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Women handed £1,000s in fines for attending parties on same day as No 10 ‘Xmas bash’
Three women have been handed £1,100 fines for attending house parties last Christmas - on the same day as the alleged Downing Street festive bash.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologised after a video emerged showing aides joking about a party, and ordered an internal inquiry into the allegations.
But Downing Street’s official line continues to be “there was no party”, and the Met Police said last night it would not investigate unless evidence of Covid-19 rule breaking emerged.
As the row has engulfed the Prime Minister and his advisers, Westminster magistrates court has been quietly prosecuting people who broke the rules last Christmas, including those caught meeting on December 18 – the day of the alleged Downing Street party.
Ebru Sen, 26, and Ami Goto, 23, have both been convicted of a breach for attending a gathering at a flat in Holborn, when London was under Tier 3 restrictions.
Goto, from Marylebone, and Sen, who lives in a £174,000 home in Sittingbourne in Kent, have both been ordered to pay a £1,100 fine plus £210 in costs and fees by December 29, or they could face bailiff action, further financial penalties, arrest or even prison.
Emilia Petruta-Cristea, 24, was also convicted by a magistrate and fined £1,100 for attending a gathering at her home in Wanstead on December 18 last year.
Prosecutions - under the government’s Health Protection regulations - have been conducted since September last year in London through the Single Justice Procedure, dealt with in behind-closed-doors hearings by a magistrate.
An alleged house party in Ilford is among dozens of prosecutions which were considered by Westminster magistrates court yesterday, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer highlighted the criminal cases as he challenged Mr Johnson to hand over evidence to the Met Police.
The PM’s former spokesperson, Allegra Stratton, resigned in tears on Wednesday afternoon after a video emerged of her, with colleagues, joking about a party at Downing Street during a mock press conference on December 22, 2020.
Relatives of people who died from Covid last Christmas have angrily hit out at the government over the scandal, amid accusations that rules which applied to millions across England were ignored by those in power.
Henryk Paczkowski, 52, has been landed with a £1,310 court bill for going to a house less than half a mile from his own home in Ilford. That incident happened on December 21 last year, the day before Ms Stratton’s remarks were made.
In a statement last night, Scotland Yard said it would not investigate the Downing Street allegations unless evidence of a Covid-19 breach emerged. It said complaints received and the leaked footage of Ms Stratton “does not provide evidence of a breach of the Health Protection Regulations, but restates allegations made in the media.
“Based on the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches of such Regulations, the Met will not commence an investigation at this time.
“The Met has had discussions with the Cabinet Office in relation to the investigation by the Cabinet Secretary. If any evidence is found as a result of that investigation, it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.”
During a grilling at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said he has been “repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.
His official spokesperson stuck to the line that “there was no Christmas party - Covid rules have been followed at all times.”
Almost £70,000 in fines were handed out by the court on Wednesday last week, official records show.
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