Defiant UK hero Nick Hogan has been found guilty on four counts of "allowing people to smoke" and sentenced to six months in prison.
Nick Hogan refused to comply with the UK’s smoking ban. As a result, he lost the two pubs that he owned and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay over £7,000 in costs. He then appealed, and was ordered to pay an additional £1,000.
Mr. Hogan, ever defiant, refused to pay anything.* He has now been sentenced to six months in jail. His "crime": refusing to act as a law enforcement official and allowing people to smoke in his pub.
"Velvet Glove, Iron Fist" author Christopher Snowdon puts Mr. Hogan’s unjust sentence into perspective by noting for comparison the punishments (or lack thereof) received by real UK criminals.
Mr. Hogan, however, was charged with a non-crime: four counts of "allowing people to smoke".**
More details on this travesty are available at the article linked below.
Our thoughts and prayers here at FORCES go out to Mr. Hogan and his family at this difficult time.
(For perspective on the larger implications of this development, please see this previous report on the EU’s plans to dish out similar injustice for anyone who fails to comply with their anti-smoking pogrom.)
*CORRECTION: The UK’s Daily Mail reported in its February 27 article that "the married father-of-two [Mr. Hogan] refused to pay the fine".
Friday’s article from the UK’s Bolton News indicates Mr. Hogan’s wife, Denise, has stated that "he did not refuse to pay the fines, but could not afford the £500 a month penalty after being declared bankrupt."
The February 27 report from The Daily Mail was what caused the misstatment in FORCES reporting. Our apologies for the discrepancy.
**Additionally, the UK’s pub trade publication the Morning Advertiser reported on January 29 that Mr. Hogan was "found guilty on four counts of allowing people to smoke in the pub he has now sold." The This is Lancashire article originally cited (link below) also states that "District Judge Timothy Devas found him guilty of four charges of allowing people to smoke."
Whatever the specific nature of the charges that ultimately caused Mr. Hogan’s imprisonment may have been, it’s safe to state that Mr. Hogan’s incarceration was a matter of attrition resulting from his refusal to act as an enforcement officer for the UK’s smoking ban, and the subsequent legal struggles imposed upon him.
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