Council tax rebel, 71, who protested over 'drug addicts and prostitutes' has debt cleared - for now

Council tax rebel Josephine Rooney's three-year battle apparently ended in victory yesterday when her local authority announced it was writing off her near-£1,500 debt.

Miss Rooney, 71, has twice been to prison in pursuit of her goal to force Derby City Council to clean up her once-elegant neighbourhood.

The council said it had abandoned hope of ever being paid by the pensioner.

However, she now owes a further amount and could eventually be jailed for a third time.

She said: 'I can't back off. Standing up for the truth is what democracy is all about, and this has gone so far now that I have to continue.'

The spinster began withholding her council tax in 2004 after claiming the council had let Hartington Street  -  nicknamed 'Crack Alley' by locals  -  become overrun by drug dealers and prostitutes.

Miss Rooney, who lives in the street, was first locked up in June 2006 after failing to pay £800 in arrears but served only one day of her three-month sentence after a well-wisher - much to her fury - paid up on her behalf.

In April this year, she was given a second sentence, of 28 days, after her arrears reached £1,476.17.

She served the full term after urging supporters not to step in again.

The authority says it has spent £800,000 on improvements to Hartington Street and the surrounding area.

Yesterday, a spokesman said it could do no more to pursue the money Miss Rooney owes for the period from April 2006 to March

He said that according to the law, once a person has served a jail sentence for non-payment, the debt is automatically deemed to be irrecoverable.

On Monday, Miss Rooney appeared at Derby Magistrates' Court again, accused of failing to clear her £744.64 council tax debt for 2008-2009, which the council had ordered her to pay in advance because of her bad payment record.

District Judge Caroline Goulborn imposed a liability order demanding that she settle her bill.

The decision to write off the earlier debt was condemned by Chris Williamson, Labour leader of the council until the LibDems seized control at last month's local elections.

He said: 'We did everything she asked. There is no reason for her not to pay.'

Tory leader Philip Hickson added: 'It is absolutely disgraceful. It sends the wrong message to the vast majority of people who do pay their council tax.'