Saturday 14 May 2022 11:58 PM Woman, 35, who held lockdown-busting memorial in 2020 demands Keir Starmer ... trends now
A woman given a retrospective £10,000 fine by Durham police for organising a balloon-releasing memorial during the pandemic says Sir Keir Starmer should also be hit with a financial penalty if he is found to have broken Covid rules.
Vicki Hutchinson voiced fury at photographs of the Labour leader swigging beer and chatting to party officials during a visit to Durham last April and urged police to 'treat us all the same'.
The 35-year-old, from Peterlee in County Durham, organised her event in a field in November 2020 as a tribute to her father-in-law Ian Stephenson, a former miner who died from Covid-19.
Vicki Hutchinson voiced fury at photographs of the Labour leader swigging beer and chatting to party officials during a visit to Durham last April and urged police to 'treat us all the same'
Dozens of well-wishers attended, and it was later claimed that many people did not keep apart or wear masks.
The police were not present but launched a retrospective investigation after a complaint.
Ms Hutchinson, a tanning salon owner, was initially fined £10,000 but this was reduced to £500 at Peterlee Magistrates' Court on April 23 last year – a week before Sir Keir's 'Beergate' curry.
Her case is relevant as Durham Constabulary, which is investigating the event, has suggested it does not issue retrospective fines.
Sir Keir was careful to say last week that he would resign as Labour leader if he was issued with a fine for breaching Covid rules during last year's campaigning trip.
Sir Keir was careful to say last week that he would resign as Labour leader if he was issued with a fine for breaching Covid rules during last year's campaigning trip
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Ms Hutchinson described Sir Keir's behaviour as 'disgusting', adding: 'I was given 30 days to pay the £10,000. People are going to look now and say, 'Well, how can she get that and he doesn't get it?'
'He is no different from any other member of the public. I just don't understand why he wasn't investigated in the first place, nor do I understand why he shouldn't get a fine like me. I only own a sunbed shop and they were expecting me to pay £10,000.
'I don't want people to think I did nothing wrong, because I did. But at the time you don't think. You've just lost someone and you don't think.
'I didn't ask anyone to bring alcohol – we weren't drinking and having food. We released balloons and within 20 minutes we went.'
She said her late father-in-law – a lifelong Labour voter – would have been enraged by the pictures of Sir Keir's gathering at Durham Miners Hall.
