Metric Martyrs

(HT Drudge) Seinfeld brought us the Soup Nazi, now England brings us the Veggie Nazis.

David Harrison of the Telegraph.co.uk, tells the story of Janet Devers, 64. She was brought up on 13 criminal counts of selling vegetables using traditional measures such as pounds, ounces, and bowls. What a desperado! She insisted on a jury trial. The court dropped the four charges that would allow her to appear before a jury, and convicted her on eight of the remaining charges. Mr. Harrison writes,

Mrs Devers...was ordered by Thames magistrates to pay £5,000 in costs and received a criminal record after being convicted of eight charges of using imperial measures and selling vegetables by the bowl, under the Weights and Measures Act.

Not mentioned in this quote is her brother, Collin Hunt, 60, who has similar legal difficulties. But the story gets better. For whatever reason, the "police" at Weights and Measures were after Mrs. Devers and her brother. In a follow-up article, Mr. Harrison writes,

Council chiefs are to launch an independent investigation into allegations that street market inspectors were ordered to target a convicted "metric martyr" and his sister while ignoring other traders who sold goods in pounds and ounces.

As in the U.S., legal defense is expensive, and the Metric Martyr Defense Fund has been established to help Mrs. Devers and others convicted under the Weights and Measurement Act. Mrs. Devers is seeking to get her convictions overturned. Unfortunately, her brother and she are not the only victims of this abusive law. Christopher Booker, also of the Telegraph.co.uk writes,

The final goal, as Neil Herron of the Metric Martyrs Defence Fund insists, must then be a pardon for the late Steve Thoburn and the four other original "martyrs" who were found guilty in 2002...of breaking laws so ridiculous that the EU Commission has even denied they existed (but which are still on the statute book).

Good luck and best wishes from friends of freedom across the pond.