Norfolk-based Brexit Party founder punished for Covid protest
Catherine Blaiklock when running for election in Great Yarmouth. Photo: George Ryan - Credit: Archant
The Norfolk-based founder of the Brexit Party has appeared in court having been charged with taking part in a coronavirus protest.
Catherine Blaiklock, who ran for UKIP in Great Yarmouth in the 2017 general election, was part of a gathering of more than six people at Leicester Cathedral during the coronavirus emergency period.
Blaiklock, of Lingwood Road, Lingwood, admitted participating in an outdoor gathering of more than six people in Leicester during the coronavirus emergency period.
The case was before Leicester Magistrates Court on Thursday, January 21.
Blaiklock entered a guilty plea through her solicitor Simon Nicholls.
Mr Nicholls told the court his client was not a Covid denier and accepted that coronavirus was real.
He said her eldest daughter was a medical student who has agreed to start giving vaccinations.
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But Mr Nicholls said Blaiklock was a libertarian who believed the coronavirus regulations had not been thought through and were too draconian.
He said she believed the government had got it all wrong.
Blaiklock was fined £390, ordered to pay £85 costs and a £39 surcharge.
After joining UKIP in 2014, Blaiklock went onto found the Brexit Party alongside Nigel Farage.
Catherine Blaiklock, when she was UKIP parliamentary candidate for Great Yarmouth, posing with her campaign cab. Photo: Archant - Credit: Archant
She stood down from the party in March 2019 over anti-Islam tweets.
Blaiklock's case was listed alongside three others, including Piers Corbyn, the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who were charged with the same offence on July 7 last year.
Corbyn, 73, from London, and the two others pleaded not guilty to the offence and will stand trial at Leicester in June.
Corbyn, a high-profile coronavirus sceptic, is due to stand trial at Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court in March after having been part of an anti-coronavirus protest in Norwich in September last year.
He has denied a charge of holding or being involved in holding a prohibited gathering of more than 30 people on land in a public outdoor place during the emergency period.
Demonstrators wielding placards gathered at the Haymarket on Gentleman’s Walk in the city centre at shortly after midday on September 24.
Piers Corbyn addressing coronavirus protest in Norwich. Picture: Simon Parkin - Credit: Simon Parkin
A crowd of about 50 people took part in the event that was part of a series of 27 protests being held throughout September in towns and cities across the UK - dubbed the ‘Covid-19 Truth Tour’.
