Covid: Bristol's Jack of Diamonds fined £10,000

The Jack of Diamonds continued to hold events despite being fined

Police have accused a venue owner of a "blatant show of contempt" after repeated breaches of coronavirus rules.

A week after being fined £1,000 and ordered to close, the Jack of Diamonds in Bristol has been fined a further £10,000.

Avon and Somerset Police found the owner preparing for a Halloween party despite being shut down.

One senior officer said it was the worst example of ignoring the rules they had seen.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cullen said the owner of the Jack of Diamonds had been given "multiple warnings" as well as the initial £1,000 fine.

"The fine, which is certainly not an insignificant amount of money, clearly had no impact whatsoever," he said.

"The owner continued to run his establishment as a nightclub, providing alcohol to large crowds of people until the early hours of the morning in the most blatant show of contempt for the public health crisis and the health of his community we have seen.

"Not only was he hosting an event on Thursday [29 October], when officers went to hand him his fixed penalty notice on Friday they found him setting up for a Halloween party."

Police found preparations underway for a Halloween party even after the venue had been told to shut

Avon and Somerset Police dealt with several incidents at the weekend including a rave attended by 700 people and a curfew breach at a pub in Somerset.

The Racehorse pub in Taunton was fined £1,000 for failing to close at 10pm and £200 fines were handed out at house parties in Weston-super-Mare and West Huntspill.

Mr Cullen said the attitude shown towards police had been "horrifying".

He said officers at the rave had been injured by missiles while staff at the Racehorse pub and Jack of Diamonds had "made efforts to obstruct" them.

"These people know exactly what they are doing and it is not only wrong but dangerous on multiple levels," he said.