DANNIELLA Westbrook has avoided jail in Spain for an unpaid £30 bill thanks to a legal loophole.
The former EastEnders star was convicted of fraud after failing to pay for €37 (£32.90) worth of petrol at a motorway stop.
She was pulled aside by police last month after she jetted to Ibiza for failing to pay the £30 fine.
Danniella feared she would be thrown in prison and lumped with a £3,500 fine.
But she has now walked free after officials said her fraud conviction was now spent and she wouldn’t be made to pay anything or be handed a jail sentence.
Legal sources confirmed this is because officials had not been able to formally notify her of her punishment within a year of its issue.
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The 49-year-old was found guilty of the minor fraud offence in October 2018 despite a no-show at the court.
She was first reported to police on 24 July, 2018 – two days after she drove off from the Galp petrol station.
She was arrested by Spanish police and detained for 14 hours.
The mum-of-two, prosecuted under her former married name Danniella Jenkins, was later ordered to repay the €36 and fined €300 in her absence.
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The fine conditions involved the payment of three euros a day for a month, with the actress also warned she would face a day in jail for every two days’ unpaid fine.
The garage owner told the trial in her absence: “She came in and emptied her handbag on the counter and said she had no money.
“She left a foreign driving licence and said she’d pay later but I never heard from her again.”
He admitted after the hearing he had no idea he was out of pocket to a former soap star and admitted he had little hope of ever being paid.
He later added: “Hopefully the bad publicity she’ll get from this will shame her into paying me.
“I think she knew she had no money before she filled her car up with petrol from the way she turned her bag upside down the moment she got to the counter.
“It’s incredible to think of all the hassle she’s caused me and herself over such a small amount of money because she would have had to apply for a new driving licence to replace the one she left behind.
“I had a friend’s funeral to attend this morning and was worried at one point I wouldn’t make it when the court case didn’t start on time.
“Having to take time out to deal with things like this is an unnecessary inconvenience when I’ve got a family business to run and two young children to look after.
“But I went through with this because people like her shouldn’t think they can get away with it.
“Even if I don’t end up getting my money back, hopefully it will make this woman think twice before trying it on again next time.”
Danniella has been sunning herself in Spain recently and was yesterday pictured topless by the pool.
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It comes a day after she teased a new romance with ex-con bareknuckle boxer Ben Hatchett – just weeks after confirming she was back with her fiancé David.
She was due to marry her on-off partner of seven years but he is currently in prison.
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