prison in Magistrates' Court recently. Thirty-nine year-old Stephen Thomas Bean, of 3 Tribe Road Warwick, was sent to prison for outstanding court fines dating back to 1995.

Brought in on an apprehension warrant, Bean at first was adamant that he owed no money to the courts. He claimed to have received no fine and only a three-year suspended prison sentence after violently resisting arrest in 1997.

But according to court records, Bean was also fined $500 for the two incidents and had paid $195 against them.

Fines levied against Bean for a separate incident of threatening behaviour in Warwickshire Estate in December 1995 were also unpaid, leaving Bean owing a total of $500 to the court.

But Bean said he was not to blame for the lapse in payments.

"I am illiterate,'' he said. "I can't read and I have to depend on others to keep my dates straight. I have four children I have to support and if I go to jail everything falls apart. Just tell me how much I owe and I will have to have it cleared up.

"Some are going to have to do without because I have got to get this straightened out.'' But Magistrate Edward King ruled that Bean pay the outstanding fines immediately or go to prison for a total of 51 days.

Bean, who said he was self employed, was unable to meet the debt and looking as though he was going to attempt to flee the court, was handcuffed and taken away.