Wigan's week in court

A woman is awaiting sentence after she admitted a shop theft.

Alysha Clayton, 33, of Orchard Street, Wigan, stood before borough justices to plead guilty to snatching £85 worth of cleaning products from B&M Bargains on May 4.

She was released on bail until sentencing on October 19, conditional that she does not enter either B&M or Primark on Standishgate before then.

A Latics fan who punched a rival supporter has been hit with a three-year match ban.

Matthew Burgoyne admitted to disorder at Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park ground last November when he appeared before city magistrates.

The hearing was told that the 23-year-old from Wigan Road, Standish, was involved in a fight in the players' car park before the final whistle and was seen to punch a supporter.

Justices fined Burgoyne £1,102 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £110 plus court costs of £310.

He was also told to pay the entire £1,522 amount within 28 days.

Burgoyne was also made the subject of a Football Banning Order (FBO) lasting three years which will bar him from "entering Wigan town centre and around the area of Wigan Athletic’s ground on Saturdays and Sundays four hours prior to kick off and six hours on the conclusion of the fixture when Wigan have a home fixture, and on any other weekday from 4pm to 12 midnight when Wigan have a home fixture."

It also prevents him from "attending at or travelling to, any town or city in the United Kingdom on a day that Wigan are playing there" and from "attending at or travelling to, any town or city in the United Kingdom on a day that England are playing there."

Burgoyne was one of more than 20 people identified as troublemakers at the Plymouth match that day on November 27.

Most of the violence broke out inside the ground when Wigan scored a last-minute winner and police, who identified suspects with body-worn cameras.

Since then three Latics supporters and 17 Plymouth fans have received bans and a further four fans have dealt with by way of out-of-court disposals.

Breach of an FBO can lead to a sentence of up to six months in prison.

A man who denies being armed with a knife in a Wigan supermarket will only go on trial next summer.

Kirk Makin, 40, of Broadway, Hindley, is charged with having the weapon in Tesco on November 15 last year.

He has since entered a not guilty plea and was due to stand trial this month, but due to the ongoing barristers' strike it has been adjourned until June 7 2023 until which time he is on bail.

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

Margaret Armstrong, on Conway Drive, Aspull, stood before borough justices to enter not guilty to charges of using threatening or insulting behaviour against Rita Seddon, Christopher McVeigh and Sharon Green on January 27, harassing Nicola Newlove the following day and then Ms Seddon again on February 3.

She was remanded on unconditional bail until her trial at the same court on January 24.

A Wigan van man who drove dangerously through the streets of Chorley and failed to stop for police has narrowly avoided being sent straight to prison.

As it is Mark Ashworth has a six-month custodial sentence suspended for 12 months, has been banned from driving for 17 months and he was ordered to complete a Thinking Skills programme, complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities and 250 hours of unpaid work.

Borough justices heard he drove a Ford Transit dangerously through various streets of Chorley – namely the A49 Preston Road, Coppull, Spendmore Lane, New Road, Pilling Lane and Bolton Road - on July 5 this year and did so without insurance or a licence.

The 32-year-old of Broom Road, Worsley Hall, also failed to stop for a uniformed officer on Westhoughton Road in Adlington and when he was stopped, failed to give a breath sample.

He admitted to all the charges against him and on top of all his other punishments he has £213 to pay to the courts and victim services.

A Wigan man who caused £500 damage to a woman's car in Blackpool will be sentenced next month.

Cameron Foley, 28, of Norley Hall Avenue, Norley, appeared before borough justices to admit attacking Tracey Cairns's Peugeot at the resort on September 11 and also failing to answer bail at Blackpool Magistrates' Court on September 27.

He was remanded on unconditional bail until he is sentenced at Wigan on November 7.

A man who stole gems, scent and garden fixtures has been given a community sentence.

Shane Liptrot, 23, of Derby House, Scholes, also pleaded guilty to skipping bail when he first failed to appear before 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.

When he finally did appear he pleaded guilty to the offences he was ordered to complete 20 hours of rehabilitation activities and 80 hours of unpaid work while forking out £429 in compensation.

A teenager who attacked and threatened a woman has been given four weeks in a young offenders' institution.

Jacob Gaskell, 19, of HMP Deerbolt in Durham, appeared before Wigan justices to plead guilty to assaulting and menacing Natasha Dutton on February 26 in Platt Bridge.

He must also pay £128 to victim services.

A serial thief who targeted Boots the Chemist seven times in a matter of weeks to steal £825 worth of cosmetics and toiletries has been spared an immediate jail sentence. Scott Hutchinson, 39, of no fixed address, appeared before Wigan justices to admit stealing the products in April and May of this year.

He was given a sentence of eight weeks in custody but it was suspended for 12 months.

Hutchinson must also complete 25 days of rehabilitation activities and pay the full amount of the goods stolen back to Boots by way of compensation.

A 29-year-old man addicted to child abuse images who had downloaded 3,000 such photographs and videos desperately tried to hide his incriminating phone from police. Officers had gone to Thomas Hillman’s home after receiving information about his internet activities from the National Crime Agency.

They raided his home last November but he had already left for work. His laptop was seized and officers went to his place of work and arrested him.

They wanted to find his mobile phone which was not at his home and they went back to his work place but could still not locate it, said Peter Hussey, prosecuting.

They then checked the CCTV and found he had a locker and he had hidden the phone behind a nearby bin trying to avoid the police from finding it.

It was forensically examined and the majority of indecent images were found on it.

Mr Hussey said that the web site addresses which Hillman had been looking at included “teen porn”, “jail bait forum” and “bestiality forum”.

Hillman, who has a young son, was evasive when initially interviewed but admitted he had special software to wipe files from his laptop but said he had not used it.

The defendant, of Rothay Street, Leigh, pleaded guilty to six offences involving downloading indecent images in all three categories of seriousness, possessing a prohibited image, possessing 152 extreme pornographic images and another charge of possessing a wrap of cocaine.

Mr Hussey said that the images included girls as young as two being raped.

Simeon Evans, defending, said that Hillman, who was living in Warrington at the time of the police raid, has no previous convictions.

He has been seeking help with various organisations since the offences and was candid when speaking to the probation service. The judge, Recorder Tim Harrington imposed a two year community order and ordered him to carry out 35 days rehabilitation activities and 200 hours unpaid work.

“This is your one chance,” he told him.

The judge also ordered him to pay £250 towards prosecution costs and to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

He made a five year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

“Over a number of years your personal life started to spiral downwards.

"You were drinking too much and in my opinion became addicted to looking at disgraceful and disgusting child porn and also images of sexual activity with animals.”

He said Hillman could not complain if he jailed him but he had been “refreshingly open with probation officers” and was trying to sort his life out.

A Wigan pensioner has admitted performing a lewd act in front of horses and donkeys.

Preston magistrates heard that 69-year-old Martin Scott was seen exposing and pleasuring himself "towards the faces" of the livestock in a Chorley field visible to the public. Scott, of Finch Mill Avenue, Appley Bridge, pleaded guilty to bizarre act when a charge of outraging public decency was put to him.

He had initially denied committing the offence, which took place on May 29 last year, but changed his plea before a trial could begin.

He was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £172.

A Wigan teenager who rode a scooter dangerously, threatened a police officer and had a drinks bottle containing ammonia as a weapon has been given a community punishment.

Cameron Mennell, 18, of Falconwood Close, Wigan, appeared before borough justices to admit the motoring offence aboard a Yamaha GPD 125-A on the M55 at Kirkham, Lancashire. On the same day - November 16 last year - harassed PC Ahangozad at Blackpool and had the offensive makeshift weapon on Preston New Road, Samlesbury. The bench found that the threats to the officer were both racially and religiously aggravated.

He was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

Mennell also lost his driver's licence for 18 months and must pay compensation and victim services surcharge totalling £175.

A banned driver caught behind the wheel has been left with a bill of more than £1,000.

Graham Roberts, 45, of Ryton Close, Poolstock, pleaded guilty to driving a Mercedes Sprinter van in Halifax on May 24, while he was disqualified from holding a licence.

He also admitted to driving without insurance on the same occasion.

Wigan justices ordered Roberts to pay a £833 fine, £85 prosecution costs and £83 victim surcharge.

He was also disqualified from driving for six months.

A Wigan woman who caught a train without buying a ticket has appeared in court four years later.

Tanya Duffy, 32, of Lynton Avenue, Gidlow, had been convicted of the offence in 2018, but asked Wigan magistrates to reopen the case and set the conviction aside.

She then pleaded guilty to travelling on the railway at Manchester Piccadilly without paying the £4.10 fare on March 31, 2018.

Duffy was told to pay a £70 fine and £20 to fund victim services.

A Wigan man will be sentenced next month for taking a car without the owner's permission and driving it dangerously.

Tyler Roughsedge, 21, of Westbourne Close, Ince, has pleaded guilty to taking the Volkswagen Golf on July 14 and driving it dangerously on Conway Road, Hindley.

He also admitted driving without a licence and insurance, and failing to stop the car when asked by a police officer.

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report and Roughsedge will find out his punishment at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on November 15.

He was remanded on unconditional bail until then and an interim driving ban was imposed.

A man has been sent to prison for 14 weeks for breaching a restraining order.

Jason Liptrot, 23, of Little Pasture, Leigh, pleaded guilty to being with Charlotte Matthews on August 24, despite a restraining order banning him.

Allegations that he was also with her on July 21 and that he committed battery of another woman on that day were dismissed by Wigan magistrates when no evidence was offered.

Liptrot was ordered to pay £156 to fund victim services.

A trial date has been set for a man accused of driving without due care and attention.

Keith Breeze, 46, of Church Lane, Lowton, denies committing the offence on October 21, 2021.

He will stand trial at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on December 1.

A 17-year-old boy who rode an off-road motorbike on Norley Hall Avenue, Norley, without a licence or insurance has appeared in court.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to riding the vehicle on May 8 when he appeared at Wigan Youth Court.

He was fined £120 and must pay a £34 victim surcharge. His driving record was endorsed with six points.

A man accused of failing to send a child to school regularly has seen the case against him dismissed.

Michael Eshiett, 40, of Bird Street, Ince, had pleaded not guilty to failing to send the child to St Catharine's CE Primary School regularly between January 5 and April 1.

Wigan magistrates have now dismissed the case as no evidence was offered.

A man will be sentenced next month for causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.

Matthew Hurst, 23, of Bryn Street, Ince, has pleaded guilty to inflicting physical abuse and blunt force trauma on a bull breed-type dog named Congo on April 1.

He was remanded on unconditional bail so a pre-sentence report can be prepared.

Hurst will be sentenced at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on November 17.