West Sussex fisherman fined alongside three others for fishing without licence

In October 2023, Aaron Critchard travelled up from West Sussex to West Drayton on the other side of London to fish, but the 26-year-old also skipped buying the appropriate licence to use Thorney Weir Lakes just inside the M25.

Critchard, of St John’s Crescent in Broadbridge Heath, could have paid only £7.10 for a day’s fishing licence, but was forced to pay out £220 for his fine, with £125 in costs and a victim surcharge of £88, also ordered by Barkingside magistrates in absentia in March.

Owen Stockting and Darren Broadhurst were caught by Environment Agency fisheries officers in Southampton last autumn.

Broadhurst, 47, of Carey Road, in Thornhill, fished illegally on the River Itchen at Swaythling on 8 October. He wasn’t present to hear magistrates in Swindon last month fine him £220, with costs of £135 and an £88 victim surcharge.

Stockting, of Matheson Road, in Lordshill, went fishing without a licence at Totton’s Testwood Lakes in September. At another court hearing in Swindon in March, the 26-year-old admitted the offence and was fined £83, with costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £33.

Kye Jerrom, a senior enforcement officer with the Environment Agency, said: “Fishing licences are great value and less expensive than fines. The income helps with the sustainable management of fisheries. It’s quick, easy and cheap to get a licence: by phone and online – search ‘fishing licence’ on gov.uk.

“Our fisheries enforcement officers check private lakes, rivers, ponds and canals for illegal fishing, supported by clubs, the Angling Trust and police.”

The men were charged with fishing without a licence under section 27 (1) (a) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975, with Menditta also charged with failing to state his name and address, under section 35 (3).

The close season for coarse fishing is in force, meaning angling for those species is prohibited from 15 March to 15 June inclusive every year on rivers, streams, drains and some canals and still waters.