Judge trashes council’s prosecution of man over box left at bring-bank

IN what he described as one of the worst cases of overzealous prosecutions he had ever seen, a judge has ordered a county council to pay €750 to its local Tidy Towns committee.

Westmeath County Council had prosecuted 44-year-old Bernard Byrne for littering after he left a shoe-size box at a bring-bank.

The case, at Mullingar District Court, was taken against Mr Byrne as he was the registered owner of the vehicle seen, but it was his wife and son who were at the bring-bank.