Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said he was disappointed that a £10,000 fine issued to a teenager who hosted a house party in the midst of a pandemic did not have its day in court. 

The hefty fine was issued to 18-year-old Isaac Parsons last September after a party at his parents’ Devizes home was gate crashed. 

Parsons and his parents refused to pay the fixed penalty notice and were taking the matter to trial when, in March, District Judge Joanna Dickens threw the case out – reportedly because the wrong part of the law was cited in the paperwork. 

Speaking to the Adver this week, Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said his officers had issued the fine after officers counted around 80 people at the house party and a warning had been given. The decision to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service. 

He said: “At that period in time only in the days prior to that had the regulations been changed for it to move from an offence that might have required a £200 ticket to one that was so serious that the organiser of an event such as that could be liable for a £10,000 fixed penalty notice. 

“That demonstrated the absolute, critical part of where we were in the coronavirus restrictions at that point because every gathering presented a significant risk to the reproduction rate and the way the virus was spreading. 

“We were not throwing £10,000 tickets around like confetti. 

“We were very proportionate in our response, they were not being bandied around.

"That was our one and only ticket and it received lots of scrutiny from our experts in the force, by the CPS, it was charged independently and impartially and we were disappointed that it didn’t have its day to properly assess whether or not the matter needed airing in court. 

“We were disappointed that the case closed.” 

Mr Pritchard was speaking after an HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report praised a number of initiatives put in place by Wiltshire Police in response to the pandemic, including a panel to scrutinise fines issued under the coronavirus regulations and efforts taken by the force to publicise its policing of the new rules. 

The senior officer said that his force had “constantly thought” about its impact on individuals and the community.