Covid: Two men fined for attending bank holiday rave in Banwen

Police said ravers travelled from across the UK to the illegal event in Banwen

Two men have been fined for joining 4,000 people at an illegal bank holiday rave last summer.

Macauley Reynolds, 24, from Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, and Matthew John Parker, 35, of Basingstoke, admitted gathering outdoors with more than 30 people at the rave in Banwen, Neath Port Talbot.

They were fined £650 and £1,200 respectively at Swansea Magistrates' Court.

The hearings of seven other illegal ravers will be held next month.

A man from East Sussex has pleaded not guilty to being involved in the organisation of the rave. His trial will be heard in March.

Earlier this month, 10 attendees of the unlicensed event in Banwen, Neath Port Talbot - on the edge of the Brecon Beacons - were fined a total of £8,579.

The rave started on the August bank holiday weekend, just days after tougher penalties came into force for people who organised and attended illegal events amid coronavirus restrictions.

'I love Wales very much... I'm very sorry'

Matthew John Parker said he was "very sorry" for his actions

Matthew John Parker was stopped in a Ford Transit Van by police which had speakers, generators and electrical equipment in it.

He told the court he was "very sorry" for his actions. He said the rave was "the only chance I was going to see any of my friends that summer, let my hair down and enjoy myself".

He said he had moved into a van because his mother was high risk and he didn't want her to catch the virus, and reasoned that the event "wouldn't be much of a risk" as it was outdoors.

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"I love Wales very much… I think the Welsh people are lovely, and the last thing I would have wanted to do is to spread the virus here. I'm very sorry," he said.

District Judge Christopher James told him that not only were his actions the "height of social irresponsibility", but that they had caused considerable distress to Banwen residents too.

Macauley Reynolds said attending the rave was "a bad decision"

Macauley Reynolds had been "part of a group transporting sound equipment into a lorry" when he was approached by police and told he was in breach of coronavirus restrictions.

He told the court he had attended as a "last minute thing, a bad decision at the time", adding: "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

He told the court he had lost his scaffolding job just before Christmas and was planning to apply for benefits.

One man living 14 miles away said he was kept awake by the noise

In a previous hearing, the court heard police received a number of calls complaining of loud music at Walter's Arena, a former opencast mine which was turned into an international motorsport complex.

Villagers said they had been woken in the early hours of the morning by the sound of shouting and swearing in the street, while also noting roads were gridlocked, with a number of people vomiting on the pavement.

The court heard residents were "scared to go out" and the streets near the site were littered with condoms, faeces and gas canisters.

The owner of Walter's Arena was reported to have said that the ground needed to be razed in order to recover.