Wigan's court round-up

Round-up of people brought before local magistrates ...
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A man who admitted to stealing £240 worth of Viagra from a Wigan Boots store has walked free.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Martin Howard when he failed to appear before borough magistrates last month, but now having appeared, justices told the 45-year-old of Oxford Road, Atherton, that there was no need to impose further punishments because the amount of time detained in custody since his arrest was sufficient.

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The trial of a man who denies going on a car-wrecking spree in Wigan more than two years ago has been delayed again - after he failed to turn up at court.

Wigan and Leigh Magistrates CourtWigan and Leigh Magistrates Court
Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court

Matthew Smith, 48, faces eight charges of causing criminal damage to cars on March 22, 2019 in Standish.

Although the bill for one of the vehicles is not yet known, the overall cost for the victims has been estimated to be in excess of £5,000, Wigan magistrates heard.

Damaged were a Ford Mondeo, Range Rover, Nissan Duke, Vauxhall Astra, Peugeot, Mercedes, Ford KA and a Vauxhall Astra. Smith, formerly of Standish and more recently of Colyton Road, Chorley, denied all charges when he appeared in the dock almost a year after the spate of incidents.

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Matters were then delayed due to the pandemic and trial date of August 26 last year was set, but he did not appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest by Wigan and Leigh magistrates.

Months went by until he was finally traced and a new May 2021 date for the trial was set, but now after the latest no-show a new warrant has been issued by the bench.

A Wigan teen has admitted driving dangerously a van that wasn’t his.

They were two of seven criminal charges to which 18-year-old Jordan O’Reilly pleaded guilty when he appeared before Wigan magistrates, further ones including that he was at the wheel of a high-performance car - again not his - while banned from the road. O’Reilly, of Croal Avenue, Platt Bridge, admitted that he had taken a Ford Transit without the owner’s consent on December 20 and that it had been damaged in an accident before it was recovered.

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He had driven it dangerously and had neither a licence nor insurance cover.

He also pleaded guilty to taking an Alfa Romeo without its owner’s permission which he then drove while banned and on false plates on Walthew Lane on March 29.

The bench remanded him in custody until he is sentenced by a Bolton Crown Court judge on June 9.

A Wigan sex offender who had tens of thousands of indecent images of children has been put behind bars. A judge at Bolton Crown Court sentenced Andrew Taylor, from Whitley, to 20 months in prison when he appeared in the dock on Friday.

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The 54-year-old, of Lilian Drive, had a huge library of disgusting images, the court heard. He admitted possessing 1,843 images of abuse which fell into Category C, the lowest of the three gradings of criminal severity.

He also confessed to making a further 25,447 pictures which fall into the same classification.

In addition to that Taylor had two category B images and a prohibited picture of a child. Furthermore, he admitted using peer-to-peer software to access indecent images of children, which was a breach of a sexual harm prevention order.

Liverpool Crown Court had imposed the measure on him back in 2016 for previous offences which related to viewing child abuse online.

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The law caught up with Taylor once more and he appeared at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court for the offences back in March.

The bench there committed him to the crown court to receive his final punishment from a judge.

Compensation must be paid to an assault victim, Wigan magistrates have ordered.

Damien McCarrick, 46, of Belmont Road, Hindley, pleaded guilty to the assault by beating of Robert Evans on April 5 and was given a 12-month conditional discharge.

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He must also pay £50 recompense to Mr Evans along with court costs and a victim services surcharge bringing the total bill to £157.

A Wigan man has been accused of encouraging the rape of a girl aged under 13.

That crime is alleged to have happened on October 26 last year.

Paul Holmes, 52, of Woodcock Drive, Platt Bridge, is also charged eight days later with trying to arrange for someone to have sex with a girl of 13.

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Because of the seriousness of the offences, Wigan magistrates immediately sent the case to be heard by a Bolton Crown Court judge before whom he will make a first appearance on June 2, before which he has been released on bail.

There are a number of conditions including restrictions on computer use, staying away from two named addresses and a named female, not having unsupervised contact with any under-18s unless incidental or unavoidable and the insistance that he sleep at his home address.

A motorist who drove dangerously on the motorway has been banned from driving for a year.

Suleiman Baraka, 42, from Scholes, appeared before Wigan magistrates to admit driving a Vauxhall Insignia dangerously on the M61 on November 30, 2019.

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As well as the ban, the bench ordered that he complete 70 hours of unpaid work and pay a victim services surcharge and costs totalling £240.

A man has admitted stealing newspapers and being aggressive.

John Beck, 44, of Wesley Street, Pemberton, appeared before Wigan justices to plead guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour and to taking the £3 worth of newspaper from Claytons News on April 21.

He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £25 in compensation.

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A drink-driver who was found by police to have cocaine with him as well has received a road ban and a large bill.

Wigan justices heard that 27-year-old Ryan Horrocks of Hamilton Road, Ashton, was stopped by a patrol on Chorley Road, Bolton, on April 17 and breathalysed.

He gave a reading of 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

But he was also found to have a quantity of the class A illegal drug.

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He was given a 16-month driving ban although he has a chance to reduce it to 16 weeks if he takes a state-sanctioned test for drink-drivers.

A fine coupled with court costs and payment to victim services mean there is also £728 to fork out.

A woman has been given a six-month conditional discharge after admitting she was drunk and disorderly at Wigan North Western railway station on April 15. Kerry Bargh, 44, of Lockgate Place, Poolstock, was also ordered to pay £107 to victim services and the court.

Another two years have been added to a motorist’s road disqualification after he was caught at the wheel.

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Alan Fitton, 28, of Scholes, Wigan, appeared before borough magistrates to admit to driving a Vauxhall Corsa on Hardybutts on April 24 while banned from doing so and not therefore being insured.

He was also given a 12-week prison sentence for what the bench called a “blatant breach of a court order” and for his poor driving record although the term was suspended for 12 months.

He also has £218 to pay to victim services and the court.

A man who admits possessing wraps of medical heroin and riding a moped without insurance is going to trial over claims that he was also armed with a kitchen knife.

Adrian Whitty, 33, of Atherton Road, Hindley Green, stood before Wigan magistrates to deny having a blade in Linney Square, Scholes, on February 28.

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They sent him for trial at Bolton Crown Court on June 2 but in the meantime gave him a two-year conditional discharge for the drug offence and a fine for the moped offence.

With court costs and a victim services surcharge his bill came to £239.

A man who damaged a Wigan Police van has a big bill to pay. Corey Jones, 26, of Lockside Mews, Ince, stood before borough magistrates to admit causing £283 damage to the vehicle on April 26 last year.

He was ordered to pay the full amount for repairs plus court costs and a fine, meaning his final bill came to £488.

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A Hindley Prison inmate has been given a 12-week jail sentence for cocaine possession.

Gavin Phythian, 31, must also pay a £122 victim services surcharge, said Wigan magistrates who added that he was given a custodial sentence because the drug offence had been committed behind bars.

A sentencing date has been set for a 32-year-old Wigan man found guilty of assault. Steven Critchley, from Duke Street, Swinley, had denied causing David Oliver actual bodily harm on May 8 when he appeared before Wigan magistrates but the bench convicted him after a trial.

He then lodged an appeal against the verdict at Bolton Crown Court but the judge upheld it.

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He has now been told that he will learn his fate on May 26 at the same court and he is on bail until then.

A Wigan schoolboy has admitted to making indecent images of children.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be identified, appeared at the borough’s youth court charged with having 17 “child porn” pictures that fall into the lowest of the three categories of legal seriousness - C.

He was remanded on bail until sentence on June 7.

A man convicted of being in charge of a vehicle when almost four times the legal drink-drive limit has been banned from the road for 12 months.

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Zydrunas Bielskis was breathalysed by police outside a Bargain Booze store on Poolstock Lane, justices heard, and gave a reading of 129 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. Because he wasn’t driving the Peugeot 407 at the time, police did not charge the 32-year-old of Paget Street, Wolverhampton, with drink-driving but he faced an alternative charge of being drunk in charge of the vehicle.

He denied this and further charges of driving without insurance or a valid licence and was also charged with failing to surrender to the police, but after a trial transferred from Wigan to Warrington magistrates he was found guilty on all counts.

He was fined £300 and ordered to pay a victim services surcharge as well as serve the year-long disqualification.

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A Wigan man who finally admitted to fencing a £40,000 stolen car has been spared an immediate spell behind bars.

Connor Bentley, 27, of Cranberry Court, Ashton, had appeared before Wigan justices to plead not guilty to handling a stolen Range Rover Sport belonging to Matthew Bamford on August 20 but on his first appearance before a Bolton judge he changed his plea to guilty.

Returning for sentence he was given a two-year custodial term but it was suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,250 in court costs.

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