Coronavirus in Portsmouth: Hannah Dean banned from all hospitals after fake 'quiet NHS' posts

Hannah Dean, 30, who was previously fined, now faces arrest and possible criminal prosecution if she ignores an Asbo-style community protection notice.

Police confirmed she can only visit a hospital in an emergency, for a booked appointment or if she is a dependent of a patient.

Fines of up to £2,500 could be issued by the courts if she is convicted of breaching the notice.

It also bans her from encouraging others to flout Covid national lockdown restrictions.

A senior police officer branded her actions ‘unacceptable’ while Portsmouth council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said it was a ‘disgrace’.

It comes after she was handed a £200 fixed penalty notice for travelling to Queen Alexandra Hospital, filming there and posting on Facebook it was ‘the quietest I have ever seen it’.

She has filmed similar videos of Southampton General Hospital and repeatedly visited St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

Chief Inspector Jon Carter, from Sussex police, said: ‘There are a variety of tactics of dealing with this kind of unacceptable behaviour.

‘We are working together with Hampshire Constabulary to ensure the best avenues to deter this behaviour from continuing are taken.’

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said he has spoken to NHS staff ‘working their guts out to support people’ and said: ‘It’s an irrefutable fact that there’s huge pressure on the hospital.’

He added: ‘To say it doesn’t exist, it’s a hoax, is so demeaning to the work those people are putting in, the risks they’re putting themselves under and the loss so many families have felt in this city.

‘It's a disgrace and how anybody could do that to other people and show so little for their suffering and their hard work, I don’t know.’

Police said the woman, now of Fareham, was issued with the notice after ignoring a warning she was issued on Sunday.

She tried to film patients and staff at QA Hospital, where 744 people have died with Covid, at around 4.30pm.

Footage of QA’s A&E on the Hannah Dean Facebook account shows security saying: ‘What are you doing here, Hannah?’

Her latest posts include ‘save our children’ and ‘save the children’ – references to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory about a secretive group running a global paedophile ring.

A video posted yesterday records her interaction with staff at the Cosham Covid testing site.

A Hampshire and Sussex police investigation has been running since she was issued with the fixed penalty notice.

READ NEXT: Queen Alexandra Hospital boss blasts posts calling Covid pressures 'fictional’

Some 426 patients were being treated for coronavirus at QA Hospital on January 26, and the intensive care unit is triple its normal size with 47 patients on mechanical ventilation.

A Sussex police spokeswoman said: ‘On Sunday, Sussex police issued a community protection warning to a 30-year-old woman from Fareham which prevents her from attending any hospital apart from when she has a prior appointment, is a dependent or there is a medical emergency; and to not encourage, endorse or incite another person to breach Covid restrictions.

‘The woman breached the conditions of the community protection warning on the same day of the order being issued and on Monday she was issued with a community protection notice.

A Hampshire police spokesman added: ‘The CPN is designed to prevent unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative impact on the local community’s quality of life.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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