Wigan's week in court

A drug-dealing carjacker has been spared jail.

Natalie Devlin, 38, of Orchard Street in Wigan, had been due to stand trial at Bolton Crown Court for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, but then changed her plea earlier this year.

Returning to court for sentence for these offences and a crime of aggravated vehicle-taking to which she had already admitted, she was given a two-year prison sentence but it was suspended for 15 months.

She was banned from the road for 12 months after which she must sit an extended driving test before she can get behind the wheel on her own again.

And Devlin must also attend a course for those with alcohol addiction and a separate rehabilitation course lasting 30 days.

A trial date has been set for a a Wigan man who denies committing a series of child sex offences, including rapes, over a 50-year period.

Peter Wilson, 65, of Bowling Green Row, Atherton, appeared before justices to plead not guilty to seven charges involving girls and a boy.

The two most serious are accusations of raping a girl under 16 between 1972 and 1974.

A third charge is of indecently assaulting a woman over the age of 16 between 1973 and '74.

Wilson also faces a charge of indecently assaulting a girl under 14 between 1984 and 1985, indecently assaulting a woman over 16 between 1994 and 1995 and inciting a boy of under 13 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity between 2011 and 2013.

The most recent allegation is of sexually touching a girl under the age of 13 between September last year and March 1 this year.

Wilson is next due to appear before a Bolton Crown Court judge on September 18 with a trial date fixed for October 30.

A Wigan borough man who kept more than £3,000 in benefits to which he wasn't entitled has received a suspended prison sentence.

Liam Arevalo, 25, of Laburnum Avenue, Atherton, appeared before local justices to plead guilty to five counts of receiving wrongful credit and dishonestly failing to take steps to cancel them between April 2019 and January 2021.

The bench sentenced him to four weeks behind bars but suspended the term for 12 months.

But he must also complete 150 hours of unpaid work over the next year and pay £213 to victim services and the court in costs.

A Wigan home that has been a trouble spot for neighbour complaints has been made the subject of a closure order.

Borough justices granted the application that only residents of and authorised visitors to Allen Martin's house in Prestt Grove, Worsley Mesnes, but allowed for the next three months after hearing that it was a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

Any unauthorised people visiting the address between now and November 10 can face prosecution.

A Wigan motorist has been penalised for using his mobile phone while driving.

Simon Murphy, 39, of Old Laurel Gardens, Hindley, had initially denied the offence when at the wheel of an Audi A4 in George Street, Hindley, on June 7 last year, but he later changed his plea to guilty.

There was then a pause in proceedings while magistrates decided whether there were any mitigating circumstances preventing him from being banned from the road.

Ultimately Murphy’s licence was endorsed by six points and he was ordered to pay a £66 fine and £34 surcharge to victim services.

Sentencing of a Wigan man who admits to assault and witness intimidation has been delayed.

Alan Fawcett, 52, of Warrington Road, Ince, had previously appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead guilty to assaulting and intimidating a named male who was due to testify in a trial with the intention of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The incidents took place on April 1 this year.

However Fawcett denied two separate charges that between February 1 2021 and April 1 2023, he "carried on a regulated activity, namely money lending, when not an authorised or exempt person."

The prosecution accepted these pleas.

He was due to be sentenced this month but the case has now been adjourned until October 5.

A man who went on a violent rampage through Leigh town centre has been spared a prison term.

Daleroy Zinyemba, 28, of Union Street, Leigh, inflicted injuries, some of them serious, on four men in a series of attacks on the evening of May 15 this year and also smashed one of his victim’s phones.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of causing actual bodily harm and one of criminal damage to an iPhone XR on his first appearance before a Bolton Crown Court judge in May.

Returning for sentencing, he was given a three-year community order imposed concurrently for each offence.

This comprises a three-year mental health treatment requirement and a 50-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also ordered to make a payment to victim services.

A Wigan man accused of assault will only face a jury in the spring of 2025.

Karl Lunn, 33, of Lincroft Road in Hindley Green, first entered a not guilty to a charge of assaulting Sheldon Bartlett in Westhoughton in February last year, the incident having allegedly happened on January 13 2022.

He also denies possessing an offensive weapon, namely a tyre iron.

Lunn was due to stand trial this month but now, due to case backlogs, the court can now only find time for the hearing on March 19 2025 - more than three years since his arrest.

He remains on bail until then.

Parents have been fined for their children's regular non-attendance at Wigan borough schools.

Lukas Zurik and Patricia Gaborova, of Phillips Street, Leigh, appeared before borough magistrates to admit that their son and daughter were persistently absent from Leigh CE Primary during the spring.