Events from

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Incumbent

Events

January

*6 January –

Reynhard Sinaga Reynhard Tambos Maruli Tua Sinaga (born 19 February 1983) is an Indonesian sex offender who was convicted of 159 sex offences, including 136 rapes of young men committed in Manchester, England, between 2015 and 2017, where he was living as a st ...

, described as "the most prolific rapist in British legal history", is sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years, after being found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting 48 men in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Police believe he may have been responsible for assaulting a total of nearly 200 victims. *9 January – Five members of prison staff are injured when they are attacked by two inmates at

Whitemoor Prison HM Prison Whitemoor is a Category A men's prison near March, Cambridgeshire, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Whitemoor Prison was built on the site of an old railway marshalling yard and was opened in 1991 by Norma M ...

in Cambridgeshire; the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

subsequently announces that the incident is being treated as a terrorist incident. *10 January – Gemma Watts, a 21-year-old woman from Enfield, north London who disguised herself as a 16-year-old boy to sexually assault teenage girls she had groomed online, is sentenced to eight years imprisonment after pleading guilty at

Winchester Crown Court The Winchester Law Courts is a judicial facility just off the High Street in Winchester, Hampshire, England. As well as accommodating the Crown Court, which deals with criminal cases, the complex also accommodates the County Court and the Winche ...

to charges involving four girls. Police believe she may be responsible for assaulting as many as 50 victims. *23 January – An earthquake of 3.0 magnitude is recorded by the

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, just before 6 am.

February

*2 February – A man is shot dead by police in South London after a stabbing incident on Streatham High Road; police treat the incident as

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

-related. *10 February – In a "historic" decision, councillors reject a proposed expansion of

Bristol Airport Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...

, by 18 votes to seven, on the grounds that it would exacerbate

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, damage the health of local people, and harm flora and fauna. *24 February –

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

bans children under the age of twelve from heading footballs during training sessions. *25 February – A landmark study shows that life expectancy in England has stalled for the first time in more than 100 years and that health inequalities are growing wider than a decade ago. The study said that this can largely be attributed to the UK government's

austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...

policies. *27 February –

Count Binface Count Binface is a satirical political candidate created by British comedian Jonathan Harvey in 2018. He was a candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the 2019 United Kingdom general election against prime minister Boris Johnson. He also sto ...

announces he will run for Mayor of London.

March

*13 March – COVID-19 in the England: Elections including the English local elections, London mayoral election and police and crime commissioner elections, scheduled for May 2020, are postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

May

*17 May -

Murder of Aya Hachem Aya Hachem was murdered in Blackburn, Lancashire, England on 17 May 2020. Aya Hachem was a University of Salford law student from Lebanon who moved to the UK in 2011. At 15:00 BST on 17 May 2020, Hachem was mistakenly shot dead by hitman Zamir ...

*20 May - An opt-out organ donation law comes into force in England which hopefully would lead to an additional 700 transplants by 2023.

June

*16 June - Murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes *20 June -

2020 Reading stabbings On 20 June 2020, shortly before 19:00 BST, a man with a knife attacked people who were socializing in Forbury Gardens, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Three men died from their wounds, and three other people were seriously injured. A 25-ye ...

*21 June -

2020 Moss Side shooting At about 12:30 am on 21 June 2020, two young men were shot dead at a street party in Moss Side, an inner-city area of Manchester in North West England. Background The shooting took place at an afterparty, illegal under COVID-19 lockdown rules. ...

August

*18 August - Health Secretary Matt Hancock announces that

Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...

is to be "scrapped" and replaced by a new body run by Dido Harding, called the National Institute for Health Protection and it will aim to combine PHE and the NHS Test and Trace operation, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. *25 August -

Ofqual The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog ...

chief,

Sally Collier Sally Collier is a British civil servant and former head of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). She also involved in negotiating changes to European Union rules governing public procurement. Career She has serv ...

, resigns after thousands of students' marks were downgraded for exams they were unable to sit.

September

* 9 September – COVID-19 in the England: The government announces a ban on

social gatherings Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

of more than six people in England and will be enforced from the 14 September - with some exceptions such as schools, workplaces or COVID-secure weddings, funerals and organised team sports. *25 September – Sgt Matiu Ratana, a long serving police officer with the

, is shot dead during an incident at a custody centre in Croydon, London.

October

* 1 October – Plastic drinking straws,

cotton bud Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

s and drink stirrers are banned in England.

Deaths

References

{{England year nav, state=collapsed *England 2020s in England Years of the 21st century in England