A woman (not pictured) was jailed after begging for 50p (Picture: Getty Images)

A ‘fragile and vulnerable’ woman has been jailed for six months after she was caught begging for 50p.

Marie Baker, 38, was locked up despite the District judge Philip Mackenzie being upset she didn’t have a lawyer in court.

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Instead she somehow ended up representing herself in the civil case even though she was apparently unable to read or write.

Judge Mackenzie told Worcester county court in February: ‘I am disturbed and concerned that Ms Baker attends before me today without the assistance of any public funding or a solicitor.


‘I am particularly concerned about that because, on any view, Ms Baker is […] a fragile and vulnerable individual and that makes it all the more regrettable that she has not got legal assistance.’



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She was jailed at Worcester county court (Picture: Google)

The judge even went as far as to accuse the legal system of conspiring against Baker.

Despite his outrage he still ended up giving her a custodial sentence because he wanted to deter her from begging in Worcester after she contravened an existing anti-social behaviour civil injunction against her.

She had tried to argue CCTV would prove it was a case of mistaken identity and she had only been prosecuted because a police officer had a grudge against her.

The judge added: ‘I have reached the conclusion that she can have a fair hearing and that every opportunity has been afforded to her to prepare a case with assistance from a solicitor, but through no fault of her own she has not been able to secure that.’

He stressed he had been reluctant to send her to prison.

The Ministry of Justice backed Legal Aid Agency said it would look into the judgement.

It said: ‘Our published guidance confirms that cases of this nature are dealt with under criminal legal aid, however civil providers can apply for an individual case contract to carry out these cases where appropriate.’

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