Disabled war widow plagued by burglars jailed over council tax protest

Gwynneth Lester, 58, was released after serving half of a 56-day sentence for defying repeated warnings to pay a £1,200 bill.

Mrs Lester, whose sailor husband died after serving in the Gulf in 1990, decided to take a stand after her home was burgled for the eighth time in two years.

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She claims police ignored her pleas for help and failed to bring anyone to justice for the spate of attacks.

Refusing to pay for a "sub-standard" service, she stopped paying council tax altogether.

Last night, after her time in jail alongside killers, robbers and drug dealers, Mrs Lester said: "Those hostages in Iran were treated better than I was in prison. The first two nights I slept on the floor and in the space of 28 days I had lost a stone in weight."

She added: "I'm never going to pay council tax again, because you don't get the services.

"If that means going back to prison, then so be it.

"No one does anything to warrant me paying it. The roads and pavements are atrocious and the rubbish collection is almost non-existent.

"Until 2005 I faithfully paid council tax year in, year out. But after the burglaries I wondered what I was actually paying for.

#"It's not that I can't afford to pay it. I can. But even if I have to go through this nightmare again I won't pay."

Mrs Lester, who served in the Women's Royal Army Corps during the 60s, suffers from severe arthritis and had her kneecaps removed after a car accident in the Army 40 years ago.

She began her protest in 2005 after the series of burglaries at her home in Gosport, Hampshire.

She claims police came to her home to investigate on only one occasion - when she fired a starting pistol to scare off the intruders. Instead of hunting those responsible they sent an armed response team and questioned her.

Fearing for her safety, she moved to a flat in Fareham, Hampshire. There she also built up arrears in council tax before moving back to Gosport to live in a retirement home.

On March 22 she was arrested and taken before Fareham Magistrates Court, which was told that she owed £576.48 plus £295 costs to Fareham Borough Council and £633.49 plus £295 costs to Gosport Borough Council.

"I went before the court at 2pm and within half an hour I was jailed," she said. "I was taken to the prison and chucked into a cell.

"The other prisoners couldn't believe I'd been jailed. It was a horrendous experience."

Mrs Lester's 30-year-old son, Mike, called his mother's jailing "a waste of money" and claimed that her 28-day sentence cost the taxpayer a total of £8,400 at the rate of £300 a day.

Her monthly income of £2,734 is made up of a disability pension and a war widow's pension.

But she said most of that goes on debts for home alterations to accommodate her disabilities and medical costs.

Last night, her case was backed by the Taxpayers' Alliance campaign group.

Spokesman Blair Gibbs said: "This poor lady has chosen to stand up against the injustice of our council tax system, which hammers people on fixed incomes.

"Council taxes are unfair and more pensioners will suffer like this unless town halls cut out waste and unnecessary spending and bring our bills down." Gosport Borough Council's financial services manager, Julian Bowcher, defended the court action.

He said: "We vigorously pursue all non- payers of council tax in the interests of the vast majority of people who do pay.

"Arrangements can be made for those in genuine hardship but we take a hard line on those who are able to pay but don't."

Mrs Lester's sentence at a category B prison, Bronzefield in Middlesex, will clear her council tax debts.

She added: "I wasn't scared of being sent to prison, I expected it, I knew it would come.

"I was certain I was not going to pay the money.

"I was under no illusions what the outcome would eventually be."