Magistrates have found Isle of Wight dad, Jon Platt, guilty of failing to ensure regular attendance of his daughter at school.
Despite previously telling Mr Platt he had no case to answer – as he was able to argue his daughter had regular attendance – today Isle of Magistrates changed their minds and decided instead to hand out a criminal conviction.
Jon Platt was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,000.
Background
Jon Platt, rose to national fame in 2015 after refusing to pay school absence fines he’d received from the Isle of Wight council (IWC).
Mr Platt had taken his six year old daughter on holiday during term time and argued – when taken to court by the IWC – that as she had over 93% attendance recorded and the decision to take her out of school for a few days was his decision as a parent to take.
Isle of Wight Magistrates threw out the case, saying Mr Platt had no case to answer. The IWC took the case to the High Court for clarification. Mr Platt won again. The Department for Education then ‘requested’ the IWC appeal the decision in the Supreme Court and took over the case.
In April 2017, Supreme Court judges ruled in favour of the appeal and returned the case to the Isle of Wight Magistrates court.
