Wigan's Week in court

A Wigan man is awaiting his fate after finally admitting that he committed an aggravated burglary. Matthew Fillingham, 26, of Battersby Street, Ince, had stood before a Bolton Crown Court judge charged with entering a home as a trespasser and trying to steal items during which time Stephen Crehan was subjected to violence. A trial was due to begin this month but before then Fillingham changed his plea. Sentencing will take place on February 9.

A young man who committed a number of offences while riding an off-road motorbike down a Wigan street has been disqualified from driving for a year. Kallan Jones, 26, of Drummond Square, Scholes, stood before borough justices to admit he rode the vehicle without due care and attention while uninsured, unlicensed and without wearing a helmet, on Laithwaite Road, Worsley Hall, on August 27 last year. A further charge that he damaged another vehicle in doing so. As well as the road ban, Jones must also pay a fine, victim services surcharge and court costs totalling £239.

A man has admitted to a number of motoring offences but denied dangerous driving. Graeme Liptrot, 37, of Knowsley Road, Golborne, appeared before Wigan justices to plead guilty to driving a BMW 3 Series while unlicensed and under the influence of cannabis on Ince Green Lane, Ince, on June 7 and to driving a Honda Jazz on Rydings Lane, Golborne, without a licence or insurance while not wearing a seatbelt on June 24, but he denied dangerously driving a Peugeot 307 on Warrington Road, Wigan, on April 12. That case was sent to Bolton Crown Court where Liptrot will make a first appearance on March 7 before which he is on unconditional bail. For the other offences he was given a three-and-a-half-year driving ban, must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activities and must pay £119 to victim services and the courts.

A man has been jailed for two years after finally admitting he subjected a woman to an horrific attack. Kevin MacDonald, 38, was charged with maliciously causing Christine Mulroney GBH in Atherton in August 2020. Appearing before a Bolton judge MacDonald, of HMP Strangeways, initially entered a not guilty plea and a trial was set. But before the trial date arrived he returned to court to change his plea and the two-year custodial sentence was handed down.

A man who denied being armed in public with a blunt instrument has been given a community sentence after finally admitting doing so. Andrew Wiggins, 54, of Foster Street, Wigan, had appeared before borough magistrates to plead not guilty to having an “adapted metal pole with screw” as an offensive weapon on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Wigan on November 10. After pleading not guilty, the case was sent to be heard by a Bolton judge where Wiggins changed his plea. A judge gave him a 12-month community order including 25 days of rehabilitation activities and a six-month curfew confining him to his home in the evenings and night. The weapon was confiscated.

A Wigan man has confessed to dangerously driving a stolen car, handling a stolen caravan and peddling class A drugs. Martin Bradshaw, 33, of Ashbourne Avenue, Aspull, stood before a Bolton Crown Court judge charged with badly driving a Mercedes CLA 45 AMG on Greenough Street, Scholes, Higher Lane and the environs of Haigh Woodland Park on May 6 2020, that the vehicle was stolen and that he also had in his possession the next day a stolen Swift Moselle static caravan. Bradshaw further admitted to possessing cocaine with intent to supply it. Katie Rudd, 32, also of Ashbourne Avenue, admitted to the same charge regarding the caravan. Both will be sentenced on February 16.

Sentencing of two men who have admitted to assault and one to witness intimidation has been adjourned. Jordan Felton, 27, of Dorothy Grove, Leigh, and Cameron Johnston, 26, of Kirkless Street, Wigan, appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge charged with attacking Anthony Robinson on May 1. Johnston admitted to the attack and another on Lauren Robinson on the same day, but at first denied being armed with a hammer. Felton admitted smashing a window belonging to Mr Robinson but pleaded not guilty to assaulting him, having an offensive weapon and days later offering to pay for window repairs if the victim were to withdraw a statement in court proceedings, thus attempting to pervert the course of justice. However, they later changed their not guilty pleas to guilty before a trial could take place. Sentence was due in November, but delayed until late January but has now been adjourned again until March 16.

A young Wigan man who admitted sending lewd messages to several girls for his own sexual gratification has been spared an immediate prison sentence. Liam Forrest, 22, of Atherton Road, Hindley, stood before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead guilty to six counts of communicating with minors, making sexual requests of them and sending them sexual images to view. He further admitted to making seven indecent images of children which fall into the most serious category in legal terms (A) and a further three category B pictures. But he denied one count of distributing indecent images of children and this charge was allowed to lie on file. For the other offences he was given a two-year jail term but it was suspended for two years. He must also carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and be the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same amount of time.

The trial of a Wigan man who denies dangerous driving twice has been postponed. Jamie Smith, 31, of Atherton Road, Hindley Green, is accused of being at the wheel of a Vauxhall Vectra driven dangerously on Coronation Avenue, Spar Road and Hillside Avenue in Atherton on February 20, 2020. A trial was due to take place in late January but it has now been adjourned until September 28.

A young woman has denied driving a Ford Fiesta when uninsured and letting someone else get behind the wheel without a licence on Golborne Road, Leigh, on October 26 2020. A trial date was set by Wigan magistrates for 21-year-old Georgia Bushell of Worcester Avenue, Hindley, on April 7.

A man who drunkenly attacked his partner has been spared an immediate spell behind bars. Gerrard Moran, 39, of Springfield Street, Wigan, appeared before borough justices to admit to assaulting Karen Crowther in Manchester on November 16 in what was described by the bench as a domestic violence incidentt. He was given a 16-week prison sentence but it was suspended for 24 months. He must also complete a programme for people with alcohol problems and another called Building Better Relationships. Moran must take part in 10 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £213 to the court and victim services.

A man admitted to two attacks and three counts of criminal damage has received a community punishment. Craig Reid, 33, of Langdale Road, Orrell, had initially denied assaulting Nicola Williams and Lee Grundy by beating on Dean Crescent, Kitt Green, on September 1. But at a later appearance at Wigan Magistrates’ Court, he changed his pleas to guilty. He also admitted to smashing a window belonging to Ms Williams and breaking the window of a car belonging to Denica Grundy all on the same day. There was a further admission of criminal damage involving a broken £500 door at Ms Williams’s house on June 5 2019 but a charge of intimidating Ms Williams as a witness on November 26 2020, which Reid had denied, was dismissed by the bench. Reid also admitted to being more than double the drink-drive limit when at the wheel of a Vauxhall Combo van when police stopped it on November 27 2020 in Garswood Road, Garswood. Returning to court to learn his fate, Reid was ordered to complete 220 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activities. He was banned from driving for 23 months although he can reduce this to 23 weeks if he completes a state-sanctioned course for drink-drivers. He must also pay compensation, court costs and payments to victim services totalling £1,870.

Permission has been granted by magistrates to extend a closure order at a trouble-hit Wigan home. Justices first imposed an order - which stops anyone other than residents from entering a certain address - at 81 Yewdale Road, Ashton, last month after it became a magnet for anti-social behaviour and led to complaints by neighbours. Now Dillon Prior’s house is going to be the subject of one for another three months, the bench ruled.

A van man has been spared a driving ban because it would have cost him his job and possibly his home. Wigan justices heard that a speeding offence committed in Launceton, Cornwall, on March 11 last year by 40-year-old Carl Roberts in a Ford Transit took him over the usual number of licence points that leads to a disqualification.

But on hearing the mitigating evidence that he required his licence in order to work and that an inability to work would mean he would be unable to pay his mortgage, the bench decided there would not be a “totting disqualification”. A fine, costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £253 must be paid.