A SOLDIER was astonished to find he had been convicted of urinating in the street in Taunton – even though he was thousands of miles away in Canada at the time of the incident.

Ben Dunford, 21, a former student at the St Augustine of Canterbury School, Taunton, was back in the town and was having his hair cut when he saw his name in the weekly court results in the County Gazette during a leave weekend.

The report said he had been given a £115 fine, and ordered to pay a further £75 in costs and compensation for urinating in North Street.

Subsequent investigations by Sapper Dunford, who is in the Royal Engineers, and his step-father Gary Hunt, 51, found that the alleged offence took place on June 14 when he was in Canada, training with the 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron.

Following a rehearing at Taunton Deane Magistrates last month, Spr Dunford has now been cleared of the incident with the conviction and sentence ‘set aside’ and the case withdrawn.

To convince prosecutors, Spr Dunford’s staff sergeant had to write them a letter confirming he was away at the time. He is now training in Germany ready for deployment overseas.

The Dunfords have received a letter from the police officer who issued the fixed penalty notice in June apologising for the situation. The letter also says a man stopped for urinating in the street gave Ben’s name and address instead of his own.

It later transpired the house number given was incorrect and the documentation from the courts had been returned by the people living at the address.

This week, Mr Hunt told the County Gazette: “If they are going to stop someone in the street, surely a simple check on the electoral roll would establish whether that person lives at that address.

“If it shows up as a mistake, you would think they would do some further investigation before they put someone through the courts. Just to take someone’s word seems absolutely incredible.

“It was fortunate that on the day he happened to be home he saw it in the paper and thankfully he could prove that he was several thousand miles away.”

Avon and Somerset police say identity checks are made when officers issue fixed penalty notices.

A police spokesman said cross checks on identity are made against the Police National Computer, but this only stores information on those who have a police record.

“We can do a check on the electoral roll. Checks are made, but the system is not infallible,” he added.

  • A police spokesman said a man in his 20s from the Taunton area had been charged with urinating in a public place and obstructing the police in the execution of their duty in connection with an incident on June 6.