Nigel Allcoat said the fines that were introduced by the government were "utterly foolish"
A senior magistrate has resigned after he was suspended for trying to pay an asylum seeker's court charges.
Nigel Allcoat, 65, from Burbage, Leicestershire, offered to pay towards a £180 fine imposed on a man in his 20s, at Leicester Magistrates' Court.
The fine was introduced by the government to help towards the running of the courts system and ensure criminals "pay their way".
Mr Allcoat said his offer had been a simple "humanitarian" act.
'Utterly foolish'
He said: "He was seeking asylum, which means it would have been breaking the law if he had been found with money or working, so how was he to pay this charge?"
Asylum seekers are given top-up cards which have £35 added to their balance each week and can only be spent in certain stores.
Rather than leaving the man short, Mr Allcoat, who has served for 16 years as a magistrate, reached into his own pocket.
He said: "My offer was simply humanitarian, otherwise this man would have appeared and reappeared... for non-payment, knowing that on any occasion he could be sent to prison."
Mr Allcoat was suspended from his duties following the case three weeks ago and investigated by the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee but he has now resigned.
He said: "It was a young man in his 20s from Europe who has been ordered to pay this charge and was brought in front of me as he hadn't paid.
"I just can't belong to an organisation that puts people in foolish situations like this.
"[The charge] was slipped in to the legal system just at the end of the last government without any real thinking as to the consequences.
"It can't be waived, it's not means-tested, it can't be remitted. You can't do anything about it as a magistrate. It's utterly foolish."
'Law is the law'
A number of magistrates have resigned in protest over the criminal courts charge after it was introduced in April.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "It is right that convicted adult offenders who use our criminal courts should pay towards the cost of running them.
"Offenders can pay in affordable instalments linked to their ability to pay. Magistrates and judges do not have to order prompt payment in full."
Magistrates' Association chairman Richard Monkhouse said his members had "expressed concerns about the charge from the outset".
"The law is the law and we have a sworn duty to apply it, so we've made our views known to the Lord Chancellor and will continue to do so."
- Published27 March 2015
