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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Candidate guilty of motoring offence
Tom Smithard Eastern Daily Press, Norfolk
Tuesday 19 Apr 2005 One General Election candidate's campaign got off to a bad start today, when a court convicted him of flouting motoring laws. Yarmouth candidate Michael Skipper, one of two representing the Legalise Cannabis Alliance in this region, was found guilty less than 24 hours after nominations closed. But despite the setback, party bosses said they would not be dumping him =AD and Skipper sought to work the guilty verdict to his advantage. Yarmouth magistrates took 20 minutes to find Skipper, 59, of St George's Road, Yarmouth, guilty of unlawful waiting following a morning-long trial. The court heard from traffic warden Paul Johnson, who said he had placed a ticket on Skipper's car parked on a double-yellow line last November 9. Skipper denied the charge, stating the line was not clear and visible. He said the fact the borough council had recently removed 'no parking' posts meant residents were unsure whether they could park there. Magistrates fined him the ukp30 fixed penalty plus ukp20 costs, having been told Skipper had no income after his bar was shut down last June. The candidate lost the licence for the Gallery Bar, underneath his flat, following a conviction last April for possessing cannabis with intent to supply. An undercover police operation discovered Skipper smoking a spliff at the bar and customers openly rolling joints, with ukp5 and ukp10 wraps of= cannabis on sale beside crisps and pickled onions. Outside court today, Skipper said his latest conviction would not be a setback to his General Election campaign. He said: =93The legalisation of cannabis is part of the wider issue of dealing with poverty, solving the problems of the worst-off in this= community. =93I think they'll appreciate me standing up to the borough council, who are victimising people who cannot afford to pay by giving them parking tickets for no reason.=94
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