Nigel Allcoat says he contributed £40 because court was at an impasse due to mounting charges imposed on man who could not work in the UK

A senior magistrate who pulled £40 from his own shirt pocket to pay the court fine for a destitute asylum seeker has resigned his position, after being suspended by authorities for the good deed.

Professional organist Nigel Allcoat, a magistrate for 15 years, said he was despairing at the mounting fines and costs being accrued by an asylum seeker at Leicester magistrates court.

“As a magistrate, my job is to prevent more crime, but now the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) would have me sent to traitor’s gate,” he said. “But it is something I take very seriously.”

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The 65-year-old magistrate said the young man in his 20s had appeared before him in early August having defaulted on his fine, and had to also pay £180 in mandatory court charges, under legislation introduced late in the last parliament by the former justice secretary, Chris Grayling.

Allcoat said he had been deeply affected by images of refugees facing riot police in Hungary. “These people have travelled for hundreds of miles to reach us, I wanted to show what British justice meant, to show him the character of this country is actually compassionate.”

The man had £35 on a top-up card to use in specified shops, and was not allowed to take any form of work. A £60 victim surcharge he had owed in June had already been paid by a sympathetic burger stall owner who fed the young man occasionally when he was destitute, Allcoat recalled.

“What can someone do in that situation, when you tell them they need to find £180 or they will go to prison, but they cannot work?” Allcoat told the Guardian. “They could steal the money? Commit another crime? That would cost the state even more money to have him put in prison. It costs more to keep someone in prison than to send a boy to Eton.”

Allcoat, a former visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, said he felt the court was at an impasse, where they could only impose a fine which would make criminal activity more likely.

“We were looking at the computer system that was pulling up this man again for non-payment. It was spontaneous, but I had £40 in my shirt pocket and thought: ‘What if I chipped in? If a burger stall owner can?’ And I thought it would just feed the computer,” he recalled.

“The lady standing next to me also wanted to pay, though she had left her handbag in the retirement room.”

He said he had no knowledge of the asylum seeker’s personal story or country of origin. “We are simply told he had defaulted on a fine. I don’t know where he was from.”

Allcoat was suspended pending an inquiry by the lord chancellor’s advisory committee, but resigned so he could speak freely on the issue. He said he misses being a magistrate.

“My work as a musician is very cerebral and to work in the community and give something back was very important,” he said, adding that colleagues had been in tears about his departure. “I’ve had calls, emails, I’ve been taken out for dinner, everyone has been so effusive.”

The criminal courts charge came into effect in April to ensure convicted adult offenders pay towards the costs of running the criminal justice system. The penalty is in addition to fines, victim surcharges, compensation orders and prosecution costs.

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The Magistrates Association, which represents most magistrates in England and Wales, said in July that a number of experienced magistrates resigned in protest at the charge within a matter of months.

“We were up in arms at this legislation,” Allcoat said. “It is the only fine which is not means tested. We have to go out there, put on a show, and then it is us who have to deal with all the administration of the fines, and get it in the neck when it doesn’t work.

“It is completely wrong, ill thought through and I hope this small act makes some contribution towards it coming back to haunt those who passed it.

An MoJ spokesperson said: “It is right that convicted adult offenders who use our criminal courts should pay towards the cost of running them.

“The legislation and guidelines to magistrates and judges make it crystal clear that the charge is separate to the sentence and should not be considered as a mitigating factor.

“Magistrates and judges are aware that they can order offenders to pay in affordable instalments linked to their ability to pay. They do not have to order prompt payment in full.”