A WOMAN who was issued with a fixed penalty for a fly tipping offence failed to respond because she was in hospital being treated for cancer, a court has heard.

Blackburn Magistrates' Court was told how the failure to respond to the notice led to court proceedings beginning against Christine Horner.

As soon as she became aware of the action being taken against her by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, she handed herself in to the police who brought her to court rather than put her in a police cell.

Horner, 63, of Romney Walk, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to failing to take measures to secure the correct disposal of household waste.

After being told the original fixed penalty had been £200, the magistrates fined her £166 and ordered her to pay a £34 victim surcharge.

Julie Fisher, prosecuting, said an environmental officer had investigated an incident of fly tipping at the rear of Romney Walk.

She discovered documentation that related to the defendant's address, revealing it was Horner's rubbish dumped in the street where she lived.

Horner was visited and accepted giving some rubbish to her son who may have put it in the alley rather than in a waste receptacle.

Miss Fisher said a fixed penalty had been offered but this was not paid and there had been no further contact with the defendant.

Zabair Afzal, in mitigation, said his client accepted at the end of the day it was her responsibility to ensure rubbish was disposed of correctly.

"She had instructed her son to deal with this matter and she had paid someone to remove the rubbish," said Mr Afzal. "It would appear he didn't do that."

Mr Afzal said his client had spent six months in hospital after being diagnosed with cancer.

"The fixed penalty was issued while she was in hospital," said Mr Afzal. "If she had known about it she would have paid it."