Covid: Nineteen people fined £800 each after Portsmouth house party

Nineteen people have been fined £800 each following a house party in Portsmouth.

Police were called to a property in St Chad's Avenue on Saturday night (30 January) after reports of a large social gathering.

Officers found men and women, aged in their late teens and 20s, among the group breaking the lockdown rules. 

One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.

Another man, 27, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

Chief Inspector, Rob Mitchell said the party was a "blatant breach" of the lockdown regulations.

He said: "The people attending this party were putting themselves and their loved ones at risk from the virus. It's actions like this that place increased and unnecessary pressure on the NHS."

Elsewhere, seven people have been fined after holding a birthday party at a house on Graham Road in Southampton on Saturday night (30 January).

Police went to the property just before 10pm and found the people inside were from different households.

The men aged between 27-40 and one woman, 24, will be fined £200 each.

Chief Inspector Ricky Dhanda, said the birthday party is an example of a "complete disregard for the rules, when so many others are sticking to the restrictions and making personal sacrifices every day."

Meanwhile, 25 students caught having a party at halls of residence in Portsmouth have been told they face being expelled from the university.

They have also been fined after police were called to Catherine House in the early hours of Friday.

A spokesman for the university said such behaviour would not be tolerated.