More than 100 people wrongly prosecuted for breaking coronavirus laws, review finds

More than 100 people have been wrongly prosecuted under coronavirus laws and the number is likely to rise, according to a review.

All 89 charges brought under the Coronavirus Act 2020 have been overturned but the government has refused to scrap the law, and the number is expected to rise.

Another 26 charges under the separate Health Protection Regulations, which enforce lockdown restrictions, were found to be unlawful by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The figures cover only cases that had been finalised in England and Wales by the end of June, and more prosecutions are going through the system.

The CPS said 115 charges were found to be unlawful so far, but that “there remain more live cases”.

“The CPS will therefore continue this vital work for as long as necessary,” its director of legal services, Gregor McGill, added.

“Our prosecutors across the country are providing an invaluable service in ensuring the right people are charged for the right offences.”

For the cases finalised in June, 99 out of 141 were correct overall and the vast majority of charges had been brought by police.

Prosecutors withdrew all but one of the 42 erroneous charges at the first court appearance, but one person was wrongly convicted of a Coronavirus Act offence and had to be returned to court.

The CPS said most mistakes under the Health Protection Regulations were over Welsh law being used in England.

But all Coronavirus Act prosecutions were wrong “because there was no evidence they applied to potentially infectious people”.

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