20 Jul 2026
Six well-known local individuals wanted for crimes by Herts Young Homeless have been brought to justice at St Albans historic court room.
Participants in The Great Escape were hoping to raise £6,000 for the charity, which will be doubled thanks to its partnership with Helping Herts.
The half-dozen were arrested at 10am on Friday July 10 for a host of crimes including acts of great ministry, poaching salmon and serving great beer and cider, and then had to reach out to their networks, via social media, email and in person, to ask for donations to secure their release from the cells at the St Albans Museum + Gallery, with bail set at £1,000 per person.
Those taking part included Mix 92.6 presenter Jonny Seabrook, the Rt Rev Jo Kelly-Moore, Dean at St Albans Cathedral, Emma Parkhouse from The Great Northern Pub and Cllr Beth Fisher, Deputy Mayor of Harpenden.
Judging their crimes, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Herts Annie Brewster ruled that each “criminal activity” was not something that they should be held on, in fact, the opposite and that all individuals should continue their brilliant work across the county.
First to raise the bail money and stand in front of the judge was Emma Parkhouse from the Great Northern Pub.
She said “I feel fully vindicated. When I was first arrested, I couldn’t believe anyone would think that the amazing beer and cider we serve at the pub should be anything other than celebrated. To have been arrested for it was shocking and I am thrilled to be the first to raise the money and be granted release.
“I had hoped that the sheer number of kind and generous customers that we have may give me an advantage, and they certainly delivered. Thank you very much to all who donated, and to Herts Young Homeless for allowing me to take part – I had a blast!”
Jonny Seabrook said: “The last week has been absolutely fantastic helping Herts Young Homeless raise awareness and funds for their wonderful work. Thank you to everyone who has supported and donated funds to ensure I was on the radio at the weekend, waking up Hertfordshire in the morning and then commentating on the Saints’ away at Hanworth Villa on Saturday afternoon.”
Beth Fisher added: “As always, I am hugely grateful to people who support charitable events in our area. Whether it’s a parachute jump, quiz night or even escape from prison, friends, family and well meaning people dig deep and find a way to support amazing causes.
“In the week running up to Friday I had fun posting videos and pictures with an inflatable salmon hiding around Harpenden and poached salmon dinners as my crime was ‘poaching salmon’. I had some lovely messages from people asking what on earth I was up to and how I was making people chuckle.
“The team at Herts Young Homeless did a brilliant job of bringing this fantastic idea to life and making all the logistics fall into place at the right time. On the day itself, a team of locals including me in my role as the Deputy Mayor of Harpenden were ‘held’ in the beautifully renovated St Albans Museum with its old cells and court room.
“We had all accepted the challenge of trying to raise £1,000 in just three hours to secure our release. The money people were kindly donating showed up on the fundraising page and we released videos to encourage people to donate and get involved in the fun! To my absolute delight, I raised over £1,000 and was released by Annie Brewster DL who ordered me to ‘get that fish out of the courtroom!’
“It was great to be incarcerated with such wonderful people supporting Herts Young Homeless. I look forward to seeing who will take part next year!”
While all six original convicts have been released, Herts Young Homeless spokesperson Nicola MacKinnon has revealed to the St Albans Times that there may well be one more criminal at large, with a crime so nefarious it will shake the good people of St Albans to the core. Watch this space!
