Covid: Swansea Cinema & Co owner asked to clarify appeal

Anna Redfern was served with a council closure notice on 18 November

A cinema owner who admitted breaching Covid rules has been asked to clarify the grounds of an appeal.

Cinema & Co owner Anna Redfern, 45, was given a suspended prison sentence and fined £15,000 in December at Swansea Magistrates' Court.

She has now lodged an appeal at the city's crown court.

At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Paul Thomas QC said it was "ambiguous" whether the appeal was against the conviction or just the sentence.

In November, Covid passes became a legal requirement in cinemas in Wales, but Redfern refused to enforce them, saying they were "an infringement on our human rights".

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Both Swansea council and the Welsh government ordered her to close the premises, with a district judge warning Redfern she would be in contempt of court if she reopened.

Santa Claus: The Movie was shown on 1 December, with the owner admitting contempt of court and four breaches of coronavirus regulations later that month.

She was given a 28-day prison sentence, suspended for nine months.

The cinema opened a day after a judge ordered it to close

At Thursday's hearing, the judge also said she needed to clarify whether she was appealing purely against her personal conviction, or her cinema's corporate conviction.

The court heard she had called to say she was unable to attend as her mother was "extremely ill".

She was "living off" about £30,000 in savings, with the judge asking about any evidence Redfern was receiving funds from an "outside source".

Swansea council's prosecutor Lee Reynolds said Redfern had said she received about £55,000 from an online "crowdfunder".

He added the "aims" were to pay for legal costs, challenge fines and loss of business, as well five other "charitable" aims, including "taking her kids on holiday to celebrate getting her freedom back".

'Potential consequences'

The court heard Redfern had been unable to secure legal representation, with Mr Reynolds saying the local authority has had "no correspondence" from her.

The court heard one of Redfern's reasons for appealing for the fine to be reduced was that she had two children.

But Judge Thomas warned the court had the power to increase the fine if the appeal was unsuccessful.

He added Redfern's suspended sentence could also be increased, though he added that this is "far less likely than an increase in the fine".

Adjourning the case for a week, he said: "Nothing I have said is an indication of the way this case is going to go but she needs to be aware of the potential consequences."