Prosecutors drop Bampton tortoise theft case after criticism

The defendant Victoria Maginnis, of Collett Drive, Bampton, had been charged with the theft of a tortoise named Raph, belonging to Rachel Boyd, in Bampton on July 13 last year.

She pleaded not guilty to the offence.

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The case was before the court again on June 5, when the prosecution offered no evidence meaning the case was dropped.

Judge Ian Pringle KC previously questioned why the case was before the crown court.

In January he said: “This is the theft of a tortoise. I’m sure a fondly kept pet, but I find it staggering that the Crown Prosecution Service will have the public purse pay for a trial for this.

“I don’t think it will be in the public interest to have a trial when we have the backlog of cases we do.

“I very rarely say things like this. What are we doing having a trial in the crown court for the theft of a tortoise?”

For crown court cases, data published earlier last year showed the open caseload nationally was 78,329 at the end of June, up two per cent from 76,957 at the end of March, when the backlog passed 75,000 for the first time.

In Oxford, there were 561 open outstanding cases on June 30 last year, up from 521 at the same time in 2024.