Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny accidentally listed to appear in court in Stoke-on-Trent

One commenter joked they could be ‘sentenced to be hand-drawn and quartered’

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse were named as defendants in a Crown Court report in Stoke-on-Trent.

The HM Courts and Tribunals service listed a host of beloved Disney characters as part of an apparent computer error.

The court listing was spotted by one eagle-eyed reader, who shared a screenshot of the comical listing on social media.

Mickey, Donald and Minnie were set to appear before Judge Hancox at 10am on Thursday (12 November).

Also on the list were Bugs Bunny, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty, Captain Hook, Buzz Lightyear and 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil. 

However, a HMCTS spokesperson has, perhaps unsurprisingly, confirmed that the listing was a mistake.

“Sorry for the error,” they wrote. “We’ve been testing a new upgrade to our case management system and the names were created as test cases but should have been deleted before the lists were issued/published.”

“Our local team has updated the final list online, removing the test names/cases.”

People were quick to see the funny side of the error, however. One commentator said it was “the best thing that’s happened in law all year”.

“In previous centuries, these criminals would have been sentenced to be hand-drawn and quartered,” quipped another.