Fine-dodgers are being named and shamed in the Leicester Mercury as the courts aim to retrieve up to £1m of outstanding fines and compensation claims.

The fines are for crimes ranging from burglary to assault and failure to have a television license.

Leicester Magistrates Court Committee is responsible for the idea of printing the names, in the hope that Mercury readers would call and reveal the offenders’ whereabouts.

The Mercury agreed to give space to the plea for help and both sides’ confidence paid off when four people from the original list were named almost straight away by the public and have subsequently been caught.

Committee clerk Nick Watson said: “Leicester Mercury readers helped us track down four of the people on the first list – and that’s four people we might not otherwise have found.

“I hope Mercury readers want these people to pay their dues and will help us ensure they don’t get away with this evasion.”

Rick Moore, chairman of the Magistrates’ Court Committee, said: “Court officers are having difficulty tracing these defaulters. We had an excellent response from readers when the Mercury published a list of those owing compensation for offences earlier in the year.”

Area director of Victim Support in Leicestershire and Rutland openly welcomes the campaign: “This is all about justice – victims expect these fines to be collected.”

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