Wigan's week in court

A woman who attacked another in a Wigan town centre bar has been ordered to pay her compensation. Catherine Cannon, 30, of Prestt Grove, Worsley Mesnes, assaulted Nicola Phillips, causing actual bodily harm, at Harry's Bar on October 22. Wigan magistrates ordered her to carry out 15 days of rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work and with court costs and a victim services surcharge to pay on top of the compensation to Ms Phillips, Cannon has to find £480. Co-accused Lee Dutch, 29, of the same address, has also admitted to causing Christopher Nye actual bodily harm, on the same day. But his sentencing has been further delayed for reports until October 27.

A man has admitted to going to a Wigan home which was subject to a court closure order but has denied doing it again on another occasion. Darren Cane, 36, of Laithwaite Road, Worsley Hall, stood before borough justices to plead guilty to attending 37a Canberra Road in Marsh Green on September 25 when all but residents of it are barred because it has been a magnet for anti-social behaviour. However, he denied being at the same address two days earlier and so he was bailed pending a trial on October 25.

A Wigan teenager has admitted threatening a man while armed with a machete. Shaun Connolly, 18, of Kingsdown Road, Abram, appeared before borough magistrates to plead guilty to the single charge of menacing Alan O'Reilly while wielding the blade in Wyre Avenue, Platt Bridge, on August 25. He was remanded on bail, conditional that he does not approach his victim nor the street where the incident happened until he is sentenced at the same court on October 25.

A young Wigan man will face a trial before magistrates after denying careless driving while banned. Jay Cooke, 25, of Beech Hill Avenue, Beech Hill, appeared in court to enter not guilty pleas to charges involving a Ford Fiesta on Wigan Road, Standish, on December 11 last year. A trial date was set for November 14 after which he will be sentenced for three counts of attending an address in Ridyard Street, Pemberton, in February 2021 when barred from doing so by a non-molestation order. Cooke had denied those accusations but was found guilty at a trial in his absence.

Seven court cases featuring six Wigan men, three of whom were awaiting sentence, have all been delayed due to the ongoing barristers' strike affecting Bolton Crown Court. Jordan Collier, 28, of Fell Street, Leigh, and Callum Hugill, 23, of Chapel Street, Leigh, had pleaded guilty to a host of offences, including attacking five people, that took place on January 17. They assaulted Alam Kabir and Rohan Kenny at Asda in Leigh, stole a bottle of alcohol worth £30 from the supermarket, and stole a crate of beer worth £16 from Lidl in Wigan. On the same day, Collier assaulted PCs Clarke and OlsonHill and Hugill assaulted Special Constable Lavery. They had also been charged with entering a property on Lord Street, Leigh, with intent to steal, for which they will stand trial. Due to the industrial action though, the hearings have been put off until October 31. An allegation that Hugill stole tools and machinery worth between £4,000 and £5,000 from Tower's Building, on Wallgate, Wigan, was dismissed when no evidence was offered to the court.

Benjamin Devlin, 26, is accused of causing Leticia Cook and Stefan Gradwell grievous bodily harm in Wigan on July 14 2021. An inmate of HMP Berwyn, he had been scheduled to stand trial at Bolton in June, but now it has been further delayed until November 3.

Jamie Smith had originally been due to stand trial for dangerous driving in January this year, the charge relating to an incident on Coronation Avenue, Spar Road and Hillside Avenue in Atherton on February 20, 2020. That was adjourned until September and now the 31-yearold of Atherton Road, Hindley,

has been told that the case has been put back again to November 7.

Drug dealer Martin Bradshaw isn't going anywhere as he is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison term for drug dealing and motoring offences including dangerous driving. But the 34-year-old of Ashbourne Avenue, Aspull, had also been due to face a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Bolton at which any ill-gotten gains of his might be seized. However that has now been delayed until January 19.

Adam Willerton, 38, of Sandringham Drive, Leigh, had expected to be sentenced for taking an axe to the car park at Asda in Leigh on July 2 and threatening John Saro. But his case too has been shelved until November 7.

Meanwhile 21-year-old Tyler Huddart, of Rose Hill Avenue, Pemberton, was going to learn his fate from a judge after pleading guilty at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court to dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and driving without a licence or insurance in Bolton on July 3. But he will remain on bail after his sentencing hearing was rearranged for October 25.

Anthony Hughes, 46, of Darlington Street, Tyldesley, had been due to appear before a judge in relation to an incident where a man was seen with a meat cleaver as parents were collecting children from a Wigan borough school. He was charged with affray and possession of a bladed article after an incident at St George’s Central Primary in Tyldesley in the summer. The hearing was adjourned to October 27 although the provisional date of January 2 for a trial is unaffected at present.

A man who had initially denied launching an attack has finally come clean. Brett Welch, 26, of Corvus Close, Ince, had originally appeared before Wigan justices to plead not guilty to assaulting David Dunn by beating on April 15. But before his trial could take place, Welch changed his plea. The bench released him on bail conditional that he does not contact his victim or go to Delph Street and the case was adjourned until he is sentenced on October 25.

A dog owner whose pet savaged a man has paid the victim £1,000 compensation. Michael Dakin, 36, of Scotia Walk, Lowton, had initially tried to get the case against him thrown out although an autumn trial date was set at Bolton Crown Court. But before any such hearing he pleaded guilty to having a dangerously out-of-control dog which bit Patrick Nolan-Yildirim in Lowton on June 9 2021. The dog, called Snoop, was spared being put down after the attack but must now be muzzled and on a lead if ever it is out in public. As well as having to pay Mr Nolan-Yildirim compensation, Dakin was also given a two-year conditional discharge.

A man has denied five counts of stealing more than £1,200 worth of laundry products and air fresheners from Wigan stores. Liam Harris, 30, of no fixed address, is charged with stealing clothes-washing products from B&M Standishgate on May 5 and 14 and its sister store in Marus Bridge on May 7 and 9 totalling £1,090. He is further accused of snatching £134 worth of air fresheners from Bargain Buys in Standishgate on May 6. He was released on bail until a trial at the same court on November 3, before which a condition of remaining at liberty is that he does not enter Wigan town centre or Robin Retail park unless to attend court or honour appointments with a solicitor.

A woman has appeared in court accused of menacing a Wigan neighbour. Lisa Fisher, 40, of Rathen Avenue, Ince, stood before borough justices charged with harassing Glynn Rostron, using abusive, threatening or insulting language or behaviour on January 29 last year. The case was adjourned until October 25 and she was bailed on condition that she does not contact the complainant.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a young Wigan man accused of motoring offences. Tyler Roughsedge, 20, of Westbourne Close, Ince, has been charged with dangerously driving a Volkswagen Golf which he had taken without the owner's permission, that he did so without insurance or a licence and that he failed to stop for police. The crimes are alleged to have taken place in Conway Road on July 14 this year. Roughsedge had been due to face the charges at Wigan Magistrates' Court but failed to turn up and so a bench warrant was issued.

A young Wigan man who admitted to being drunk and disorderly has been given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay court costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £111. Adam Young-Cottle, 20, of Thirlmere Avenue, Ince, pleaded guilty to the public order offence committed on July 5 in Manchester Road.

A shoplifter is awaiting sentence after finally admitting to menacing the people who had detained her. Claire Forbes, 41, of Millers Lane, Platt Bridge, had pleaded guilty to stealing £60 worth of goods from Iceland in the town on October 30 last year but denied threatening unlawful violence afterwards. However, she later changed her plea to guilty and also confessed to an August bail breach. She will be sentenced by Wigan justices on October 26.

The case of a firm which owns several sites in Wigan – including the quarry where a teenage boy died earlier this year – and admits breaching an environmental permit has been adjourned until next year. Maybrook Developments (Appley Bridge) Ltd, which is registered in Worcestershire, went before Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court in a prosecution by the Environment Agency. The offences relate to West Quarry, in Appley Bridge, and landfill on Parbold Hill. Guilty pleas were entered on a previous occasion to four offences of failing to comply with the conditions of an environmental permit. These related to waste other than that listed in the permit being stored on land between February 19, 2020 and June 29, 2021, and not conducting and submitting landfill gas, ground water and surface water monitoring between March 31, 2021 and November 2, 2021. Guilty pleas were also entered for two charges of failing to comply with an enforcement notice relating to flood risk activity on November 1, 2020 and November 15, 2020. The notices had required Maybrook to remove waste, as well as to conduct landfill gas, surface water, ground water and leachate monitoring and submit the results to the Environment Agency. The case was adjourned until January 31 to "tie up with other cases." Maybrook’s owner Peter O’Dowd, of Mere Road, Newton-le- Willows, has been charged with the same offences and has now entered not guilty pleas. His case was adjourned to the same date and Maybrook will only be sentenced at the completion of his trial, a date for which has yet to be set. It was at East Quarry where 16-year-old Jamie Lewin died on July 9, after entering the water and getting into difficulty. He was the third youngster to lose their life there, following the tragic deaths of 17-year-old Craig Croston in 1999 and Miracle Godson, 13, in 2015. There have been repeated calls for the quarry to be filled, with Maybrook having plans which it hopes will make the area safer, although there has been opposition to turning the area into a landfill site for several years.

Justices have issued a warrant for the arrest of a Wigan man who failed to turn up to court when accused of stealing jewellery, scent and garden fittings. Shane Liptrot, 23, of Derby House, Scholes, was due to appear before borough magistrates to face charges of snatching £70 worth of aftershave from The Fragrance Shop in Wigan's Grand Arcade on August 3, £300 worth of gems from Warren James on August 12 and two wrought iron planters worth £60 from a home in Prefect Place, Kitt Green, on August 25. But after his no-show, a bench warrant was issued.

A closure order imposed on a Wigan home which had been a magnet for anti-social behaviour has been extended. Magistrates granted an application to maintain the order against Louise McGuire's house in Reedsmere Close, Newtown, for another three months.

A young man has denied vandalising two cars and attacking the owner of one of them. Callum Hugill, 23, of Cheltenham Road, Ince, stood before Wigan justices to enter not guilty to causing Corey Jones actual bodily harm and criminal damage to his Ford Fusion. It is also alleged that the defendant damaged a Toyota Yaris belonging to Zuber Tantwaia on the same day: March 9 this year. Hugill admitted a charge of threatening unlawful violence, again on the same date, but sentence will be handed down after his trial which has been fixed for January 24 at the same court. He is on bail before then.

A woman who twice breached a restraining order and committed two bail breaches has been sent to prison. Rebecca Winstanley, 35, of no fixed address, appeared before borough justices to admit breaking the terms of the order by going to an address in Church Lane, Shevington, on both August 3 and 5 and for failing to attend court twice later that month. She also pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine. Her sentence totalled 12 weeks behind bars, the bench telling her she was being locked up because she was "continuously offending and unwilling at this time to comply with community penalties or her post-custodial supervision”. Winstanley must also pay a £154 victim services surcharge.

A 31-year-old Wigan motorist has been banned from the road for two years after being caught almost three times over the drink-drive limit. Cameron Brennan, of Cedar Drive, failed a breath test at the wheel of a Peugeot Partner van stopped on Ashfield Park Drive, Standish, on June 19. He gave a reading of 101 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. As well as the disqualification, Brennan must also complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities and pay a fine, victim services surcharges and court costs totalling £319.