Judge slams failed chicken theft prosecution

A judge has condemned the waste of £30,000 of taxpayers' money in a failed attempt to prosecute two women accused of stealing £1.84-worth of chicken.

Verity Bredbury, 28, and Cassandra O'Connell, 25, were accused of shoplifting a pack of chicken thighs from Morrisons supermarket, in Bredbury, Greater Manchester, where they worked.

The pair, who always denied stealing the meat, appeared in court numerous times during a 10-month period.

After they elected to be tried by jury, their first trial was abandoned after one day and the second lasted three days including two days of legal arguments.

Yesterday at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar instructed the jury to find the women not guilty.

The Crown Prosecution Service hit back at the criticism from the judge, saying the defence was responsible for hiking the cost of the case by pushing it up to Crown.

A spokeswoman said: "We appreciate that the value of the items involved was relatively small - but this is true of most cases of theft from an employer. This alone would not be a reason for us to abandon the case."

She added that a CPS lawyer and an independent barrister reviewed the case throughout the legal process and always believed there was enough evidence to prosecute the women.

She continued: "Parliament gives defendants the right to have theft cases heard in the Crown Court, regardless of value of the property concerned and the value of the cost to the taxpayer. The CPS is unable to contest this."