A Bolton man has been cleared of breaking Covid rules by continuing to run his business.

Altaf Musa was accused of selling goods at NM Mobiles on Blackburn Road in February last year in violation of the rules.

The 42-year-old was accused of running this business when this was not permitted as the area was a tier four one.

However then the case called recently at Wigan and Magistrates Court recently the charges against him were dropped as no evidence was offered by prosecutors.

The defence costs incurred by Musa, from Stambourne Drive, Bolton, will be paid from central funds.

Musa did not attend at court for the hearing.

Court records also indicate there have been no further prosecutions for breach of lockdown rules during the month of April for people in Bolton.

The rules have come under fresh scrutiny recently are Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were both handed fixed penalty notices for breaches of lockdown rules.

The pair haveboth paid the amount which they owed.

Before this month people were given fines of up to £1,760 for taking part in gatherings of two or more people when restrictions were at their most strident.

However other than Musa, who was acquitted, records indicate there have been no appearances in court during the month of April of people from Bolton accused of breaching Covid rules at any stage of the pandemic.

England abandoned all its restrictions on April 1.

These included any restrictions on how many people could meet and where and also the requirement to isolate after testing positive for the virus.

At the most strict the rules allowed people to leave the house only once a day other than with exceptional circumstances and gatherings between households were forbidden.