greenfield, Mr Mes-nage's advocate, said his client believed he had been fishing outside the exclusion zone. Mr Carey, who said he was treating the Frenchman leniently, fined him 1,250 for illegally fishing, and 2,500 for failing to sail to St Peter Port as instructed. "You were under a duty to see no part of your line could lead within the six-mile limit. You failed to take sufficient care that you were fishing legally. Future offenders, even if they plead guilty, can expect very much heavier fines and will lose their fishing gear." Mr Carey said Mr Mesnage was lucky he was not facing more serious charges.

"This court takes a serious view of offences with law enforcement officers." Mr Greenfield said that Mr Mesnage felt that "in view of the powers available to this court, the result today is a fair and reasonable decision and he has no intention of appealing against the pilot schemes were in place the fines were linked to unit values between 3 and 25 working up to a 2,000 maximum fine. Now it rises from 4 to 100 working up to a maximum of 5,000." She believes a new scale of fines could be introduced without scrapping the principle of unit fines. Mrs Rose also believes it would be possible to meet the concern over section 29 of the act which restricts the use of previous convictions in sentencing without new legislation. The lack of a computerised courts record system means that the fault lies less with the principle than with problems of obtaining sufficient detail on previous offences, argues the Magistrate, the Magistrates' Association magazine. The act does allow previous convictions to be taken into account but only if they reveal a pattern of offending or some aggravating factor such as persistent burglary of the elderly.

The magazine says: "We need to widen the discretion of the magistrate in this area. At present we have great difficulties in establishing the circumstances of previous convictions. What we need is new guidance from the High Court. It does not need massive legislation to meet these concerns." On unit fines, it says: "The principle is widely accepted. The fact that the new system is not working equitably in some cases, and producing bizarre results in others, is certainly a matter for concern and possibly for careful revision of the rules.

It is not grounds for the impetuous scrapping of a policy initiative which has a long genesis, and in slightly differing forms works well elsewhere in Europe." Mr Clarke has promised to re-examine these sections of the act. The magistrates will meet him on May 4. LEADING magistrates will meet Kenneth Clarke, the Home Secretary, next month to press for reform of sections of the new Criminal Justice Act which fine people according to their income and restrict the use of previous convictions in sentencing. But they reject suggestions of a mass revolt by magistrates if the six-month-old legislation is not scrapped. About 30 of the 29,686 magistrates in England and Wales have resigned in protest at the act, branding it a "criminal's charter" which allowed "the little thugs who wreck three cars a week to have their nappies changed while honest motorists who have driven at 38mph in a 30mph zone are being hit for hundreds of Around 1,000 magistrates resign each year and it is impossible to determine from official sources the reasons why they have given up the bench.

But the total number of JPs has increased by 2,000 over the last five years. Joyce Rose, chairwoman of the Magistrates' Association, says there is little wrong with the unit fine system in principle, but that the problem lies in its practical application. Under the system magistrates decide on how many units an offence is worth depending on its seriousness up to 25 units. The number of units is then multiplied by what it is believed the offender can afford on a weekly basis out of his disposable income to arrive at the fine. So while one person was fined 16 for possessing cannabis another was fined 500 for parking on a double yellow line.

"The extremes are just too great," said Mrs Rose. "When cials, will sail back to Cherbourg today after Guernsey magistrates decided to treat him leniently. Fishermen's leaders in St Peter Port and Cherbourg believed confrontation was at an end after Mr Mesnage, aged 40, described as "fair and reasonable" deputy bailiff De Vic Carey's decision to fine him a total of 3,750. Mr Carey, who could have fined Mr Mesnage, skipper of La Calypso, up to 55,000 and confiscated his fishing gear, made it clear future offenders would be hit much harder. Daniel Le Fevre, leader of the Cherbourg fishermen, said it was a good judgment, but that, in effect, the whole affair had been a storm in a coffee cup.

"There is no dispute between French and English fishermen, and we can now get on happily with each other." Jean Le Boucher, president of Normandy Regional Fishing Committee, said: "The fine is a bit heavy, but it is not too bad. The verdict is a sign of moderation and we will respect it." Ron Le Moignan, of the Guernsey Fishermen's Association, said: "This is a warning to the French that they cannot flout international agreements." Fishermen from France and the Channel Islands are asking their governments to settle the unconnected row over the disputed Schole Bank area. Almost 40 French trawlers arrived at St Peter Port nine days ago to negotiate over the Schole Bank. But the Mesnage case became a rallying focus for the French and there were threats of a blockade if he was treated harshly. An unidentified Bench mark Barry Dowding who resigned as a magistrate in protest at the unit fines system and restrictions on sentencing persistent offenders under the Criminal Justice Act.

'It doesn't strike me as fair. It was better I went' 'You finish up with silly fines and are left with no discretion' Inquiry backs longer academic year to boost university intake Clare Dyer Legal Correspondent THE long university summer vacation came a step nearer extinction yesterday as an academic inquiry team supported year-round -torffej James Meikle. An interim reports says extending the 30-week academic poses the principle: "Somebody who has been successful in life doesn't pay more for a loaf of bread or a telephone than someone who is unemployed. You have a situation where at the completion of the cale neither the' defen convictions. This can only be done if there was an aggravating factor in the circumstances of the earlier offence.

"Taking into -account-unit fines, you can have a persistent offender fined less than a first-timer," Mr Dowding Lord Flowers, who heads the inquiry, said he recognised the fears that research and conference income might suffer. "The prize- is increased student-throughput with reduced pros-' sure on existing facilities." The Association of University Teachers and NATFHE, repr senting new university staff, said: "The academic year cannot be extended without a massive injection of extra staff." felt some of the fines for people who were unemployed were too low in comparison with what we were levying At the-other end, he found fines of more than 1,000 for motoring offences for middle income earners "a bit sjrttefuT'. "Many magistrates support the unit system in principle, while conceding it needs fine-tuning. But Mr Dowding op for two reasons the fines system and the inability to take account of previous convictions." fines -system, which penalises offenders according to their means, and section 29, which restricts the, extent to. which courts can deal with persistent offenders, are the two most heavily criticised provisions in the act.

Mr Dowding, aged 56, a former polytechnic lecturer, objects to magistrates' lack of a final say over the fines. fix. number of units depending on the seriousness of the case, but their clerks make the income calculations which' determine what the offender should pay. "You finish up with really silly fines over which we've got no discretion," he said. "I year to 44 or .48 weeks would.

dant nor the Jench thinks! saw, ARRY goodbye to Stourbridge magistrates court, West Midlands, on December 31, three months after, the. controversial Criminal Justice Act 1991 came into force. After 15 years on the bench, he said: "I jacked it in "I can't identify with it enable undergraduate degrees to be completed in under three years and allow universities more than one intake a year. what been done is right. Even more serious, he believes, is the restriction on taking account of previous it doesn't strike me as being fair.

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