A woman was fined £220 for breaching Covid rules by driving from Wirral to Liverpool because the city had “loads of fit fellas”.
Louise Whelan, then 29, was stopped in Tollemarche Road, Birkenhead on the evening of May 4 last year during the first national lockdown.
According to documents only now released by the courts, Whelan, of Rankin Street, Poulton, initially claimed she had been dropping her niece off and had been to the shops.
However, further enquiries by the police officer, PC David Cullen, revealed she had in fact been over to Liverpool.
In a witness statement provided to the court, PC Cullen said: “I asked her why they had been to Liverpool to which she stated: ‘I was just trying to see some fella’.
“She went on to say that she had had some problems in Wirral and that Liverpool had loads of ‘fit fellas’ and that she was driving around trying to find some.
“I pointed out to her that this was not a valid reason to be out to which she replied: ‘I wasn’t even going shopping that was a lie.’”
Whelan’s comments have only now come to light following the release of witness statements relating to cases heard under the single justice procedure, which allows a lone magistrate sitting in private to decide cases without lawyers or defendants present.
The magistrate makes their decision based on written evidence, and only if the defendant agrees to be tried using this procedure.
After hearing Whelan’s excuse, PC Cullen told her that he would be reporting her for breaching the Covid restrictions, to which she replied “OK”.
In a private hearing, magistrate Gordon Roberts found Whelan guilty of leaving her residence without reasonable excuse during the emergency period and fined her £220.
Mr Roberts also ordered her to pay £85 in costs and £34 as a surcharge for victims’ services, bringing her total fine to £339.
