THE manager of a home for recovering mentally ill patients was given three weeks to clear a council tax debt or face jail.

Rossendale magistrates told Bernadette Chapman of Heron's Reach, Ramsbottom: "You've escaped custody by a hair's breadth."

The court was told on Thursday (May 8) a council tax bill of £478 was still owed to Rossendale Council from the year 1994/95.

Cross-questioned by the bench she said at the time she was moving house and had taken up a job as manager at Cedar House, Middleton, where she had worked for five months without pay until the home began to receive patients.

Chapman said she would be able to pay the outstanding amount in about two weeks. The magistrates ordered her to pay £100 immediately and gave her 21 days to pay the rest. They told her: "If you fail to meet these conditions you will be back here and custody will quite definitely be the case."

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