Covid-19 related prosecutions (FOI)

Request

A

How many fines were handed out in Jersey for breaches of the Covid-19 Laws / Regulations in 2020 to date? The amounts of the fines that were issued and what they were for and were they paid?

B

And also, whether any of these cases for breaches of Covid-19 Laws / Regulations from 2020 to date went to court and if so, were they successful or were they thrown out and unsuccessful in court?

C

Lastly did has any individual spend time in Jail for breaking any Covid-19 Laws / Regulations in 2020 to date and if so, how long did they spend in Jail and was this instead of paying a fine?

Response

Information supplied by the States of Jersey Police:

A and B

Further to the previous responses linked here:

Covid-19 legislation prosecutions (FOI)

Prosecutions under the Covid-19 legislation (FOI)

When the court issues a fine in Jersey, it is in conjunction with an alternate prison sentence, linked to the level of fine. A total of 35 fines have been issued at court for breaches of various Covid-19 regulations.

Fourteen fines between £300 - £500 or three-weeks imprisonment

Twenty fines between £600 - £900 or three-weeks imprisonment

Four fines between £4000 - £6000 (2nd offences) or between eight and 24-weeks imprisonment.

One fine of £350,000 at Royal Court. No prison alternative was given.

In four cases, the offender was bound over to keep the peace for six months.

Of the 71 offences identified to date, 43 were dealt with by way of fine or Bound Over and 19 by way of words of advice (Not prosecuted). Nine cases were either withdrawn from prosecution, found not guilty or are awaiting trial.

C

The States of Jersey Police hold no information on whether fines have been paid or whether the option of Prison was taken. This would require a search through paper records, which they estimate would take over 12.5 hours. Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2021 has therefore been applied.

Additional information provided by Home Affairs:

Since April 2020 Thirteen Receptions have been received at La Moye Prison under COVID19 (Screening, Assessment, Isolation) (Jersey) Regulations 2020 broken down as follows:

Time served is subject to Remission of a third. Individuals may have also been in custody for other charges.

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.