Two men fined for begging in the Black Country
Two men have been told to pay £50 each after admitting begging in Bearwood.
Stephen Phillips, aged 39, and Christopher Stewart,46, pleaded guilty to begging under the Vagrant Act 1824 and breaching the Community Protection Notice under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014.
Each was fined £20 and told to pay a victim surcharge of £30 when they appeared before Walsall and Aldridge Magistrates Court on April 5.
Both men were prosecuted under the Vagrant Act 1824.They were also found to have breached the Community Protection Notice under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014.
Members of the public had complained on numerous occasions about their persistent and aggressive street begging.
Stewart and Phillips were found to have breached the act following the complaints.
These criminal prosecutions mark the first successful action to take place in the West Midlands.
Next month a woman is due to appear before Walsall and Aldridge Magistrates Court for similar offences.
Tara North will appear on May 5 and officers will seek a criminal behaviour order to ban her indefinitely from the area.
Police want to stress that the measures were taken as a last resort. All three had refused help which would have stopped them begging in the area.
Begging is illegal, but under the Vagrancy Act 1824 begging does not carry a jail sentence.
Councillor Bob Piper, for the Abbey ward, said police offered to help provide the three people with finding them accommodation, social work and other assistance which they refused.
He said: “The people were begging aggressively from shoppers and passers-by and there is no way we would condone it.
"The police have gone to great lengths to help these people, but in the end they refused.
"I think begging is an issue everywhere, people are desperate and have no safety.
"You have to acknowledge and accept that but when people are begging for money aggressively it is unacceptable.”
