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Celebrity lawyer Mr Loophole reveals how people can get off Partygate convictions
1 February 2022, 07:55 | Updated: 1 February 2022, 09:28
The lawyer famed for getting celebrities off driving convictions has told LBC that fines against Number 10 aides for parties in Downing Street may not stand up in court.
Nick Freeman has successfully defended a number of high-profile names who have faced potential driving bans by finding loopholes in the law to get them off.
His success in representing clients including former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff has earned him the moniker Mr Loophole.
And now he has told aides working for the PM – who face fines of up to £10,000 – that his “hotline is open”.
He told LBC that just like for driving offences, there is a statute of limitations for breaches of the Covid rules of six months.
Mr Freeman told LBC: “My hotline is open. These regulations were there. They changed all the time as Coronavirus developed. They were carefully thought out.
“What’s interesting here is the limitation period and who knew about it. What’s also interesting is the six months is an absolute time from when the prosecutor says: ‘I had enough knowledge to know there could be a successful prosecution’. That is absolute.
“That clock is already ticking very sharply, isn’t it? The prosecution must be aware now, because the prosecutor will already have had access to the Sue Gray report, and I anticipate the prosecution must have known some time back what was going on.”
Mr Freeman also believes that police guarding Downing Street would have raised suspicions that parties were taking place with their superiors, who in turn would have contacted the CPS for legal advice.
If that happened, he said, then the time-limit for a successful prosecution would have already expired.
Setting out exactly how Downing Street aides might want to challenge any Fixed Penalty Notice in court, Mr Freeman added: “If you felt: ‘Look, we were told this is alright to go to these parties, we were given the green light’.
“You would say: ‘It’s not fair, I’ve been told it was alright. It’s now not alright and so if someone has told me I was alright to attend, I am going to hold them accountable’. The benefit of that of course is you would not be liable, you would not be criminally culpable and you would not be convicted.
“It will be hugely embarrassing to all concerned. It will be a wide net and there will be many heads cast in it.”
