Neil McEvoy: Lockdown case against Cardiff politician dismissed

Former Member of the Senedd (MS) Neil McEvoy has had a charge of breaching lockdown restrictions dismissed in court.

Mr McEvoy had been accused of distributing election leaflets in Cardiff on 15 February, which was forbidden under coronavirus legislation at the time.

But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was accused of "appalling preparation" by the judge overseeing the hearing.

Mr McEvoy had denied the allegation.

District judge Stephen Harmes criticised the CPS for changing the details of the charge on the day of the trial.

Prosecutors had amended the charge to relate to a different area of Cardiff.

Mr McEvoy, who was elected as a member of Plaid Cymru in 2016 before being expelled and forming and leading a party called Propel, failed to be re-elected in May.

The former South Wales Central MS, who remains a Cardiff councillor for Fairwater, described the conduct of the CPS as a "disgrace".

Dismissing the case, Mr Harmes also said the CPS failed to provide Mr McEvoy with substantial pieces of evidence in sufficient time to allow him to prepare his defence.

Mr Harmes dismissed the evidence of the prosecution because witnesses were not present in court.

Mr McEvoy, who was representing himself, also said he would like to have provided his own witness, but was not given the opportunity.

Mr Harmes said the case had not been taken seriously enough by the CPS and questioned whether there was any realistic prospect of conviction.

"You had the wrong location and served the evidence on him late, so how on earth is he supposed to respond?" he said."

He added: "This is appalling preparation by the CPS. I use that word knowing it's likely to be reported.

"There are many other cases in these courts that we have to get on with and it should have been done better".

CPS prosecutor Pamela Kaiga requested an adjournment to allow more time to present witnesses, which was rejected by Mr Harmes.

Mr Harmes stressed the inadequate preparation of the CPS was not the fault of Ms Kaiga, but said he had no option but to dismiss the case.

He added Mr McEvoy's high profile had no bearing on his decision.

A CPS spokesperson said: "We accept the evidence was served late.

"We applied to the court for time for the witness to attend later on the morning of the trial but the judge ruled that the case should proceed immediately.

"We respect his decision and will carefully review and address what went wrong in this case."