A JUDGE launched a scathing attack on prosecutors after kicking out a case against a woman who found a games console while rummaging through rubbish.

Legislation designed to combat drug dealers and criminals involved in money laundering was used to bring 29-year-old Paula Clixby to court on a charge of acquiring criminal property.

But Judge David Bryant dismissed the matter after hearing only the prosecution case, and yesterday branded the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) decision to proceed as grotesque.

The judge ordered the CPS to meet the £800 cost of the case and blamed what he called the "foolish aberration" on "an over-enthusiastic" lawyer.

He warned crown prosecutors to stop using the Proceeds of Crime Act for matters such as Miss Clixby's and said if similar cases were brought before him he would treat them in the same way.

Miss Clixby, of Station Road, Darlington, was found with the PlayStation II and eight games when she was stopped by a community warden at 6.15am one day last July.

She claimed she found the computer games console while rifling through bin bags in the Neasham Road area of the town.

Crown prosecutors could have charged Miss Clixby with theft by finding or handling stolen goods, but when she appeared before magistrates accused of acquiring criminal property she elected for trial at crown court.

Last week, Judge Richard Lowden, at Durham Crown Court, expressed concern about the charge, and this week, when the case was listed at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Bryant brought up similar worries.

The judge invited the reviewing lawyer to explain his decision - but he did not take up the offer because he had no transport.

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, said the CPS stood by the charge and added that lawyers were being encouraged by the Home Office to use the Proceeds of Crime Act legislation.

The judge said: "It is hard to conceive of a set of facts less appropriate to be treated as money laundering."