FINED £500 FOR BREAKING SOCIAL DISTANCING RULES
HE REPEATEDLY STOOD TOO CLOSE TO SHOPPERS AT TESCO: VIRUS
A MAN has been fined £500 for repeatedly flouting social distancing rules outside a supermarket.
Police took jobless Steven Mackie home after he had been getting too close to queueing shoppers outside Tesco in Stalybridge even though he did not appear to need any provisions himself.
He returned 15 minutes later and again got too close to the queue of shoppers.
Mackie was arrested and is among the first people to be prosecuted under emergency legislation introduced by the government to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.
He apologised to magistrates, who fined him £500, and denied he had been ‘quite happy to kill people.’
Mackie, 53, of Stamford Street, Stalybridge, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health Regulations 2020.
A court heard he approached people queuing outside Tesco on Trinity Street at 5.30pm on Saturday and appeared to breach guidelines urging people to stay at least two metres away from each other.
Police were on patrol at the time and ‘requested him to desist,’ prosecutor Nick Smart told Stockport magistrates court.
Mackie also ‘failed to provide a reasonable excuse for being present,’ the court heard.
Officers transported him back to his home. When he was removed from the van, he told officers he would return to the supermarket and said: “I’ll see you there.” Officers warned him to stay away and left him outside his home, only to see him outside the shop again at 5.45pm. The officers again saw him failing to keep two metres away from shoppers and decided ‘enough was enough,’ the prosecutor told the court.
He was said to have told the cops who arrested him: “I was six feet away according to Boris Johnson’s guidelines. What a waste of time and public money this is. Six officers. Haven’t you got anything better to do?”
Kirsten Collings, defending, said Mackie did not dispute the facts of the case, but believed he had not been doing anything wrong the first time officers confronted him. The solicitor said he had learned a ‘salutary lesson’ while being held in custody for two days.
“He’s embarrassed at his own behaviour, if I’m honest,” she said. She said her client lived alone in shared accommodation, had a ‘history of mental health problems’ and would be going to his GP to seek help. “I asked him if he was sorry and he said he was,” she said, accepting his crime was ‘abhorrent at this time.’
Chair of the bench Neil Brettell spoke to the defendant, who was wearing a face mask in the dock and flanked by security officers.
He asked Mackie if could count. When he said he could, he was asked to tot up how many people were in the courtroom.
When he answered ‘14,’ the JP went on: “That’s how many you have put at risk through you not behaving.” The defendant said ‘I’m sorry, sir.’ Mr Brettell replied: “It’s a little bit late to be sorry.
“What would have happened if you had infected somebody? Nobody likes to self-isolate. Nobody likes lockdown. The majority of people understand it’s going to save lives. You are quite happy in a way to kill people are you?” The defendant answered ‘no.’
Mr Brettell said he had been ‘given a chance’ by police, but ‘ignored them.’
“I’m not allowed to send you to prison,” he added. “The law does not allow it. However, you have spent two days in custody because of your own stupidity.”
Mr Brettell said the law allowed an unlimited fine, but that judicial guidelines suggested any fines should be able to be paid off within a year. Mackie, who receives £50 per week in benefits, was fined £500 and ordered to pay £135 costs. He agreed to pay off the fine at £5 per week. “I hope that really hurts you,” said the chair of the bench.
As he was led away, Mackie said: “I’m sorry for wasting all your time. Sorry.”