Wigan's week in court

A Wigan teenager has been accused of sexual activity with a child.

Luke Aspey, 18, of Newland Avenue, Pemberton, stood before borough magistrates facing a charge of inciting a 10-year-old to expose himself for the defendant's sexual gratification.

Aspey is further charged with breaching a sexual harm prevention order issued by Manchester justices last year by having a device that can access the internet.

The case was sent to Bolton Crown Court where Aspey will make a first appearance before a judge on July 27.

He is on unconditional bail until then.

A 58-year-old Wigan woman has denied harassing four different people, one of them twice.

Margaret Armstrong, of Conway Drive, Aspull, stood before borough justices to plead guilty to charges of using threatening or abusive behaviour against Rita Seddon (twice), Christopher McVeigh, Sharon Green and Nicola Newlove in January and February this year.

The case was adjourned until a trial on October 3.

A Wigan pensioner has denied being involved in a hit-and-run smash.

Hayden Oakes, 79, of Robin Hood Lane, Wrightington, stood before borough justices to enter not guilty to charges that on December 30 he drove a Peugeot car without due care and attention on Miles Lane, Appley Bridge, that he damaged a garden wall there and failed to stop or report the matter to police.

The case was adjourned until September 26 for a trial at the same court.

A Wigan jail inmate has denied drug dealing there and being involved with smuggling items in or out of it.

Suhud Chowdhury, 20, of Hindley Prison, is alleged to have been in possession of cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply on August 15 2020 and on the same day bringing or throwing both mobile phones and sim cards in or out of the institution.

A trial date was set for July 27 at Bolton Crown Court.

A young Wigan man has admitted being armed with a blade.

Ryan Baybutt, 22, of Belvedere Place, Worsley Mesnes, stood before borough justices to plead guilty having a flip knife in Farr Close, also in Worsley Mesnes, on May 9. Sentencing was adjourned until July 13 for the preparation of reports.

He was released on unconditional bail.

A 67-year-old Wigan truck driver has been spared a ban even though his latest motoring conviction takes him over the usual 12-point threshold.

Borough magistrates heard that both Thomas Marshall and his wife are disabled and that if he were disqualified from the road he would lose his job and it would cause exceptional hardship to them both.

This was after Marshall, of Harold Avenue, Ashton, was caught breaking a 40mph speed limit in Norfolk last October by seven miles an hour.

Instead of banning him, the bench put three more points on his licence and ordered him to pay a fine, costs and victim services surcharge totalling £390.

A 32-year-old Wigan man accused of viciously attacking a woman has made his first appearance before a judge.

Shane Woods, of Balcarres Avenue, Aspull, is charged with causing a woman grievous bodily harm on March 22.

Appearing at Bolton Crown Court judge, he was told there would be a pre-trial preparation hearing on July and a trial date was also fixed for November 7, although he has yet to plead.

A Wigan man has admitted to assault and criminal damage after prosecutors accepted that the attack was not racially aggravated.

Martin Prescott, 54, of Pryce Avenue, Ince, had appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge charged with the assault of Medfie Kasiam on July 2, 2020 and the breaking of two mobiles worth £963 belonging to the complainant the same day.

He had denied all the charges, including the allegation that the assault was aggravated by racial overtones.

But before a trial could take place he entered guilty pleas to the criminal damage and a lesser charge of common assault.

He will be sentenced on July 28.

A Wigan man will be sentenced by a judge after admitting to assaulting a security guard.

Peter Howarth 27, of Wesley Street, Pemberton, had been accused of assaulting John Hayworth and nurse Paul Bullough during the course of their duties on April 15.

On appearing at Bolton Crown Court he admitted the attack on Mr Hayworth but no evidence was offered by the prosecution with regard to the alleged other attack and so he was cleared of that.

Sentencing will be on July 19.

Sentencing of a carer who admits to stealing £28,500 from a woman she was looking after has been delayed.

Carrie Chadwick had also been charged with neglecting the named woman and also stealing from a man, but those charges have since been dropped.

The 41-year-old of Alder Avenue, Pemberton had been due to be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on June but this will now take place on August 9.

A Wigan man has been given a three-year community punishment after finally admitted that he tried to arrange for a child sex crime to be committed.

Paul Fields, 48, of Canberra Road, Marsh Green, had been due to stand trial at Bolton Crown Court after denying the single charge of attempting to facilitate an illegal act between February 5 and 19 2021, but then changed his plea to guilty.

Included in his punishment are 45 days of rehabilitation activities and 35 days on a sex offenders' programme.

He is also the subject of a five year sexual harm prevention order and must sign on the sex offenders' register for the same amount of time.

A 63-year-old Wigan woman accused of dealing drugs will be tried in 10 months' time.

Susan Atherton, of Warrington Road, Wigan, has denied supplying diazepam and amphetamine and possessing more than £30,000 in criminal proceeds.

She was bailed pending a trial date of April 11.

A 37-year-old Wigan woman has admitted threatening and hurling abuse at two others.

Rebecca Derricott, of Marsh Green, stood before borough justices accused of harassing one named female and breaching a course of conduct which would have led to another fearing for her safety.

Both offences took place between May 27 and June 6.

Sentencing was adjourned until July 22 before which she is on bail conditional that she avoids any contact with her victims.

A Wigan thief with a truly terrible criminal record is back behind bars after yet another shoplifting spree.

Borough magistrates heard that 31-year-old Zara Fairhurst's latest crimes were aggravated by the fact that they were committed while she was supposedly serving a community sentence.

The hearing was told that Fairhurst, of Vulcan Road, Marsh Green, stole Yankee candles, electronic cigarettes and liquids, razors and meat totalling more than £850 from Asda (three visits) and B&M Bargains in May and June.

She was told she had shown a "flagrant disregard" for court orders, people and their property and because she had flouted the most recent community punishment, she would be sent to prison for another five weeks.

She must also pay £340 in compensation.

A Wigan man who stole a £200 tyre has been given a 12-month conditional discharge.

Charlie Ward, 31, of Vine Street, Whelley, stood before Cheshire justices to admit stealing from Luke Harrison on Europa Boulevard in Warrington on May 20, that he committed the crime while serving a suspended sentence handed down by Newton Aycliffe justices last year for "going equipped" for burglary and that after being arrested for the theft, then failed to answer police bail.

Ward must also pay a fine, victim services surcharge and court costs coming to £161.

A motorist caught at the wheel while banned and in the possession of drugs has had seven months added to his disqualification and community punishment.

Stephen Derricott, 45, of Saddleback Crescent, Norley, stood before Wigan justices to plead guilty to breaching the ban by driving a Peugeot Expert van on Lamberhead Road on May 27, that he wasn't insured at the time and that he had with him a quantity of amphetamine, a class B substance.

As well as being further barred from the road, Derricott must complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He must also pay £180 to victim services and the courts.

A fly-tipping menace who three times dumped her domestic waste near other people's Wigan homes has to pay a near four figure bill to the courts.

Georgina Lloyd, 32, of Lily Lane, Platt Bridge, appeared before borough magistrates to admit to leaving binbag and shopping bags full of rubbish in the neighbourhood.

The first offence involved three bags containing a food caddy and children's toys left on a grassed area off Tram Street on or before October 16 2019.

The second, on Lily Lane, involved five bags containing planks of wood, a parcel shelf from a car, a sofa cushion, a child's booster seat, a bucket, bricks, concrete and a yellow builders rubble bag filled with more black bin bags, around the same date.

And the third involved another five bags of domestic waste dumped this time in a Tram Street alleyway.

On each occasion a waste management licence was not in force.

Lloyd was ordered to pay a fine, court costs and a victim services surcharge of £966.84.

A Wigan motorist who refused to identify to police who was at the wheel of his car when it was involved in a driving offence has been hit with a hefty court bill.

James Hook, 34, of Thomas Street, Newtown, had denied the offence of failing to inform the Chief Constable as to who was driving his BMW on August 16, but after a court no-show he was proved guilty in his absence.

He now has to pay costs, a victim services surcharge and fine totalling £846.

A man who threatened violence against his own father and twice damaged his car is awaiting sentence.

Thomas Wood, 37, of Keats Avenue, Worsley Mesnes, stood before Wigan justices to admit to the two vandal attacks on the car belonging to his dad, also called Thomas Wood.

He had denied making the threats but was found guilty after a trial.

The offences took place in October and November of last year.

Wood was released on conditional bail pending sentence on July 27.

A 54-year-old Wigan man has admitted to being a phone pest for eight months.

Jason Chadwick, of Millgate, Wigan, stood before borough magistrates to plead guilty to a charge under the 2003 Communications Act that between August 7 2021 and March 23 2022 "persistently made use of a public electronic communications network for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another." Sentencing was adjourned until August 10 for the preparation of reports.

An attacker must pay his young victim compensation while being hit with a conditional discharge.

Jamie Hill, 32, of Edge Green Lane, Golborne, stood before borough justices to admit to assaulting a young male, who cannot be named, by beating him on May 22.

The discharge lasts for 18 months and he must pay compensation, a victim services surcharge and costs amounting to £157.

A drunken motorist who hurled threats and abuse has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Samantha Yates, 35, of Reeve Street, Lowton, appeared before Wigan magistrates to admit to being well over three times the drink-drive limit on May 12 when she used threatening or abusive words or behaviour and menaced a PC Hamer.

The court heard she gave a reading of 121mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Yates was given an eight week jail sentence but it was suspended for 12 months.

She must also complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £213 to the courts and victim services.

A Wigan man who admitted to being armed in the street with a blade is awaiting his fate.

Craig Simmons, 51, of Bulteel Street, Pemberton, stood before borough justices to plead guilty to having a kitchen knife in public on May 15.

He was released on conditional bail until he returns to the same court for sentencing on July 21.

A Wigan man and woman have denied a string of allegations against them that they are drug dealers.

Michelle Cooper, of Tulip Drive, Beech Hill, and 31-year-old Jordan Needham, of Willow Grove, Golborne, face five charges each of possessing cocaine, diamorphine (medical heroin) amphetamine and cannabis together worth around £14,000 pounds with intent to supply them.

They are also charged with possessing cannabis, a taser and £2,188 in cash which are alleged to be the proceeds of crime.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place in Kingsdown Road, Abram on July 21 2020. Needham has further denied possessing another £610 in criminal proceeds and a second charge of taser possession on the same day in Morden Avenue, Golborne.

They were both granted unconditional bail until they make a first appearance before a Bolton Crown Court judge on August 3.

Neither has yet to enter a plea.

A Wigan couple have denied possessing and supplying illegal drugs.

Glen and Julie Furlong, 52 and 53 respectively, of Millers Lane, Platt Bridge, stood before borough justices to plead not guilty to possessing diazepam with intent to supply, possessing cocaine and also having criminal proceeds, namely cash.

They were given unconditional bail until they appear for the first time before a Bolton Crown Court judge on August 3.