Bradford woman fined for Covid-19 lockdown gathering

Courtney Coyle, 21, of Moorhouse Avenue, in Eccleshill, pleaded guilty to participating in a gathering of two or more people in a private dwelling or indoors in a tier 4 area, at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court on March 23 this year.

The court record was first made available on Monday.

Coyle went to a gathering at a property in Hendford Drive, in Bradford - just a few miles away from her home - where there was two or more people on February 19, 2021.

Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court (Image: Telegraph & Argus)

The UK entered its third lockdown on January 6 that year.

The Parliament website said: "People were once again told to stay at home.

"However, people could still form support bubbles (if eligible) and some gatherings were exempted from the gatherings ban (for example, religious services and some small weddings were permitted)."

A "tier" system had been introduced prior to this, to try separate different areas depending on their level of Covid-19 cases.

Boris Johnson announces month-long lockdown in November 2020

This originally ran from 1-3 (3 being the worst), but a tier 4 was introduced on December 20, 2020, which imposed the harshest restrictions.

It came as a new variant of the virus (which would become known as the Alpha strain) emerged, and following concerns that the four-tier system was not containing the spread of this, the whole country was essentially placed into "tier 4" after Christmas.

Coyle was ordered to pay the courts £270 for the offence.

This included a £146 fine, a surcharge of £34 to fund victim services and costs of £90.

The total must be paid by April 13 this year. 

Coyle's guilty plea was taken into account when sentencing.