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Michael Collis prosecutes the first case ever brought for obstructing an officer of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority

In the first prosecution ever brought for an offence of this kind, Michael Collis acted for DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) at Southampton Magistrates' Court. JS was prosecuted for obstructing an officer of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority during a routine compliance inspection of his company.

The prosecution's case was that JS sought deliberately to withhold from the compliance officer an address of where workers had been housed. A subsequent inspection of this address found it to be sub-standard leading to the revocation of JS' company's Gangmaster's licence.

The case culminated in a guilty plea and JS was sentenced to 200 hours un-paid work, in addition to being ordered to contribute to over £10,000 of DEFRA's costs.

22 March 2010

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