The Crown Prosecution Service has reported cases of police and shop workers ‘being deliberately coughed at’ by people claiming to have deadly coronavirus.
The Director of Public Prosecutions warned coughs ‘directed as a threat’ to key workers or members of the public ‘could be charged as common assault’.
The CPS also highlighted two recent convictions. Max Hill QC, the DPP, said anyone using coronavirus to threaten emergency and essential workers would face serious criminal charges. “The CPS intervention comes after reports in recent days of police, shop workers and vulnerable groups being deliberately coughed at by people claiming to have the disease,” the CPS said in a statement. “Such behaviour is illegal and assaults specifically