Wigan's week in court

A Wigan business manager who fleeced more than £28,000 from the firm where he worked has been jailed for two years.

Simon Hindley, 38, of Chestnut Grove, Hindley, defrauded MKW Heating Controls Ltd of £28,606.51 between August 1, 2017 and May 31, 2021.

At the time he was employed as a manager for the heating equipment supply firm, based on Swan Lane in Hindley Green.

He pleaded guilty to committing fraud by abusing his position to make a financial gain during a hearing at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court in September, before the case was adjourned for sentencing.

Hindley has now appeared in the dock at Bolton Crown Court and was jailed for two years by Judge Tom Gilbart.

A hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act has been scheduled to take place at the same court on April 12 to see how much of the money can be recouped.

A Wigan woman facing a number of shoplifting charges will next face magistrates later this month after a trial was cancelled because she had Covid.

Lisa Fisher, 41, of Eastwell Road, Beech Hill, had been due to stand trial for stealing £370 worth of ornaments from Accessories 4 U in the Grand Arcade on March 11, but it was postponed due to her illness.

When she returns to Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on December 12 she will also enter pleas over charges of stealing laundry products and an air freshener worth £30 from B&M Bargains on April 4 and a further theft of £106 worth of laundry products from the same store on June 1.

Fisher is already facing a trial on March 21 next year after pleading not guilty to threatening neighbour Glynn Rostron on January 29 2021.

She is remanded on bail conditional that she does not have any contact with the complainant in the last alleged offence.

A shoplifter who menaced the people who had detained her has been given a community punishment.

Claire Forbes, 42, 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.

Returning to Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court for sentencing, Forbes was ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activities, take part in a drug rehabilitation programme and be subject to an eight-week electronically tagged curfew.

No financial penalties or charges were imposed.

Two teenagers who repeatedly raped a 18-year-old woman in Wigan have been locked up for a total of more than 13 years.

Tyquante Reid, 18, from Bedfordshire, along with a 16-year old boy from Essex who cannot be named, were both convicted of the horrific attack following a trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

The hearing was told that in the early hours of April 18 this year the woman, who had become separated from her friends, had been refused entry in to Popworld in Wigan as she was drunk.

The two defendants, Reid being 17 years old at the time, approached her and ushered her into a taxi.

She thought she was going home, but they took her to a flat in Aspull, an area she did not know, where they took it in turns to rape her.

She begged to be allowed to go home, but they told her she could only leave after she performed a lewd act on them.

At 1.55am she called 911 on the pretext of taking a call from a taxi.

She had been in the flat for 45 minutes.

She reported that she had been raped by two men and had no idea where she was.

The operator advised her to leave the flat and knock on a door for help.

A neighbour took her inside and waited with her until the police arrived.

When the defendants saw the police car arrive from the flat window they quickly left the flat, and got a taxi out of the area.

Following a trial in October this year Reid was found guilty of two counts of rape and the 16 year-old was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration.

They were given six years, eight months and six years, six months’ youth detention respectively.

Wendy Chappell Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: “These two young men showed disturbing predatory behaviour when they targeted a woman, who was clearly vulnerable through drink, in order to rape her.

“They put the woman through the further traumatic ordeal of having to relive her experience by testifying against them at a trial.

“I would like to commend this extremely brave young woman for her quick thinking in reporting it to the police and seeking safety.

"Her courageous actions have undoubtedly saved other woman from harm at the hands of these dangerous sexual predators.”

A Wigan borough thug who battered his partner has been jailed again.

Liam Mountford is no stranger to prison, having been sent down six years ago for 28 months for his part in a race hate attack on a cyclist in Newtown during which he tried to knock the victim off his bike while driving past in a car and later punching him numerous times.

This time the 36-year-old of Hope Street, Leigh, has been given 27 months inside for assaults causing his partner actual bodily harm.

He had pleaded guilty to the offences at a previous hearing at Bolton Crown Court.

A spokesperson for GMP Leigh, Atherton and Hindley said: “If you have any information or any form of abuse to report, you can report to GMP directly by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. You can also report any information via our website www.gmp. police.uk”