People wrongly prosecuted for breaking Covid lockdown laws could have their convictions overturned thanks to a major new legal initiative tackling miscarriages of justice.
Millions of pounds in fines were dished out during the pandemic under strict rules from Boris Johnson’s government, which banned gatherings, restricted travel, and shut down shops and businesses.
Thousands of criminal prosecutions followed, largely conducted behind-closed-doors despite fears that the myriad of complex Covid laws were being misused and those accused had not actually broken the law.
Now the Manchester Innocence Project, working with lawyers at top firm Fieldfisher, have launched a new initiative to overturn suspected miscarriages of justice under the pandemic laws.
The project follows the Partygate scandal - where rampant rule-breaking was exposed within Downing Street – and is launched in the week that former Number 10 aides Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain give evidence to the Covid Inquiry.
Mr Cummings, who acted as the Prime Minister’s senior adviser, was himself accused of breaking lockdown laws with a notorious trip to Barnard Castle, while another Inquiry witness this week is Martin Reynolds, the top civil servant who invited Downing Street staffers to a “bring your own booze” gathering at the height of the first national lockdown.
The Partygate scandal shone a light on the tens of thousands of people who were criminally prosecuted in the pandemic, including some left to pay five-figure fines up to £14,000.
The Manchester Innocence Project wants anyone who believes they were wrongly convicted under the Coronavirus Act or the Health Protection regulations to get in touch.
Lawyers are also looking to speak to people who were taken to court over incidents when they were particularly vulnerable, including through mental or physical health difficulties, or while relying on family and friends for care.
Their case will be initially assessed by University of Manchester law students, before the files are passed to lawyers at Fieldfisher.
The law firm has agreed to assess whether the pandemic laws have been misapplied, with lawyers prepared to work pro-bono if there is a case to fight.
Fintan Walker, a solicitor and lecturer at the University of Manchester who is spearheading the project, said it is aimed at tackling “the over-criminalisation of conduct which was, a few months earlier, wholly reasonable and appropriate.
“We want to shine a light on the fact the government used some quite draconian laws to criminalise usually normal conduct, and these are cases often involving vulnerable people.”
Bids to overturn convictions could be made to the magistrates courts, in a full Crown Court appeal, or even by referrals to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The Evening Standard has, over the last three years, exposed a litany of cases where Londoners were wrongly prosecuted and convicted for breaking the lockdown laws.
Police officers used the incorrect laws to pursue fixed penalty notices against people, some were accused of attending illegal gatherings but bizarrely prosecuted under traffic regulations, and others were brought to court when key evidence was missing.
Hundreds of faulty prosecutions were brought at the start of the pandemic under the Coronavirus Act, and convictions then had to be overturned.
Despite the growing bank of evidence, and acceptance within government that there was an “error rate” in Covid prosecutions, then-Attorney General Suella Braverman agreed for cases to be dealt with in the controversial Single Justice Procedure which is conducted behind-closed-doors.
The Manchester Innocence Project can be contacted at free.legal@manchester.ac.uk or in writing to 188 Waterloo Place, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL.
