Lincoln lockdown party ends with arrest and fine

There have been new 570 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, as the government said it’s “too early” to draw conclusions from a recent fall in cases nationally

The Greater Lincolnshire case figure is almost 11.49% down on the 644 cases on last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, after cases fell for the fourth day in a row on Monday, government advisors said it was too early to say whether COVID was levelling off, or is about to start dropping off.

The latest COVID stats for Lincolnshire are:

• 570 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire with 420 in Lincolnshire, 94 in North East Lincolnshire and 56 in North Lincolnshire
• Two further deaths were recorded in the government figures including one Lincolnshire and one North Lincolnshire resident
• No further deaths were recorded in Greater Lincolnshire Hospitals

The Prime Minister’s spokesman today said it had been “encouraging” to see recent reductions in COVID infection rates, including a levelling off of admissions to hospital.

However, he added: “It’s too early to draw full conclusions from the case rates and we would continue to urge the public to abide by the guidance as set out and those eligible to get booster doses.

“Prevalence remains relatively high even if it has dropped off to a certain extent,” they added.

The government line continues to be that bringing in Plan B restrictions – which include making masks mandatory in some public places, compulsory COVID passports and advising people to work from home – was not in sight in the current data.

Scientific advisors today have also been saying the government should stop testing pupils without symptoms.

Prof Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told the Commons Science and Technology Committee that widespread testing in schools was “very disruptive” due to isolations and families taking children out of school.

“I think probably we need to move in the pandemic, over this winter, maybe towards the end of the winter to a completely different system of clinically-driven testing,” he said.

“In other words, testing people who are unwell rather than having regular testing of those people who are well.”

He also told MPs the UK’s “very high” number of coronavirus cases was “partly because of our very high test rate” and the “vast majority” of ICU patients in the UK were unvaccinated.

A South Lincolnshire schoolboy who set up a fake website to harvest the details of dozens of victims amassed a fortune from his crimes, a court was told today.

The boy, operating from his bedroom, used the first few weeks of lockdown and his ill-gotten gains to buy Bitcoins and other crypto currency which subsequently soared in value.

By the time the police caught up with him the crypto currency he bought had increased in value to over £2 million.

Sam Skinner, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that in April 2020 the boy set up a fake site which was almost identical to the official site of Love2Shop which sells gift vouchers.

He then paid for Google advertising which resulted in his fake site appearing above the genuine site when people searched for Love2Shop.

“People were duped into clicking on his website thinking they were accessing the official site.”

The victims entered their email addresses and Love2Shop account details on to the fake site before being transferred to the genuine site.

The boy used the data he gathered to convert £6,500 worth of vouchers to his own Love2Shop account.

He took his fake site down after a week just as Love2Shop began investigating him following a complaint from a customer.

The subsequent police investigation revealed he had over 12,000 credit card numbers stored on his computer and he had 197 PayPal accounts.

Mr Skinner said: “He had received through his PayPal accounts between January and March 2020 a total of £323,000. These sums came into his account and were transferred into crypto currency.

“The police found a large quantity of crypto currency. There were 48 Bitcoins and a smaller number of other coins. At the time they were worth £200,000. They are now worth a little over £2 million.”

The boy, who is now 17 and studying for his A levels, admitted charges of money laundering between April 9 and 16, 2020 and fraud totalling £6,539 by false representation between the same dates. An order was made prohibiting publication of his name.

He was given a 12 month youth rehabilitation order to include a supervision requirement and 150 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight ruled that he benefited from his crimes by £2,141,720 and ordered that amount to be confiscated from his assets.

The Judge said “If he was an adult he would be going inside.”

She told the boy: “You have a long-standing interest in computers. Unfortunately, you used your skills to commit a sophisticated fraud.”

Nicola Hornby, in mitigation, said the boy had no previous convictions and has stayed out of trouble since his arrest.

She described him as “a very capable young man” who has matured in the 18 months since he committed the offences and is now concentrating on his A levels.

Detective Constable Luke Casey, Cyber Crime Investigator at Lincolnshire Police, said: “This was a sophisticated cyber fraud and a complex investigation which involved our Cyber Crime Unit working collaboratively with a number of external agencies and other internal departments. I would like to give thanks to all involved for their hard work, commitment and dedication in helping to bring about a positive outcome for this case.

“Action Fraud and Crimestoppers played a part in the early identification of the offences as well as the suspect, and their involvement enabled us to begin a full and immediate investigation into this crime. This highlights their importance in the area of crime reporting and shows that reports made to Action Fraud and Crimestoppers are taken seriously and are passed onto the police to review and investigate.

“Cryptocurrency is often thought, by criminals, to be an anonymous way to move funds around undetected but I’m glad that in this case, we were able to highlight that the police are now able to effectively investigate offences of this nature.

“It’s no secret that the tactics used by cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated, but through our commitment to training and development in digital investigation, this case has also shown that we are prepared and able to adapt to the ever-changing and complex nature of cybercrime.”

A woman living in Lincolnshire has been reunited with her biological father after 58 years thanks to the help of a Facebook group.

When Julie Lund was around 12-years-old she found out that the dad she lived with was her adopted father.

Due to family circumstances she never knew much information about her real dad but, after her mum and step dad passed away earlier this year, she decided to try and find him.

The 59-year-old posted a childhood picture on a Facebook group called ‘Dewsbury Pictures Old and New’.

After four days and numerous people online offering their help her father, Brian Rothery, was found and the two were reunited on October 12 this year.

After being reunited with her father, Julie told BBC Yorkshire: “I was just amazed, it was like a piece of jigsaw had fallen into place. Without the people of Dewsbury and the Facebook group this wouldn’t have happened.”

Her father Brian added: “It’s very much like a miracle, and I don’t believe in miracles. A great big thank you. She means a heck of a lot to me.”