An anti-war campaigner who refused to pay council tax has been jailed – only to be freed hours later after a friend paid the amount he owed. Christopher Coverdale was handed a 28-day prison sentence in March, suspended on condition he pay back more than £1,300 in council tax and costs, following enforcement action by Rother District Council.
However, after he made just one monthly instalment of £20, the 69-year-old had his prison sentence activated and was taken into custody following a hearing at Hastings Magistrates’ Court on June 30. The defendant spent just a few hours in the cells before, following a series of frantic phone calls, a friend paid the outstanding amount in full, and he was allowed to return to his home in The Mint, in Rye’s historic Citadel.
Coverdale, who claims paying council tax is illegal as it is “used to fund wars’”, still has an earlier suspended 28-day prison sentence hanging over him for arrears from a previous year. Cllr Lord Ampthill, Rother Council’s cabinet member for finance, resources and value for money, said: “This defendant was given ample opportunity to avoid court action in the first place by paying the money he owed. He has failed to take every opportunity offered, and it’s only because of the generosity of a friend that he’s not still in prison.
“Contrary to what Mr Coverdale may say, council tax is not used to pay for wars but to provide the local services we all need, from waste collection, leisure centres, roads and schools to the police and fire service. Court action is always a last resort but it’s only fair on law-abiding residents who pay their council tax that we pursue every option available to us when someone refuses to play by the rules.”
Coverdale first appeared before magistrates in October 2013, when Rother District Council was granted a liability order requiring him to pay back council tax he owed for 2013-14. In July last year, the council was granted a committal order – a warrant to issue the defendant with a custodial sentence – and he was handed a 28-day suspended jail term. Coverdale is still paying off the £1,056.18p from that case, but in the same month, the council issued a fresh liability order for outstanding council tax for 2014-15. A second committal order was granted in March this year, when he was handed an additional 28-day sentence, suspended on condition he pay back the £1,375.16 owed at £20 a month.
In the latest hearing, magistrates refused to consider submissions from Coverdale about council tax “being used to fund wars” as the High Court and Court of Appeal had previously considered his case and found his argument to have “no merit”.
Source: Rother District Council