The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for non-payment of the television licence fee in Essex police force area, 2005 to 2007 is shown in the following table.
Information held centrally cannot be further broken down to constituency level, hence Essex police force area data have been provided in lieu of West Chelmsford constituency.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Proceeded against Found guilty 2005 4— 4— 2006 3,114 2,703 2007 3,034 2,620 1 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in section 363 of the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect 1 April 2004. 4 Following quality checks these data are not considered reliable enough for publication. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice