You couldn't make it up.....

Here we go again! Some lads go into a shop, pinch some stuff and run off. The shop keeper chases them. When he confronts them they set upon him, and he fights back. The result of all this? The shoplifters are given fixed penalty fines - the shopkeeper is arrested and charged with assault. His solicitor tells him that if he fights the case and loses, he faces up to six months in prison, and advises him to plead guilty, in which case he will probably only be fined. And this is what happens - he is fined £250. What a shining example of British justice!!