George Sampson's mum cleared

THE mother of Warrington’s teenage dance star George Sampson has been cleared of fly-tipping after the prosecution offered no evidence against her.
The decision, at Chester Crown Court, ends 12-months of legal wrangling which started after Warrington Borough Council decided to take Lesley Sampson to court over the alleged dumping of rubbish, including some of her son’s fan mail.
Judge Ian Trigger said there had been a series of “lamentable failings” by both the prosecution and defence who had regularly failed to fulfil legal obligations on time.
After the hearing, Mrs Sampson, formerly Birchwood, Warrington, but now living in London, said the case had been a waste of taxpayers’ money.
She had denied the offence the case was listed for trial. But it never started and eventually collapsed after the prosecution offered no evidence.
The mother-of-five denied ever dumping rubbish near her home and she had regularly complained to the council about other people using the area as a dumping ground.
She said only two or three letters addressed to George were found in the rubbish and she could only assume they had been taken by persons unknown. George treasured his fan mail and kept it all.
The borough council issued the following statement: “Following the discovery of 16 bags of rubbish at the rear of a house in Warrington, the council used its powers under the Environmental Protection Act to bring a prosecution for flytipping against the houseowner.
“On further legal advice, this charge was amended and we pursued a prosecution for a breach of duty to deliver waste from a property to an appropriate waste carrier.
“We believe that there was an arguable case for Mrs Sampson to answer as to how the bags of rubbish, which contained sensitive personal details and large quantities of fanmail, came to be at the back of the house.
“The judge took a different view of the arguments put forward and accordingly dismissed the case.
“While we are naturally disappointed with this outcome, flytipping remains a very real problem which causes considerable nuisance to the public and we will continue to take robust action against offenders.”
George, 16, was the 2008 winner of television’s Britain’s Got Talent contest.