£5,000 trial for mother of three 'who threw an apple core from car window'

First they got a tip-off, then they traced the owner of the VW Golf - mother-of-three Kate Badger - via its number plate and sent her a £60 fine by post.

But then the case of the alleged phantom fruit-flinger ran into trouble, and could end up costing taxpayers an estimated £5,000.

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Miss Badger, 25, insists that she is not the culprit and has triggered a legal battle that has already dogged her for 11 months.

She so vehemently denies throwing the apple that she has asked to stand trial before a jury at Crown Court in a bid to clear her name rather than pay up - risking a maximum sentence of a £20,000 fine or six months in prison if found guilty.

Branding the case against her "ridiculous", she claims that she was in a shop at the time of the incident in Wolverhampton.

The apple, she says, must have been thrown by a peckish friend who was waiting in the car.

Yesterday Miss Badger said: "I refused to pay the £60 fine because I didn't throw the core.

"I think it's a ridiculous charge because apples are biodegradable and it's not like we are talking about a huge bag of rubbish.

"The council have been to photograph my car and now they've taken me to court. I'm being treated like a criminal and they're wasting taxpayers' money by going to these lengths."

Miss Badger, a promotions worker, has been charged with "knowingly causing the deposit of controlled waste, namely an apple core, on land which did not have a waste management licence" under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

She appeared at Wolverhampton magistrates court for the first time on Tuesday and was unconditionally bailed to February 6, when the case could be sent to the Crown Court.

She denies that charge and a second charge of failing to provide information about who actually did throw the apple.

She claims it was a man with whom she has now completely lost touch.

Yesterday, speaking from her home in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, where she lives with her three young sons, Miss Badger gave her account of the incident, which happened in March last year.

"I parked my car and my friend stayed in it while I went to River Island to do some shopping," she said.

"I came back out, got in my car and drove away, not realising that an apple core had been thrown out. A week later, I got a letter from the council saying I'd been fined £60.

"I just couldn't believe it. I phoned them and explained that it wasn't me who had thrown the apple, but my friend who has moved away.

"Two men arrived from the council and took pictures of my car. Then I got a second letter reiterating that I had to pay a fine of £60."

Miss Badger recalls seeing a council worker in the street and thinks it must have been him who reported the incident and took down her car's registration number.

A Wolverhampton City Council spokesman said: "Authorised officers of the council can issue £60 fixed penalty notices to anyone seen dropping litter.

"A fixed penalty notice is issued in preference to a court summons for littering offences as there is no criminal record recorded if the fine is paid, and the penalty is less than that of conviction for littering."

Legal sources estimate that the cost of Miss Badger's case could reach several thousands pounds if it goes to a Crown Court trial.