Formby salon owner fined £12,000 after coronavirus protest

A woman from Formby has been landed with a £12,000 fine after she denied the existence of Coronavirus.

Julie Saunderson, who runs a beauty salon in Bootle, was found guilty of aiding a protest by encouraging a crowd of people protesting against restrictions, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

She had previously said she would rather be ‘concreted in’ than stop trading as cases rocketed last winter.

The 43-year-old owner of the Bootle ‘Skin Kerr’ salon put a sign up on her business which read: ‘You Can’t Catch what Doesn’t Exist (sic)’ and flouted a ban on non-essential businesses opening.

Saunderson, who previously was handed a closure notice by Sefton Council, was spotted by police officers monitoring the November 21 protest ‘encouraging’ the crowd by shouting ‘this way’ and gesticulating for them to follow her, the CPS added.

She was later charged with three counts of contravening Covid lockdown legislation. Ms Saunderson did not attend court to witness the proceedings.

A CPS spokesperson said: “Julie Saunderson clearly did not think legislation brought in by the government to control a pandemic applied to her.”

“A national lockdown was in place on 21 November and people were required to stay at home… and certainly not to gather in any numbers outside of the home.

“Ms Saunderson ignored this, as she had earlier ignored calls to close her beauty salon.”