[Mrluvaluva]

A 22-year-old woman has been fined £140 for gluing dozens of fake diamonds on to the strap of her electronic tag to make it look more ‘bling’.



Rebecca Gallanagh from Tamworth in Staffordshire was hit with the penalty after appearing before Burton magistrates’ court on Tuesday.

The Tamworth resident was fitted with the monitoring equipment on November 15 after being found guilty of committing a public order offence during a fight outside Bullit nightclub in Burton.

Prosecutors from company Serco Home Affairs argued that decorating the item, which was attached to her ankle, had ‘compromised its integrity’.

Serco noticed the diamond decoration after being called out to replace her tag as the defendant was moving house.

Speaking outside the court, Gallanagh blasted the hearing as a ‘massive waste of time and money’.

‘It’s petty. I wouldn’t have wasted my time doing it if I knew I was going to be fined for it,’ she said.

‘There are all these people who go out and breach their orders, and all I’ve done is decorate my tag – that’s just not right.’

She added: ‘I was actually proud of decorating the tag at the time. I wanted to make it look nice while I had it strapped to me around the house, it was a personal thing.

‘Serco say I damaged the tag but I didn’t. When they removed the strap they told me they were going to throw it away anyway.’

She had been placed under strict curfew orders requiring her to stay at her home address between the hours of 9pm and 7am for three months after being fitted with the tag.

Mark Moore, who represented Gallanagh in court, said: ‘This is a young girl who was coming up to Christmas – there were opportunities where she was out and about and she was trying to make the tag look nice.’

Serco was unavailable for comment.


Metro

What's wrong with a bit of accessorizing here and there?