‘Fined for visiting a friend’ – the people prosecuted for breaking lockdown rules
An 18-year-old was ordered to pay £184 after meeting three other men in a park on May 14, 2020 – the day before Downing Street staff were pictured with wine and cheese in the No.10 garden. Conor Gogarty looks at how some of Wales’ lockdown rule-breakers were punished
THE day before Boris Johnson enjoyed wine and cheese with his wife and colleagues, a teenager met three friends in a Cardiff park.
The 18-year-old, who landed a £184 fine for his actions in May 2020, is among many people prosecuted for breaking lockdown rules who may be paying attention to the flood of news reports about parties at Downing Street.
The Metropolitan Police announced on Tuesday that it is investigating “a number” of gatherings in Whitehall and Downing Street during Covid restrictions.
By our count, at least 14 have recently been reported.
We have now obtained documents from the behind-closed-doors court cases of 17 people fined over gatherings and parties in Wales during the pandemic.
They range from a woman visiting a friend who had just fled an abusive relationship, to three men who went on a fishing trip.
Some of the cases give an insight into mental health struggles in lockdown. Some cover gatherings of just a few people. Some relate to more serious breaches. But all of the defendants may be wondering if they have been held to a higher standard than those running the country.
■ Woman fined £2k for visiting friend who had fled abuse
One 20-year-old woman from Pontypool was ordered to pay more than £2,000 after visiting a home to support a friend who had fled an abusive relationship.
PC Sean Moloney attended the house in Newport at 2.10am on October 25, 2020. In his report, he described how “everything went quiet” after he knocked on the door. When he threatened to force entry, a woman opened the door.
The officer wrote: “All four females were dressed up, the telly was on and was playing dance music, and there were several bottles of alcohol and glasses with alcohol inside scattered around the room. Considering all this, I would say that these females were having a party within the flat.”
The three visitors said they were there to support their friend who was vulnerable. In his report, the officer said the abusive relationship was under police investigation.
He issued fixed penalty notices to the visitors and allowed one of them to stay at the home because the resident was “suffering with mental health issues” from the trauma of the abuse.
Court documents show penalties totalling £2,021 for the visitor who was allowed to stay at the house. The documents do not ot show what fines and costs were handed to the other visitors.
■ Teenager meeting three friends park
An 18-year-old d man from Cardiff was ordered to pay y £184 after meeting three hree other men in a park on May 14, 2020 – the day y before the Prime Minister, his wife Carrie and up to 17 staff ff were pictured with wine ne and cheese in the he Downing Street t garden.
In his report on the Cardiff case, PC Joel Gilbert said he was on patrol at 7pm when he noticed four men in the park off Pepys Crescent in Llanrumney.
“One of the males was on a motorbike with no number plate,” the officer wrote. “All four males were either standing or sitting in close proximity to one another within two metres. As we approached the males, the motorbike made off and the three other males started walking away. “I stopped the three males and after some objections on their parts, they eventually provided me with their details. All three males had different addresses.” The men told PC Gilbert they were doing their daily exercise, but the officer said they had “all gathered around the motorbike and were not exercising”. He believed they were “quite clearly” breaching lockdown and reported them all.
‘I went out to help my mental health’
A 26-year-old man from Ogmore Vale was ordered to pay £444 after a police officer caught him going fishing with two friends on January 10, 2021 – the month after seven reported gatherings involving the UK Government and the Conservative Party.
In their report, police said they pulled over a Volkswagen Golf due to a “heavily obs obscured number plate”.
The driver said he was on his way to go fishing i in Aberthaw. He and the two passengers passenge had travelled from Bridgend an and they did not live together.
A police officer offi explained to them this was not a an essential journey. The men said the they understood it was a breach of Cov Covid rules but they had a “disagreemen disagreement with the legislation”. All were reported repor for breaches. The court d documents only relate to one of o the men in the car, who wh wrote to Cardiff Magistrates’ Court: “I suffer with anxiety and depression and found Covid difficult to cope
with. I went out to help my mental health.”
Nurse: ‘I don’t want this to affect my career’
A 21-year-old nurse was told to pay £64 after attending a party in Newport on February 12 last year. Police found 30-40 people drinking and listening to music in the flat.
PC David Thomas informed them that Wales’ level four restrictions banned gatherings of people outside their bubbles. He issued a fine to the tenant of the flat and he also reported the young nurse, who was a guest.
PC Thomas said she had not “taken the advice” of officers to leave the address.
The nurse wrote to Newport Magistrates’ Court, saying that the party had “erupted into a fight”. She added: “At the scene a young woman had a head injury which I had to attend to. I couldn’t leave her.”
She denied returning to the property after the police warning. She said she had thought about her actions and decided to stop drinking, adding: “I don’t want this to affect my career.”
House party in Cwmbran
A 23-year-old woman was ordered to pay £1,375 after a gathering of 15-20 people at her home in Cwmbran. The party took place on the
night of December 12, 2020. That means it was held two days after two dozen staff reportedly had a Cristmas party at the Department for Education cafe. It was one day a £142 drinks fridge was reportdelivered to 10 Downing Street wine-time Fridays”. It was two before more than 20 people ed a buffet hosted by the camfor Tory London Mayor candidate Shaun Bailey. And it was six before dozens of Downing staff reportedly gathered for a tmas party with cheese, wine mock awards ceremony. young woman from Cwmbran was caught after PC Anthony Aylen ked on her door during the party. She told him seven people were present, including three lived in the house. In his report the officer said the an “clearly” did not want him to ide and became “obstructive”. asked her to tell her guests to prompting 15-20 people to While walking out, one of those s told police “I f**** can do what I want” before stumbling twice.
Woman fined after ‘giving ds a lift’
One student from Cwmbran had just turned 18 when police reported her for a Covid breach last February.
She was ordered to pay £439 over a gathering of four people.
A police officer had noticed the woman’s Ford Fiesta in a Cwmbran Drive layby at 11.10pm on February 9.
They wrote in their report: “My attention was drawn to this vehicle as I had previously spoken to the occupant of the vehicle at approximately 9.50pm that evening and the driver was issued a fixed penalty ticket for breaching Covid regulations as she was in the vehicle in Newport with two females, one of which she did not live with.”
They added: “I spoke with [the defendant] who was not in the car but putting some horses back into a field that had got on to the road. I then went to the vehicle and saw a female who was in the car previously and also two males who were in the back seat and not in the vehicle on the previous occasion. I asked [the defendant] what she was doing and she stated that she was giving the males a lift. I advised her that she was previously told to go home and issued a fixed penalty for mixing with people from other households and she rolled her eyes and said, ‘I’m only giving them a lift’.”
‘Nurse advised it would be good for my mental health’ One 39-year-old woman from Barry was ordered to pay £808 after a birthday party on March 6 last year. She said her mental health had been “severely impacted” by lockdown and she had been signed off work for six weeks due to anxiety and depression.
Police had entered a home in Barry at 11.20pm and found nine people drinking. They told police they were celebrating a birthday. In her report, officer Rhian Gunney said the breach was “blatant”.
“Even my mental health nurse advised it would be good for my mental health to meet with friends,” the defendant wrote to Cardiff Magistrates’ Court.
Students ‘cramped together’ at campus party
One 18-year-old student at Cardiff Metropolitan University was told to pay £324 after gathering with more than 60 people in a flat at the Cyncoed Campus.
The event took place on November 7, 2020 – less than two weeks before the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie reportedly partied at their flat in Downing Street, as alleged by Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
In his report, PCSO William Evans wrote he had seen people dancing and disco lights at 12.18am through a first-floor window. When he entered the flat, he saw about 40 people “cramped together” in the kitchen with “no distance” between them.
Partygoers ‘seemed to find police attendance very funny’
One 26-year-old man from Newport was told to pay £2,021 after having a house party on April 3 last year. The event took place less than two weeks before about 30 people reportedly attended a boozy 10 Downing Street leaving do the night before Prince Philip’s funeral.
Police officer Simon Dover said he attended at 12.15am and spoke to an occupant through the locked front door. As he did so, he saw “a number of people” running out of the rear door. By the time the front door was eventually opened, around six people were inside.
The officer wrote: “All those still present seemed to find police attendance very funny and nothing wrong with their gathering, despite the current Covid threat and restrictions. It was pointed out to them that they were breaching Covid regulations by having a party but they did not seem bothered. Several times they made comments about ‘Barry Island’ and killing people in custody, which I presumed was a reference to the recent death following custody detention in the South Wales Police area.”
When the officer told the defendant he would be reported for the breach, he replied he would be “speaking to WalesOnline in the morning”. The officer said the “threat of press involvement” would not “intimidate us or affect our decision”.
Party thrown ‘for man heading to prison’
A 20-year-old woman was told to pay £2,021 following a Newport party on March 13 last year. Police found three women in the living room. Some men fled from the back of the home but three remained in the kitchen.
One of the women told police “a gathering was taking place at the address as the father of her child would be going to prison shortly”. All the people inside were reported for a breach.
The officer who wrote the report described the party as “a clear and blatant breach of the restrictions in an alert level four area of Wales”.
‘Don’t damage the speaker’
One 18-year-old student was ordered to pay £1,300 following a party on November 7, 2020, at the Cardiff University halls on Birchwood Lane. Her conviction and sentence were later withdrawn for unknown reasons.
PC Amy Partridge attended at 1am and found a party on the tennis courts with “a large number of persons and loud music”. People started running away as she approached. She made her way into the crowd to get the music speaker and found a woman wearing a leopard-print top – the defendant – holding it.
When the officer took the woman’s arm she tried to run away, while a man nearby said: “Don’t damage the speaker.”
PC Partridge caught the defendant and pulled her away from the crowd.
“She stated that she didn’t know who the speaker belonged to and that someone had just put it in her hand,” PC Partridge wrote in her report.