Dorset Man Contaminated Supermarket Goods During Coronavirus Lockdown

A Dorset man thought it would be amusing to lick his fingers and deliberately contaminate supermarket goods at the height of the national coronavirus lockdown.

Benjamin Best, 20, of St Andrew's Road, Bridport, admitted a charge of contaminating or interfering with goods when he appeared at Weymouth Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 2nd September 2020. He was back at the same court for sentencing on Thursday, 7th October 2020.

Contaminating or interfering with goods with the intent to cause public alarm or anxiety is an offence under section 38(1) of the Public Order Act 1986. The maximum penalty is 10 years' custody on conviction on indictment; 6 months' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction.

Magistrates heard that Best visited the Lidl store on St Andrew's Road, Bridport on Friday, 3rd April 2020, less than a fortnight after the Government imposed strict national coronavirus restrictions.

Whilst in the store he licked two fingers of his gloved hand and then smeared them onto a packet of napkins on public sale. Clearly believing others would find his juvenile stunt amusing he recorded his antics and shared the video on Snapchat, but the prank backfired when concerned viewers alerted the police.

Charles Nightingale, prosecuting, told the court: "He was wearing a mask and gloves and licked two fingers in his mouth and then preceded to swipe those fingers across paper napkins on the shelf. He filmed himself doing it. He uploaded the small recording to Snapchat and it was seen by 60 people. It came to the attention of the police and the recording was seized.

"He thought it was a joke. He thought his friends would find it funny. But it wasn't. Some people who saw it reported it to the police."

Mr Nightingale said that Best claimed to have removed the contaminated napkins from the shelf and purchased them, although he could not produce any evidence of doing so.

Ian Brazier, mitigating, said: "I think that this was done at the spur of the moment for a laugh. He has had quite a lot of time to reflect upon it. He has been helping out at home, looking for work and worked at a carpet fitting company, something that he tried out and liked."

According to Mr Brazier, his client had taken stock of the situation and was remorseful for his actions. He had not visited the store with the intention of making the video, but had done so as he bought lockdown shopping for family members.

The court was shown a letter by one of Best's grandparents, who presumably he had been supporting at the time, which described him as a "kind and considerate" grandson who was "cheerful and hardworking".

Debbie Boitoult, Presiding Justice, acknowledged Best's remorse for his "stupid actions".

Addressing him, she said: "This was a very serious incident. Given the rules, you committed this offence at the time of extreme stress and fear. You thought it would be funny to make the video.

"It was clear that people weren't laughing, hence why you are in court."

Best was sentenced to an 18 month community order, with 180 hours unpaid work requirement and up to 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and £90 victim surcharge.