Covid 19 - What you need to know - Prison sentence for Covid breaches (Peabody Trust v Offomah)

It is thought that the civil case of Peabody Trust v Offomah may be the first custodial sentence issued for Covid breaches.

By way of background, in April 2020 the Defendant was subjected to a civil injunction, “which provided for the standard terms of an antisocial behaviour order in relation to behaviour causing a nuisance, the selling or producing of any illegal drugs, excessive noise, and the presence of visitors.”

On 19th November 2020 the Defendant’s address was visited by the police and a number of fixed penalty notices were issued. Two further breaches of that Order occurred in December 2020 due to the presence of other people in the Defendant’s home - leading to the Defendant being arrested and detained for 6 days until being sentenced on 22nd December 2020.

A custodial sentence of 6 days was issued, equivalent to that of the time served in detention - so the Defendant was able to be released straight away.

Nevertheless, this was a prison sentence and is thought to be the first custodial sentence for Covid breaches, reflecting the “seriousness of the breaches that he [the Defendant] committed in this case.”