A Coventry pensioner who spent six weeks in prison over unpaid council tax remains defiant, saying: “I won’t pay.”
Scout leader Henry Edwards, 67, was jailed for 42 days in August for refusing to pay an £1,800 bill on an empty house in the Stoke area of the city.
He was reunited with his partner Pearl at their home in Crosbie Road, Chapelfields, on Tuesday but, despite serving the full sentence, he still has to pay the outstanding amount.
But he told the Telegraph: “I won’t pay. I am standing up for my rights.
“It’s non-productive. It’s cost the ratepayers £22,000 to put me in prison for six weeks for an £1,800 bill.
“Now the whole process will start again unless the councillors get involved.”
The council tax bill was for a derelict property that the self-employed carpenter is renovating.
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He did not have to pay anything for a year after an inspector from Coventry City Council declared it was not fit for council tax purposes.
But he started receiving bills after the 12 months was up, even though the property was still uninhabitable.
Photographs taken at the time show damaged foundations and cracks in the walls.
Mr Edwards said: “You couldn’t live in it. There was no kitchen or bathroom and the back wall was falling down.
“There was one tap and no hot running water.”
Denied the right to defend his actions
A Valuations Office Agency inspector then visited and ruled that the house’s state of disrepair meant Mr Edwards should not be taxed for it, but that it couldn’t be backdated.
That meant Mr Edwards was summonsed to Coventry Magistrates Court for the period of non-payment up to the re-evaluation.
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Already subject to a suspended sentence for the offence, he said he was denied the right to defend his actions and sought drastic action to make his point, demanding to be sent to prison and going on a four-day hunger strike.
Mr Edwards said: “The court didn’t allow me to give evidence in my defence
“I had all the information with me to prove that it was not fit to live in.
“I pinned up photos to show the state of the property but was told to take them down or be charged with criminal damage.”
Mr Edwards told how he was taken straight from the court to prison, and was given no time to ensure his partner, who has Alzheimer’s, was properly cared for.
“There was no one here to look after her and the court knew this,” he said.
Coventry City Council uses council tax to spend on services such as education, bin collections and road repairs.
In June we revealed that 19,000 people in Coventry were summoned to court last year for not paying council tax or business rates.
There are around 140,000 houses in Coventry and 8,000 businesses.
Figures released for 2013 showed the city council was owed more than £13million in unpaid council tax.
At the time that was the equivalent of £100 for every household in the city.
A council spokesman said: "Mr Edwards was made fully aware that the debt the council were pursuing was for the period April 1, 2013, to June 19, 2014.
"We received notification from the Valuation Office on July 23, 2014, that the property had been deleted from their list with effect from June 19, 2014, and council tax amended their records accordingly.
"This clearly doesn't change the period or the amount he was eventually committed to prison for.
"The Valuation Office is the authority responsible for controlling entries within their rating list.
"Mr Edwards was fully advised of the facts of the case on his appearance at court on April 15, 2015, where he was represented by the duty solicitor.
"The amount due was £1,551.38 plus application of costs of £305.00.
"The court initially suspended the sentence on monthly payments which he did not adhere to. In court at both of his hearings he made it clear he would not pay."