Yahoo News 'Vague' coronavirus laws criticised by legal experts after woman wrongly fined hundreds of pounds
Legal experts have attacked the government’s coronavirus lockdown regulations as “illiberal” and “vague” after a woman who was fined hundreds of pounds had her conviction quashed.
Marie Dinou, 41, from York, was arrested at Newcastle Central Station on Saturday after allegedly failing to tell officers why she needed to travel.
The British Transport Police (BTP) arrested her on suspicion of breaching rules set out in the Coronavirus Act 2020 and she was fined £660 at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
But the BTP said it had since reviewed the case with the Crown Prosecution Service and found she had been charged by the wrong section of the act after lawyers criticised what had happened and asked the court to set her conviction aside.
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The coronavirus laws are designed to limit when people leave their house, with a reasonable excuse needed, such as exercise or going to the shops. The lockdown is meant to slow the coronavirus’s spread and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with cases.
Legal commentator David Allen Green criticised the way the law, which enforces the government’s lockdown, was put together.
Speaking on the Better Human podcast with human rights barrister Adam Wagner, he said: “Nobody would say that these regulations should not exist in some form.
“This is an emergency and this is what emergency law is for.
“But these regulations have been shoved together very quickly.
“They are extraordinarily illiberal, certainly the most illiberal laws passed in this country since the Second World War, possibly before, and not only are they incredibly illiberal, they are vague and uncertain and could be highly consequential for people.”
Wagner, of Doughty Street Chambers, has also tweeted about the lack of public scrutiny of court cases during the pandemic and said there was a “perfect storm for wrongful convictions and fines” caused by the legislation.
One of the many worrying things about this is how many cases are happening without any public scrutiny especially with courts sitting in private. This one just happened to catch the eye of lawyers https://t.co/exwVsAuXKh
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) April 3, 2020
This included little or no parliamentary scrutiny of the new coronavirus regulations, MPs in recess, police guidance being issued a week after the laws came into effect, and the vague legislation makes it “almost impossible to enforce consistently”, he said.
The public are also unclear about what they can and can’t do, he said, echoing comments made earlier in the week to the BBC.
In a statement, deputy chief constable Adrian Hanstock said: “There will be understandable concern that our interpretation of this new legislation has resulted in an ineffective prosecution.
“This was in circumstances where officers were properly dealing with someone who was behaving suspiciously in the station, and who staff believed to be travelling without a valid ticket.”
Mr Hanstock said Dinou was “rightfully” challenged but added: “Regardless, we fully accept that this shouldn’t have happened and we apologise.
“It is highly unusual that a case can pass through a number of controls in the criminal justice process and fail in this way.”
