£2,000 fine for canal boat owner after illegal lockdown party in east London

Police officers believe there were more than 70 people attending Hackney boat party

Jordy Nicholas Van Duijvenbode at Thames Magistrates’ Court, London (PA)

A man has been fined almost £2,000 for breaching coronavirus restrictions after police broke up illegal parties on his canal boat in east London.

Jordy Nicholas Van Duijvenbode, 31, was arrested in February after members of the public reported to the police that large music events were taking place on his boat in Hackney.

Neighbouring houseboat residents described hearing “loud music and voices” and the boat was seen to have “quite a lean, which means it was carrying a lot of weight”, the court heard.

Officers later seized a music system, loudspeakers and lights from the boat.

At the time the country was under strict lockdown restrictions and it was illegal to hold a gathering of more than 30 people.

On the first occasion on 5 February, he told police that he was aware of the regulations and said only 15 people were on board at the time.

Then on 13 February when police once again arrived at the boat and ordered it to stop, more than 30 partygoers attempted to flee by jumping over a fence.

Some 26 people were issued with penalty notices and the boat was later seized by the Canal and River Trust.

Van Duijvenbode pleaded guilty to holding a gathering of more than 30 people and a second charge of participating in a gathering of two or more people in an indoor space.

On Friday he was fined £1,161 for the offences plus legal costs, bringing the total to £1,902 which must be paid in six months.

Sentencing him at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Friday, District Judge Susan Holdham said: “Given the time the incident took place there was a real prospect that one of the attendees could have been infected.”

The court heard that police officers believed there were more than 70 people on the boat on the 13 February incident.

Van Duijvenbode was paid between £300 and £700 for the use of his boat, called the Nebuchadrezzar, the court had heard.

He told police he had no idea how many people would be at the event and that his job on the day was to drive the boat.

In April while representing himself at a hearing, he admitted: “In hindsight I shouldn’t have done it.

“I had applied for other government grants but did not qualify for any of them – in terms of the boat succeeding or not, it was my only choice. It was all or nothing.”

He told the court he had earned about £3,000 to £4,000 a month but has now been living in his Ford transit van, is on universal credit and is set to apply for bankruptcy.

He said: “I guess I do not have much to say. My boat has been destroyed. My life has been destroyed.”

On Friday District Judge Holdham said: “These offences occurred because this was the way the defendant made a living.

“But this was true for many people around the country, those who are in the hospitality sector, who run pubs and restaurants.”