A man bound by a six-month exclusion order from going into some types of licensed premises appeared in court charged with committing a breach by entering the Royal Jersey Showground at Trinity, where the festival took place. A temporary seventh-category licence had been held for the weekend, and police who saw Robert William O’Connor drinking in the grounds on Saturday arrested him for breaking the exclusion order. Although O’Connor (30), of Cinq Chênes, St Saviour, pleaded guilty yesterday and admitted drinking, he said that he had not bought any alcohol at the showground bar and had been unaware that the event was licensed. He told the court that he had not seen a sign to that effect and thought that as the concert was out in the open, he would not be committing an offence. After Trinity Centenier Norman Le Maistre told the court that he did not know if there had been such a sign, Magistrate Ian Le Marquand said that such an omission would have been ‘very unsatisfactory’. He added that it could almost be a breach of the Licensing Law, which he said normally required the name of the licence holder and category of licence to be displayed. After telling the prosecution that the status of the event’s licence or permit needed to be clarified, Mr Le Marquand advised O’Connor to reserve his plea for the time being and adjourned the case for three weeks.
