An Englishman's Castle

A retired serviceman jailed for refusing to pay his council tax yesterday described how he was forced to sit in a tiny cage, handcuffed, for more than 10 hours....

Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said he hoped that his sentence would raise awareness of the millions of pensioners who were suffering under "crippling" tax rises.

And he criticised a justice system that sent pensioners to jail for not paying council tax, "while letting serious criminals free".

Mr Fitzmaurice, who served 20 years in the Logistics Corps, was jailed for 32 days on Monday morning by magistrates in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, seven months after he had cancelled his council tax direct debit to West Norfolk council because of 45 per cent tax rises in the last six years.

The final straw, he said, was a controversy involving the council leader, John Dobson, who had a complaint made against him by opposition councillors that ended with council taxpayers footing a £23,000 legal bill......

He said: "I've made my point. I didn't really want to spend 32 days in prison.

"I wrote to the authorities asking if they could give me a community sentence as it would be of more use to me and others, and would cost much less money, but I was told that there was nothing in the statute that allowed that.

"It's something they should look at. It's wrong to send pensioners to jail while criminals are walking free committing all sorts of crimes. It's just not right."

But he added: "I don't think there was anyone I met who was not sympathetic to my cause and who did not treat me with respect."

Mrs Fitzmaurice celebrated the news of her husband's release with a cup of tea.

"...I'm incredibly proud of him for standing up for himself. Not many people would have done it at his age, especially as he has high blood pressure.