The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of the UK government admitted on Friday that it wrongfully filed charges against dozens of individuals for allegedly violating the government’s new laws on coronavirus.
According to the CPS, it wrongfully charged 44 people under the Coronavirus Act 2020, which gives the UK government the emergency powers to limit or suspend social gatherings and detain persons suspected with coronavirus, among others.
Meanwhile, 12 out of 187 individuals were incorrectly charged for violations of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 which paves way for legal force to social distancing rules.
“[The 12 cases that were withdrawn] usually involved Welsh regulations being applied in England and vice versa”, the CPS said.
It said has withdrawn the cases filed, while the remaining 175 were properly charged.
The CPS said among the cases found to have correctly charged were: travelling from Leicester to London for a party; refusing to stay at home and being found loitering around town; and parking, drinking, and displaying anti-social behaviour at parks.
“We apologise for any mistakes but all parties have worked hard to manage this new legislation as effectively as they can to keep the public safe”, National Police chief Matt Hewitt said.
He added that such had been “unprecedented circumstances” and that “this has all be done at pace and everyone in the Criminal Justice System has had to deal with a new body of legislation, which has undoubtedly led to some confusion”.
Hewitt announced on the same day that police in England and Wales respectively issued 13,445 and 799 Fixed Penalty Notices between March 27—when confinement measures were first introduced in the UK—until May 11.
The United Kingdom’s (UK) Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) admitted on Friday that dozens of people were wrongfully charged for violating the government’s new laws on coronavirus.
In France where lockdown measures were stricter, nearly one million fines were issued before the end of April.
According to the John Hopkins University, the UK has so far recorded the second-highest coronavirus death toll in the world with 33,693 fatalities as of Thursday.
PHOTO COURTESY: PEXELS
