Anna Redfern vacates her guilty plea for defying covid closure notice

UNN's Jacqui Deevoy speaks with Anna Redfern of Cinema & Co in SwanseaT who was given a suspended prison sentence for contempt of court for opening her business in defiance of a Covid closure order has been allowed to withdraw her previously entered guilty plea.

Anna Redfern, owner of Swansea's Cinema & Co venue, was sentenced to 28 days in prison suspended for nine months in December last year after admitting being in contempt of a court order. The businesswoman was also hit with £15,000 in fines for breaching Covid public health measures and notices at the same hearing at Swansea Magistrates Court. Following her convictions she said she intended to launch an appeal.

When the case came before Swansea Crown Court on July 15 Judge Paul Thomas allowed an application from Redfern's barrister, Sarah Wood, for her client to withdraw the December plea of guilty to contempt - a process known as vacating a plea. Once that was done, the prosecution withdrew the offence before any new plea was entered meaning the defendant no longer stands convicted of contempt.

At the hearing it was confirmed that Redfern would go ahead with an appeal against the level of fines imposed last year for breaching Covid restrictions but was not now seeking to appeal against the convictions themselves - the possibility of challenging those convictions had been raised at previous hearings before the higher court. The appeal against the fines will take place on September 12.