Swansea: Cinema & Co boss abandons appeal against sentence

Cinema & Co's Anna Redfern was not in court to hear a judge order her pay £8,998 in costs

A cinema owner fined £15,000 for Covid breaches has abandoned her appeal against her sentence.

Cinema & Co's Anna Redfern was not in court to hear a judge order her pay £8,998 in costs.

She was fined last December for operating the business despite being ordered to close for Covid safety reasons.

Redfern's appeal was adjourned in September when a judge ordered her to produce a financial audit trail.

Judge Paul Thomas KC wanted "documentary rather than anecdotal" evidence before ruling on the fines and Redfern's ability to pay.

That disclosure was to include what happened to tens of thousands of pounds from an online crowdfunding campaign and government grants.

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At Swansea Crown Court on Friday it emerged Redfern had sacked her barrister and legal team.

The court heard the financial disclosure had not been complied with.

She has abandoned her appeal against sentence after being fined £15,000 for Covid breaches

Judge Thomas said there had been "developments".

He said: "The court received from Miss Redfern an email, and there is no reason to believe this is anything other than genuine, in which she says she requests the leave of the court to abandon her appeal."

He added the court had received a letter from Redfern's former solicitors stating neither they nor her former barrister now represented her but that she had been told about the hearing.

Judge Thomas said he would agree to her request to withdraw the appeal and that he would not increase the fines, a possibility he had warned Redfern of.

He said the £8,998 costs took into account the money raised by the crowdfunding campaign.