That’s not a snip! Lockdown flouter gets hit with £3,000 fine… for getting a HAIRCUT after being told to self-isolate for two weeks
- Gareth Le Monnier, 37, admitted two lockdown breaches over two days
- He was fined £3,000 for each of the breaches at Guernsey Magistrates’ Court
- Judge Graeme McKerrell ordered the fine be paid fully before Gareth was released
At £3,000, it’s far from a snip. But that’s the price one lockdown flouter is paying after he was fined for visiting a hairdresser.
Gareth Le Monnier, 37, was told to self-isolate for two weeks on July 3 after leaving his home in Jersey to see his wife in neighbouring Guernsey.
But just before his fortnight was up, he went to a salon as well as a toy shop and a Waitrose cafe, Guernsey Magistrates’ Court heard. He admitted two breaches over two days and was fined £3,000 for each, totalling £6,000.
His breaches were uncovered by a welfare check which found he wasn’t at his registered address on July 16.
Gareth Le Monnier, 37, was fined £3,000 for visiting a hairdresser after being told to self-isolate for two weeks on July 3 after leaving his home in Jersey to see his wife in neighbouring Guernsey (stock image)
Judge Graeme McKerrell said the defendant had knowingly and deliberately put his own needs before that of the wider public good.
He also ordered the fine would have to be paid in full before he would be released from custody.
He added: ‘The defendant has selfishly put his needs above those of the public.
‘Working out when a period of 14 days expires is not rocket science.’
The judge said it was the interest of the wider public good which had to prevail and there had to be significant penalties in order to deter others who might consider doing the same.
But just before his fortnight was up, he went to a salon as well as a toy shop and a Waitrose cafe, Guernsey Magistrates’ Court heard. He admitted two breaches over two days and was fined £3,000 for each, totalling £6,000 (stock image)
He added the defendant might have been asymptomatic, but that did not mean that he could not be carrying the disease and passing it on to other people.
Prosecuting Officer, Sarah Watson, told the court that on 16 July, when customs officers went to the address he had given in the Grand Bouet, nobody answered the door and he could not be contacted by phone.
One of the officers called the defendant’s wife who said her husband might be asleep upstairs.
Before the officers had left the Bouet address, the couple arrived back there in a car with the defendant hiding low on the seat.
The woman got out of the car and said she would go upstairs to try and wake her husband, who was seen getting out of the same vehicle by an officer who had followed it on foot.
Enquiries later established his whereabouts the day before – including his haircut.