Covid: Cinema & Co owner told to prove poor finances

Anna Redfern was served with a council closure notice on 18 November, but Cinema & Co continued to open into December

A cinema owner who was fined £15,000 for Covid breaches has been told by a judge to prove her poor finances as a court might conclude there has been a "deliberate concealment of funds".

Anna Redfern, 46, of Swansea's Cinema & Co admitted six charges last December but has appealed the level of her fine.

Swansea Crown Court heard she and the company were both in a "woeful financial position" after the business "floundered" following the case.

The appeal was adjourned for 28 days.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said he wanted Redfern to produce "documentary rather than anecdotal" evidence of her finances.

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The case followed Covid passes becoming a legal requirement in cinemas in Wales in November 2021, which Redfern refused to enforce, saying they were "an infringement on our human rights".

Both Swansea council and the Welsh government ordered her to close the premises, but she re-opened it.

After admitting six charges, she was sentenced to 28 days in prison, suspended for nine months, and ordered to pay £15,000.

At Monday's hearing, Redfern's barrister Sarah Wood said her client and the company were both in a "woeful financial position" after the business "floundered".

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

Ms Wood said the cinema had been boycotted by a number of customers because Redfern's case was "hijacked" by right-wing supporters.

She said the mother-of-two had been "tainted with being a racist" because of supporters who are not "associated" with her, so that her number of customers had declined, and the business was now "essentially empty".

However, the judge challenged those claims, arguing some customers could have withdrawn their support because of Redfern's response to Covid regulations.

He described her as "unabashed in defying the prohibition of opening her premises".

He asked for further bank statements and audit trails to substantiate the claim.

Prosecutor Lee Reynolds said many of the accounts already provided were incomplete, and that the "lack" of a "credible audit trail" was something the prosecution was concerned about.