A NEWPORT man has been fined after pleading guilty to breaking covid rules while Wales was in a period of lockdown.

Shaquille Lamont Crosdale appeared before Gwent Magistrates Court in Newport on Monday, January 31, facing a charge of gathering with another person in an alert level four area of Wales – without a reasonable excuse for doing so.

The offence was said to have taken place at an address on Buttermere Way, Newport, on January 31, 2021.

At the time, strict covid restrictions were in place, with indoor gatherings with other households prohibited.

In court, the 23-year-old, of Fleetwood Close in Newport, admitted to gathering “with any other person without reasonable excuse” on that date.

He was found to have been in breach of the coronavirus restrictions brought into law in 2020, in a bid to combat the potentially deadly virus.

Crosdale’s guilty plea was taken into account when the sentence was handed down.

He was issued with a fine totalling £800.

The court also ordered him to pay costs of £85, and an £80 surcharge to help fund victim services.

All told, the balance stands at £965, to be paid by February 28, 2022.