'Dine and dash' homeless man 'missing' amid court confusion

A HOMELESS man accused of a £2,000 “dine and dash” at a luxury hotel has been “lost” after a court debacle involving at least 16 attempts to hold an initial hearing.

- By Jon Austin

A farce resembling a scene from a Carry On film saw a judge told that neither the prosecution nor defence had any idea where the defendant was after a string of aborted hearings due to a lack of interpreters.

Finnish national Mikko Luistinen, 58, was first summoned to court three years ago after being accused of tucking into a gourmet meal with wine worth £1,936 at the five-star Dorchester Hotel on London’s Park Lane in May 2022, with no intention of paying.

He did not turn up for the first hearing so was eventually arrested and brought before Westminster magistrates on April 12 this year to face charges of obtaining services dishonestly and failing to surrender to custody.

However, this hearing could not go ahead as no Finnish interpreters were available.

Luistinen was remanded in custody but the case had to be adjourned at least 14 more times, due to the lack of an interpreter, before it finally went ahead on April 30.