PERSISTENT council tax dodger Carol Winfarrah has been jailed for 20 days after failing to pay more than £1,300 she owed.
Winfarrah, 41, of Convamore Road, Grimsby, was locked up after racking up the debt between July 2006 and November 2007.
She was originally told to appear before Grimsby magistrates in June 2004, when she agreed to make payments off her debt.
But, after failing to make these payments and managing to evade North East Lincolnshire Council and court appearances for a number of years, she appeared in court in July 2010.
By then, her debt totalled £3,761.12 from 10 liability orders.
The magistrates wiped off £2,244.98, leaving £1,516.14 to pay.
She was once again ordered to make payments off her debt – and this was backed by a 30-day suspended sentence.
Winfarrah failed once again to keep to the arrangement and, after numerous attempts to get her back to court, she finally appeared there in November last year, when magistrates ordered her to pay £20 a fortnight.
On her latest appearance, the court heard that, since the original hearing in July 2010, Winfarrah had paid only £390, when she should have paid £1,150. The amount left was £1,301.13.
The magistrates decided that, given the number of chances she had been given and the fact she had made no attempt to keep to the order, they had no option but to jail her for 20 days.
After the hearing, Sharon Wroot, head of North East Lincolnshire Council's operational finance, said: "We pursue those who won't pay their council tax rigorously, as this case shows.
"However, we also work hard to help those who genuinely can't pay their council tax and I would encourage anyone who is experiencing difficulties to contact us at the earliest opportunity and we will do all that we can to assist them."
