UK: 6,500 Covid-Related Prosecutions In Six Month Period

UK Reports 6,500 COVID-Related Prosecutions In First Six Months Of Pandemic

 Alexander Zhang via The Epoch Times,

Almost 6,500 offences related to the CCP virus were prosecuted in the UK in the first six months of the pandemic, according to statistics published by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Thursday.

Between Apr. 1 and Sept. 30 last year, 2,106 defendants were prosecuted for 6,469 CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus-related offences, with a conviction rate of 90 percent.

Almost 1,200 offences were prosecuted under the COVID-19 legislation, which forbids non-essential travel and unlawful gatherings.

In cases not prosecuted under the COVID-19 legislation, the CPS has introduced a “coronavirus flag” on its case management system to highlight crimes related to the CCP virus as an aggravating feature at sentencing.

Among all CCP virus-related offences, assaults on emergency workers were the most common, with 1,688 offences charged.

The UK has been under varying levels of CCP virus restrictions since the pandemic began last spring.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the whole of England under the third national lockdown to curb the spread of a new variant first detected in southeast England, which he said had a higher transmissibility than the old variant.

Police forces, including the Metropolitan Police in London, have said they are taking a stricter approach to enforcing the lockdown rules.

Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chief Council, said on July 13 that he would make “no apology” for the almost 45,000 fixed penalty notices (FPN) that had been issued against rule-breakers.

Even police officers have sometimes found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that nine of its officers had been fined after they were caught dining in a local café.