Prosecutors have dropped a theft charge against a man who was accused of stealing flowers from tributes left to Ozzy Osbourne in Birmingham city centre.
The charge against Parviz Jafari was withdrawn by the Crown after a court was told a security guard had granted the 45-year-old permission to take the flowers.
Jafari, of Beaconview Road, West Bromwich, West Midlands, spoke only to give his personal details during a four-minute hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
District Judge David Wain was told the proceedings had been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, which had reviewed the evidence and sent a letter to Jafari’s legal representative informing him he would no longer face any charge.
The court was told a review by the CPS found there was no realistic prospect of conviction because the Crown could not prove the defendant had been dishonest when he took the flowers.
District Judge Wain told Jafari: “Please stand sir. The matter having been withdrawn, you are free to go.”
Jafari was charged last month after reports of a theft from among thousands of tributes left near the Black Sabbath Bench and mural following Osbourne’s death.
The star, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, died aged 76 on July 22 from a reported heart attack.
His family viewed the tributes on July 30 after a public procession in which the heavy metal star’s body was driven past his childhood home and through his home city.
