Every person charged under new coronavirus law wrongly prosecuted after CPS admits powers used incorrectly

Dozens have been wrongly charged under the new laws
PA
Imogen Braddick15 May 2020

Dozens of people in England and Wales have been wrongly charged during the Covid-19 outbreak after it emerged that all prosecutions brought under the new Coronavirus Act were incorrect.

A total of 44 charges have been brought under the new law since it was introduced on March 27. But the Crown Prosecution Service has now revealed that all of those charges were incorrect, including 13 wrongful convictions.

The legislation allows officers to remove or detain a “suspected infectious person” for screening and assessment.

Twelve charges brought under the Health Protection Regulations 2020 - which give powers to break up gatherings and fine people breaching restriction of movement rules - were also wrong, although the CPS said the majority had been correct.

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It comes after the CPS launched a review of all 231 police charges under coronavirus legislation in England and Wales, where the prosecution has either been stopped or ended in a conviction, following errors highlighted by journalists, lawyers and campaigners.

Of the 231 charges, 175 were correct and 56 were incorrect.

Service director of legal services, Gregor McGill said 175 out of the 187 charges under the regulations had been rightly applied, with errors coming when Welsh regulations were used in England or vice versa.

“These included people driving from London to Leicester for a party, groups drinking and misbehaving in the park, and other groups hanging around the town centre after being asked to go home by police on several occasions,” he said. “Where mistakes were made, it was usually because Welsh regulations were used in England, or vice versa."

He added: “Under the [Coronavirus] Act, all 44 charges were incorrect because they did not cover potentially infectious people, which is what the legislation is intended for.”

Mr McGill said 38 of the 44 charges had been brought alongside other offences, including assaults on emergency workers, theft and burglary, while 31 of the wrongful charges were withdrawn in court.

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Some 13 resulted in wrongful convictions, said to have typically been dealt with by “financial penalties”.

Those have been returned to court to be withdrawn, with 11 of the 13 substituted with charges under the regulations.

Martin Hewitt, National Police Chiefs' Council chair, said: "These were unprecedented circumstances in which officers were presented with new powers within days of them being announced.

"This has all been done at pace and everyone in the Criminal Justice System has had to deal with a new body of legislation, which has undoubtedly led to some confusion.

"We apologise for the mistakes but all parties have worked hard to manage this new legislation as effectively as they can and to keep the public safe."

It comes as the National Police Chiefs’ Council said more than 14,000 fines have been issued for flouting Covid-19 lockdown rules.

Provisional data released on Friday shows 13,445 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) have been recorded by forces in England between March 27 and May 11, while 799 were issued in Wales in the same period – a total of 14,244.

The fines were all handed out before lockdown regulations were relaxed in England from Wednesday, with penalties set at £60, reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks, with the fine doubled for each repeat offence up to a £960 maximum.

Higher fines can now be imposed in England – £100, reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days, and rising to a maximum of £3,200 for subsequent offences.

Of the 43 regional police forces in England and Wales, the Metropolitan Police has recorded the highest number of fines, with 906, followed by Thames Valley Police, with 866, and North Yorkshire, with 843.

Warwickshire issued the fewest, with just 31.