Wigan's week in court: latest cases going before judges and magistrates

​Martin Birchall, 34, from Atherton but of no fixed address, went to Car Bank Square in Atherton on April 17 and 19. That was despite a restraining order which forbade him to go there, which was imposed by Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court.

On the second occasion, he also breached the order by making contact with a woman there. Birchall pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment - breach of a restraining order on conviction. He was remanded in custody until a sentencing hearing at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on May 14. He will also be sentenced for possession of a knife in a public place, after being found with a black-handled concealed blade on Elm Street, Tyldesley, on November 16, 2023.

He has previously pleaded guilty to that.

A serial Wigan shoplifter has admitted to stealing hundreds of pounds worth of goods from various local stores.

Dionne Baker, 39, of Withington Lane, Aspull, appeared before borough justices to admit targeting TKMaxx at Robin Park three times in February to steal coats, handbags and gift sets totalling £800.

She also admitted to snatching a £179 television from Asda, £140 of meat joints from M&S, razors and cosmetics totalling £350 from Boots and various foodstuffs from Morrisons.

Baker also took clothing from Wyndsors and laundry products from Asda during her thieving sprees between February 7 and April 5.

She is barred from Robin Retail Park until May 30 when she returns to court for sentencing.

Justices have imposed a closure order on a Wigan home that has been the focal point for police complaints.

For the next three months 146 Laithwaite Road, Worsley Hall, can only be occupied or visited by its resident and authorised other parties including the emergency services.

Anyone breaching the order can themselves be prosecuted.

A Wigan resident has been hit in the pocket after piles of household waste from his own gome were found dumped.

Bin bags full of rubbish, furniture and a fridge-freezer whose ownership could be traced back to Andre Brancini's address in Hey Street, Ince, were discovered fly-tipped on Hermitage Green Lane in Warrington on March 22 last year, Cheshire justices were told.

Prosecuted under the 1990 Environmental Health Act, Brancini, 28, pleaded guilty to failing to take all available measures to secure a transfer of household waste by an authorised person to authorised premises.

When a fine, compensation, court costs and a victim services surcharge are added together, he has £1,726 to pay.

A Wigan 40-year-old who went shopping with a stolen bank card has been locked up.

Graeme Liptrol, of Mains Avenue, Bamfurlong, appeared before Manchester justices to plead guilty to fraud by false representation when he made an £18 purchase with the stolen card on February 22.

Jailing him for 21 days, the bench said Liptrot had previously shown a flagrant disregard for court orders so only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

A notorious thief has been jailed for four months after targeting more Wigan shops, including one he was already barred from.

Thomas McSpirit, 40, of no fixed address, appeared before borough magistrates to plead guilty to seven new shoplifting offences committed in March and April.

These included taking handbags worth £170 from TKMaxx, £90 worth of washing powder from Heron Foods, £50 of confectionary from One Stop Newtown, and laundry products worth £20 from Farm Foods.

He also stole meat, liquor and confectionary totalling £433 from Poolstock's Tesco Express on three successive days and, in so doing also breached a criminal behaviour order.

Imposing a custodial sentence, justices told McSpirit that only a spell behind bars could be justified because of his continual flouting of court orders.

He must also pay back the value of all the items he stole to the relevant shops.

A Wigan man has admitted to peddling drugs.

Dennis Holden, 54, of Beacon Road in Bickershaw, appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead guilty to possessing, cocaine, cannabis and diazepam with intent to supply them on February 17 2023, but to deny possessing offensive weapons - namely a machete, zombie knife and extendable baton - and a large quantity of cash, believed to be criminal proceeds.

His wife, Anne Marie, 53 and of the same address pleaded guilty to cannabis and diazepam dealing but denied the other charges.

A trial that had been arranged was vacated and the couple will now return to court on June 26 for sentencing.

A Wigan man who breached a sexual harm prevention order has been told to do unpaid work.

Stephen Knight, 50, of Warrington Road in Abram, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a device for inspection on July 30, contrary to the terms of an order issued by a Bolton Crown Court judge in 2021.

He was handed a three-year community order, which includes 26 sessions of the Building Choices programme, 100 hours of unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activities.

A borough man charged with attempted murder will stand trial later this year.

Abdullahi Tuani, 25, of Abbey Road, Astley, is accused of stabbing a woman at a property on Tintern Avenue, Astley, on October 28.

The trial will be held on September 15 at Bolton Crown Court.

A borough man has denied committing a series of child sex offences dating back 35 years.

Ian Thompson, 54, of Tensing Avenue, Atherton, appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead not guilty to five charges of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14 and one of inciting a girl under 14 to commit an act of gross indecency.

The offences are all alleged to have happened between June 1990 and April 1991 and involved the same girl.

He has yet to answer to a further charge of inciting a girl to commit an act of gross indecency.

Due to court backlogs, a trial date of April 12, 2027 was fixed.

Another Wigan home has been hit with a closure order after magistrates heard that it was a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

For the next three months only the occupants and certain authorised people including the emergency services will be able to enter 14 Dorothy Walk in Bamfurlong which has been the focal point of a number of complaints to police.

Anyone breaching the order can be prosecuted.

A skip lorry driver from Wigan has been fined for driving it carelessly.

Carl Rogers, of Red Rock Lane, Haigh, appeared before borough justices to admit driving the DAF truck without due care and attention on Argosy Road, Eccles, on November 19, 2022.

He had initially pleaded guilty to being in charge of the lorry when its rear securing hooks were in a lowered position while carrying a skip laden with bricks and rubble, and its net covering was significantly ripped over the load area and not properly roped to body of the wagon and thus posed a danger of injury to people.

But he later withdrew the plea and denied it at which point the new charge to which he admitted was put to him.

Rogers must pay a fine, costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £443.

A homeless Wigan man has been jailed after finally admitting he harassed a woman for several days in the Lake District.

Jamie Thornborrow, 35, had previously stood before Barrow-in-Furness justices to plead not guilty to the harassment without violence of a named female in Kendal between February 23 and March 5 this year.

It was alleged that during that time he made repeated unwanted contact with her.

But returning to court after a spell of being remanded in custody Thornborrow changed his plea to guilty.

He was jailed for nine weeks, the bench telling him that only a custodial term could be justified not least because there had been a "more than minimal impact on the victim."

The hearing was told that because of his harassment she had to bring about changes to her lifestyle and get a new phone number to prevent "persistent unwanted contact."

Justices also pointed out that he already had a track record for domestic abuse convictions.

A Wigan man and woman have admitted that they conspired to deal no fewer than seven different drugs.

Carolyn Knowles, 46, of Argyle Street in Hindley, and Christopher Atkinson, 49, of Greenways in Billinge, had been accused of possessing the following illegal class A, B and C substances with intent to supply them between May and August 2021 - cocaine, MDMA, cannabis, LSD, Ketamine, Zopiclone and amphetamine.

Atkinson was also charged with producing cocaine.

After pleading guilty to all the charges at Bolton Crown Court it was debated whether a trial of issue should take place - these are hearings where the circumstances of offences are laid out in the hope usually of presenting mitigating evidence which would then lead to a more lenient sentence.

But on this occasion the judge decided that such a hearing was not necessary and the case was adjourned until the pair learn their fate on June 20.

Sentencing of a Leigh man convicted of driving while on the phone has been delayed to see whether there are circumstances which would prevent his being banned from the road.

David Sargeant, 42, of Wigan Road, was found guilty of the motoring offence on March 1 last year in Leigh Road, Leigh, by Bolton magistrates under the single justice procedure (which presumes guilty in minor cases although defendants can challenge the verdict.)

Due to insufficient court time the case was adjourned until June 18 when it will be considered if there are any mitigating circumstances, including exceptional hardship, for not ordering his disqualification from driving.

A Wigan man stole £18,000 from the builders' merchants where he worked.

Kieran Calland, 35, of Hardy Street, pleaded guilty to theft by an employee after taking the cash from M Markovitz Ltd Civils, Builders and Plumbers Merchant in Pemberton on February 27, 2024.

He will be sentenced at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on July 11 and was remanded on unconditional bail.

A Wigan pensioner has denied child and animal sexual abuse film charges.

Christopher Eaborn, 68, of Woodhouse Lane, Springfield, appeared before a Preston Crown Court judge to plead not guilty to possessing 245 images of child sexual abuse that fall into the most serious legal category: A.

He also denied possessing 287 category B and 693 category B pictures, plus a prohibited image of a child and one of extreme pornography involving a dead or live animal.

The case was adjourned until a September 10 case management hearing and a trial date was set for November 10.

Eaborn is on bail until then.

A Wigan 58-year-old who was caught with thousands of indecent images of children has been spared an immediate spell behind bars.

Malcolm Thomas, of Bradshaw Street in Whelley, had previously stood before borough justices to admit to making 13 moving and still images of child abuse between January 2019 and October 2023 which fall into the most serious category of pictures - A; to making seven category B images; but a massive 13,406 category C images.

Sent to Bolton Crown Court for sentencing, he was given a 16-month custodial term but it was suspended for two years.

Thomas must also complete a rehabilitation programme for sex offenders, 40 days of rehabilitation activities and also undergo alcohol treatment for 12 months.

The judge ordered that he be made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and that he sign on the Sex Offenders' Register for the same period of time.

A woman has appeared in court charged with attempted robbery.

Helen Woolley, 43, of Gamble Street, Leigh, is accused of trying to steal a mobile phone on February 7.

Wigan magistrates adjourned the hearing until June 27.

The case of a Wigan borough man accused of robbery and drug possession has been sent to the crown court.

Alan Williams, 57, of Cecil Street, Leigh, is charged with stealing a woman's purse, which contained £80 cash and a key, on February 13.

He is also alleged to have been in possession of class B drug cannabis on March 5.

Wigan justices sent the case to Bolton Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on June 4.

He was remanded on conditional bail.

A man has confessed to stealing items worth hundreds of pounds in a series of thefts from a single Wigan store.

Darren Close, 36, from Ince but of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to taking products from Next at Robin Retail Park.

He stole a £68 jacket on January 25; bedding worth £450, diffusers worth £266 and jackets of an unknown value on January 27; and jackets worth £272 on February 13.

Close was remanded on conditional bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared.

He will return to Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court for sentencing on July 11.