Wigan's week in court

A round-up of the people dealt with by borough magistrates recently.
A round-up of the people dealt with by borough magistrates recently.A round-up of the people dealt with by borough magistrates recently.
A round-up of the people dealt with by borough magistrates recently.

A young Wigan woman has admitted breaking lockdown laws at the Covid-19 pandemic’s height in April.

Sophie Turner, 25, of Baxter Street, Standish, appeared before Wigan and Leigh justices charged with breaching coronavirus regulations by being in an address that was not her home on April 24.

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The hearing was told that at around 11.20pm that day, police were called to one of her Baxter Street neighbours following a report of a house party.

The defendant was described drunk and she refused to leave, abusing police and saying they should be fighting real crime.

Turner was issued with a fixed penalty notice which she then failed to pay. In breach of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Act 2020, she was fined £300 and, with court costs and a victm surcharge added on the bill comes to £419.

A Wigan pensioner has denied killing a mum in an horrific incident on a supermarket car park.

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Charles Edwards is charged with causing Angela Booth’s death by dangerous driving in a tragic incident outside a Morrisons supermarket in Preston in May last year.

The 76-year-old, of Up Holland Road, Billinge, entered a not guilty plea at Preston Crown Court after being charged with driving his motorhome dangerously and will now face a trial in more than a year’s time. He had originally been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the early morning collision.

Police were called shortly before 6.25am on Friday May 24 last year by the North West Ambulance Service to the report of a collision between a woman and a Peugeot motorhome in the car park of the Morrisons supermarket on Blackpool Road, Preston.

Ms Booth, who was 39 and from Preston, was taken to Royal Preston Hospital with what were described as “significant injuries”. She was transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester where she died on Friday June 14. A Home Office post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death as multiple injuries.

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Judge Simon Medland QC adjourned his case for trial to December 6, 2021, with a mention hearing listed on January 25, 2021.

A reckless Wigan motorist who drove at speeds of up to 100mph while a young child was in the car with him has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Gregg Sprawson-Mason was given 12 months behind bars, suspended for a year, at Bolton Crown Court. The 26-year-old was also given a driving ban and a curfew after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

Police said officers spotted Sprawson-Mason at the wheel of a Mercedes C250 on Wigan Road in Ashton heading towards Marus Bridge in the early hours of the morning on April 6 last year.

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He initially stopped but then drove away at speed, with police initially pursuing before deciding it was not safe.

The officers saw the car again on Warrington Road and as they followed it saw it go through two sets of red lights, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph in the process.

There were several more sightings of the vehicle around the Ashton area before Sprawson-Mason was eventually stopped and arrested at around 3.30am on Soughers Lane.

There was a young child in the front passenger seat who had a seatbelt on but no booster or child seat to secure him.

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As well as the suspended jail sentence Sprawson-Mason was given a three-month curfew which confines him to an address in Pemberton between 7pm and 7am and ordered to attend 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirements. He was also banned from driving until he passes his test and will then be banned for a further 12 months and made to take an extended re-test. He was also given a £140 victim surcharge to pay.

A Wigan man has been found guilty of assaulting a woman by beating her after a trial.

Malcolm Payne, of Marsh Green, had pleaded not guilty to the offence which occurred at Leigh on April 12 against Yvonne Worgan.

However, a trial at Wigan’s magistrates’ court found the 48-year-old guilty. He was fined £120, given a one-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and ordered to pay £350 in costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

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A Wigan man accused of having hundreds of indecent images of children will face a jury trial at the crown court.

James Unsworth, of Rivington Drive in Bickershaw, faces three charges of making indecent photographs of children, with 69 in the most serious Category A.Magistrates ordered him to face a jury and he will now appear at Bolton Crown Court on November 6. He was released on unconditional bail.

A motorist received a 12-week prison sentence for drink-driving.

Wigan magistrates heard that Wayne Lowe, 43, of Greenside Close, Standish, gave a reading of 121 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood when police breath-tested him in his Seat Altea on Wigan Lane on August 27. The legal limit is 35 microgrmmes.

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Pleading guilty to the charge, Lowe was also banned from the road for 38 weeks and ordered to pay a victim services surcharge of £128.

A Wigan woman accidentally glassed a pal as she tried to attack people she was rowing with. Demi James admitted unlawfully and maliciously wounding friend Stacey Finney who needed hospital treatment for lacerations when she was caught in t e crossfire of an assault.

Bolton Crown Court heard that the now 25-year-old of Ingram Street, Platt Bridge, got into a heated argument with a man and two young women at the Mountain Dew pub in Atherton late on July 5 last year.

James lifted a glass and threw it at the two women but it hit her friend on her left arm and knocked a glass she was holding to the floor.

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They went to Bolton hospital together. Ms Finney suffered a laceration to the left elbow and a 2ins gash on her finger. The tendon in her elbow was said to be visible and doctors had to put in four stiches.

On July 11, 2019 the victim underwent an operation on her finger, and needed further treatment and therapy.

Pleading guilty to causing Ms Finney grievous bodily harm, James was given a 15-month prison sentence but the judge suspended the term for two years. She must also complete 30 hours of rehabilitation activities, take part in a course for female offenders and pay £149 towards victim services.

A man who denies twice flashing at a teenaged girl will have to wait more than a year before his trial.

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David Winterbottom, 57, of Thomas Street, Hindley Green, pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent exposure on both September 6 and 8, 2018. Due to a growing backlog of court cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the judge ordered that his trial could only take place on October 12, 2021 and Winterbottom was released on bail until then.

A year-long ban from driving and a £239 bill have been handed down to a Wigan motorist who took the wheel under the influence of cannabis and when not insured to drive the car.

Gareth Whitehead, 40, of Northacre Close, Lowton, pleaded guilty to having taken the banned drug and the insurance charge when he appeared before Wigan magistrates. Included in the bill was a £120 fine.

A woman has admitted being armed in public with a craft knife while drunk and disorderly.

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Tanya Payton, 25, of Wellfield Road, Beech Hill, will be sentenced by Wigan magistrates on October 30 and is on unconditional bail until then.

A Wigan teenager has been charged with racially aggravated harassment and abuse.

Dillon Marsh, 19, of Church Street, Golborne, is alleged to have hurled racist abuse at Shaun Ashby between February 26 and June 24. Wigan magistrates ordered that Marsh appear before them on October 28.

A Hindley jail inmate has admitted to assaulting no fewer than five prison officers during two separate incidents.

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Ronnie Harrison, 23, will now get an extra four months behind bars after confessing to the assaults by beating of Stuart Evans, Neil Brown and Jonathan McMillan on June 25 last year, and to attacks on Joseph Dawson and a Prison Officer Patel on March 12. He also admitted to racially abusing and threatening the latter and also Yassir Hussainr.

Currently a prisoner of HMP Lancaster Farms, Harrison was told that they were “particularly nasty assaults” on the officers and that the use of racist language was not to be tolerated. He must pay a £149 victim services surcharge.

A Wigan pervert who admitted having extreme pornography involving an animal and indecent images of children will learn his fate from a crown court judge.

Paul Melling, from Ashton, pleaded guilty to three charges related to his disgusting haul of sick photos and films at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court.

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In the most shocking admission the 52-year-old, of Eastwell Road, owned up to having a picture portraying a person performing a sex act on a pig “which was grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character.

Melling also admitted making vile images and footage involving children. There were three indecent moving images of a youngster which fell into the most serious Category A and a further 25 photos and films of children in Category C. The offences relate to a period of several months between June 2018 and March 2019.

He will now be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on November 11. He has also had to register with the police in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act for a length of time which will be decided when he receives his final punishment. He was released on unconditional bail until his crown court appearance.

A man has been given a 16-week suspended sentence for a domestic abuse attack.

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Scott Simms, 33, of Ashland Avenue, Swinley, pleaded guilty to the assault by beating of Gemma Hardman when he appeared before Wigan justices. He also admitted to possession of cocaine.

well as the jail term which was suspended for 12 months, he was given an eight-week night time curfew during which time he will be electronically tagged, he must complete 15 days of rehabilitation activites and is the subject of a 12-month restraining order against his victim. Simms was also ordered to pay £457 in compensations, court costs and a victim services surcharge.