Atherstone and North Warwickshire 'stick by letter of law' under coronavirus lockdown

THOUSANDS ACROSS THE UK FLOUT RULES AND UP WITH FIXED PENALTY NOTICES

ATHERSTONE and North Warwickshire are in a top "law-abiding" table that shames thousands of households across the UK for ignoring Covid-19 lockdown rules.

The district stuck to its principles when others were ignoring Government regulations introduced in the wake of the devastating pandemic.

Some 14,244 fixed penalty notices were recorded by police forces in England and Wales between March 27 and last Monday for flouting the Coronavirus Act – 862 of them handed out to repeat offenders.

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 forces, the Met Police recorded the highest number of fines, with 906, followed by Thames Valley Police, with 866, and North Yorkshire, with 843.

The fewest number of fines was issued by Warwickshire Police – just 31 – representing 0.2 per cent of the penalty notices.

Chief Constable Martin Jelley said: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the police and all our partner agencies to the people of Warwickshire, who to a very large extent have complied with the Government lockdown guidance, which as we must not forget is in place to protect people in our communities, including our loved ones."

The Warwickshire force approach to the lockdown has followed the guidance from the National Police Chiefs' Council, and focused on engaging with people, explaining the restrictions and encouraging people to comply.

NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt: "The vast majority of people continue to do the right thing, which protects the NHS and helps save lives.

"The figures show our approach is proportionate, with just 0.02 per cent of the population in England and Wales being issued with a fine."

meanwhile, police chiefs and prosecutors have apologised after dozens of people were wrongly charged under new coronavirus laws.

The Crown Prosecution Service admitted all 44 charges brought under the Coronavirus Act between March 27 and the end of April were incorrect, including 13 wrongful convictions.

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

And 12 charges under the Health Protection Regulations 2020, which give police powers to break up gatherings and fine people breaching restriction of movement rules, were also wrong.

CPS 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.

He said new laws coming into force within 72 hours had put an "immense pressure on everyone involved and it's meant that we haven't been able to do the usual level of preparation for these acts coming into force".