CRIMINALS across Hampshire are flouting court sentences by failing to pay fines given to them as punishments.

A massive £11m in unpaid court fines are still waiting to be paid - a figure that has risen by £140,000 in the last 12 months.

The increase also comes despite a clampdown on court debtors launched earlier this year called Operation Payback. The initiative saw tens of thousands of pounds collected after police began knocking at the doors of those who owed money.

Now bosses at the Ministry of Justice are promising to get even tougher on defaulters, and say the newly set-up National Enforcement Service will help in the fight.

For the full story see today's Daily Echo