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South Yorkshire Police has apologised for telling a family they were not allowed on their own front garden during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Footage of the encounter in Eastwood, Rotherham, showed an officer ordering a couple and their young children to stay inside their two-bedroom terraced home.

“The virus does not stop on your front gardens,” she warned. “A thousand people died yesterday, a thousand people.”

Resident Daniel Connell posted the video on his Facebook page and said he and his partner were ”playing with two babies” three metres from the pavement.

Social media users quickly pointed out that the new coronavirus regulations state that a garden is part of a person’s home. The law also mentions any “yard, passage, stair, garage, outhouse or other appurtenance.”

And on Thursday night South Yorkshire Police issued a statement saying that “this encounter was well-intentioned but ill-informed”.

“We’d like to apologise for the way it was handled,” the force added. “We’ve spoken to the officer concerned and made our approach absolutely clear.

“Again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused and will continue our work to support the NHS.”

Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford also said that the officer’s warning was “clearly not right”.

He added: “Whilst cannot see full context of the video, people are of course allowed to be in their gardens – front or back – and should be allowed to continue to do. This is clearly an overreach!”

Silkie Carlo, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, commented: “First, this ‘policing’ defies minimal expectations of common sense. Second, the nation is under house arrest – we’re restricted to our homes *including gardens obviously* and this is crystal clear in the regs.”