More than £1.2 million in fines have been handed out for Covid law-breaking in the year since pandemic restrictions ended in England.
Parliament passed a series of laws to enforce national lockdowns, banning parties, public gatherings, and social meetings with the threat of up to £10,000 fines for those caught flouting the rules.
MPs also agreed to a series of strict rules governing international travel, in a bid to halt the spread of Covid into the UK from countries placed on a “red list”.
The last remaining restrictions were withdrawn in April 2022 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but prosecutions of those accused of breaking the rules in 2021 have quietly continued unabated. At least 2,000 prosecutions have come to court, leading to fines of more than £1.2 million.
Mr Johnson’s premiership was engulfed by the Partygate scandal, and it was reignited last month by a new video showing Conservative staffers dancing and socialising at a party during lockdown.
The Metropolitan Police this week announced it was reopening its investigation into the Tory party “jingle and mingle” on December 14, 2020. The force has also opened a probe into an event in Parliament the same month, when Sir Bernard Jenkin is reported to have attended a “birthday drinks” event for his wife in Parliament.
The possibility of a “Covid amnesty” has been floated by commentators on the ongoing Partygate row. However the Met has confirmed it is assessing the new evidence that has come to light.
MPs agreed to a three-year time limit for Covid prosecutions to be brought, and cases are currently heard every week in the Single Justice Procedure - a court process where convictions are dished out by a magistrates sitting behind-closed-doors based on written evidence alone.
Premier League footballer had no idea he was in the dock over a Covid travel breach
Premier League footballer Cheikhou Kouyaté is among the latest defendants to face prosecution for a breach of the Covid travel rules, over an incident that is now two-and-a-half years old.
The 33-year-old Senegalese international was stopped by a Border Force agent at Heathrow on January 19, 2021, and was accused of not completing a “passenger locator form” before he landed in the UK from Brussels.
The forms were used during the pandemic as part of the Track and Trace system, to locate airline passengers in the event that a Covid outbreak was detected.
It took Border Force – an agency under the Home Office umbrella – two years and two months to issue a £500 Fixed Penalty Notice to Kouyaté.
The letter was sent in March this year to the luxury apartment in Canary Wharf where the footballer had been living at the time of the airport stop in January 2021, while he was still signed to Crystal Palace. However Kouyaté transferred to Nottingham Forest in summer 2022 and did not know he had been prosecuted until the Evening Standard contacted his representatives.
The footballer was issued a £1,100 fine plus £200 in costs and fees and now has a criminal conviction, but he could still challenge the case to get it overturned.
“Had Chiekhou known about this matter, it would have been dealt with promptly”, a source close to the player said.
“He was unaware about it until this week, having received no correspondence to his current address. This matter will now be dealt with by his legal advisors.”
NHS nurse Nancy Gawe, 58, told a court she was left thinking “dying is better” when she received £10,000 in Covid fines for breaking travel rules nearly two years ago.
She had flown to Zimbabwe after a family tragedy in September 2021, and was challenged for not booking her and her son into a quarantine hotel on their return.
Ms Gawe, a mental health nurse in the NHS, said she believed the issue had been dropped when months passed without a fixed penalty notice being issued.
She then received a fine in February this year, and was prosecuted after being unable to pay the five-figure penalty.
“I was told if I have not received anything in the next 3-4 weeks, that means (it’s) not going further”, said Gawe, who insists she had evidence to offer in her defence but that has now been lost.
“When I received the first letter of money, I thought dying is better”, she added. She was ultimately ordered to pay £808 in fines and court costs.
Lengthy delays in fixed penalties being issued by Border Force and then cases coming to court are now commonplace.
Andrea Mensha, 36, from Waltham Forest, was stopped at Heathrow after flying to the UK from Paris in February 2021.
She was accused of not having the correct tests booked for her return to the UK, but did not receive a fixed penalty notice until January 2023.
When the fine was not paid, it took a further three months for the evidence to be handed to Hampshire Police to initiate a prosecution.
Ebelechukwu Ogbue, 54, from Ascot, was handed a £673 fine over a confusion about the travel rules in April 2021.
He told the court Ethiopia was not on the ‘red list’ when he left the UK, but had been added prior to his return.
As new prosecutions for Covid rule-breaking continue to be launched, existing cases are still in the criminal justice system waiting to be resolved.
At least 19 trials were set to take place between June and August in front of magistrates at Ealing, Bromley, Croydon, Uxbridge, Willesden and Wimbledon.
In addition, fresh challenges to Covid lockdown-breaking prosecutions continue to be mounted each week, by defendants who did not know they were being prosecuted.
It is understood all fixed penalty notices for alleged breaches of Covid travel rules have now been sent out by Border Force, which has been working through a backlog of cases.
The Home Office insists all fixed penalties have been issued within legal time limits, after being subjected to checks on the evidence.
“Border Force issued Fixed Penalty Notices for breach of regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Where passengers have not paid these notices, Border Force worked with policing partners to ensure this happens”, said a Home Office spokesperson.
