Philip Olivier given six months to pay reduced fine for landlord error

Feb 1 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

FORMER Hollyoaks and Brookside star Philip Olivier has managed to get a £20,000 fine slashed after insisting he has no savings to pay the debt.

The 27-year-old actor, who hit television screens as pin-up Tinhead in Channel 4’s Brookside, became the first person in Liverpool to be prosecuted for breaking strict property laws.

The former Hollyoaks in the City actor was slammed with the huge fine by magistrates last August for being the landlord of a multiple-occupancy house without a licence.

But yesterday Judge Ian Trigger reduced the fine to £15,000 after hearing Olivier, who appeared under his full name Philip Borg-Olivier, has just £200 to £300 in spare cash a month.

Robert Cline, defending, told the court Olivier had no television work at the moment and was instead relying on the money he made as the landlord of nine other properties.

Mr Cline said it was understandable the magistrates who imposed the fine on the actor may have thought he had cash to pay the fine, but insisted he had no savings.

However, Judge Trigger has only given the actor until July 31 to pay to the fine or he could face a six-month jail sentence.