Londoners accused of breaking the lockdown rules are being prosecuted behind closed doors and under a veil of secrecy, the Standard can reveal.
Almost 300 people — including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s older brother — have faced a Met police prosecution in the last month for allegedly breaking the pandemic controls.
Previously, rule breakers were dealt with in open court but London’s cases are now being handled by a magistrate and legal adviser sitting in private under the Single Justice Procedure.
The Westminster magistrates’ court cases — all relating to alleged breaches between late March and May — have been hidden from the public and attempts to access information about the prosecutions have been frustrated.
An Evening Standard investigation has identified seven cases where the Government’s newly pressed laws appear to have been wrongly applied, with defendants convicted and fined in their absence. They include:
- Farid Ullah, 21, from Guildford, and Jazinhio Ricardo Phillips, 43, from Leytonstone, both convicted and fined under the Welsh coronavirus regulations for offences in London.
- Constantin Murariu, 49, from Edgware, found guilty of a breach of the Coronavirus Act 2020, a law brought in by the Government to give the police powers over members of the public suspected of being infectious. But Murariu’s breach of the lockdown laws was “drinking beer on the street” and ignoring a police direction to go home. He was ordered to pay £272.
- Mohammed Hamza, 26, from Camden, also convicted under the Coronavirus Act and handed a £250 fine when he was accused of “failing to leave the area and return home”.
In the Westminster lockdown breach cases lists of results have not been issued to the press despite repeated requests, while two weeks worth of prosecutions were hidden entirely after court staff forgot to send out the details. An open justice safeguard that journalists can inspect court papers on request has also been ignored.
The Home Office said efforts are being made to ensure all criminal cases are correctly charged and insisted: “The police are enforcing coronavirus legislation correctly in the majority of cases.”
