Wigan's week in court

A Wigan motorist has been fined because one of his car's windows was too heavily tinted.

Jordan Moore, 29, of Bridgewater Street, Hindley, appeared before Manchester and Salford justices accused of an offence under the 1986 Road Vehicles (construction and use) regulations which insist that 70 per cent of light should be able to pass through vehicle windows other than the windscreen.

The hearing was told that in Moore's case, only 18 per cent of light could transmit through the front passenger window of his BMW 1 Series car when it was stopped by police near his home on April 1 this year.

He was fined and was also ordered to pay court costs and a victim services surcharge.

The total bill comes to £398.

A man from Wigan has been disqualified from owning any animal for five years after his springer spaniel Bella was found living in appalling conditions.

The RSPCA brought the case after David Farrimond failed to seek veterinary treatment to address his springer spaniel’s extreme weight loss, eye infection and mammary tumour. in February, the RSPCA visited an address in Wigan to carry out an animal welfare check, after receiving a report from a concerned member of the public about a dog in poor condition.

The RSPCA inspector found springer spaniel Bella inside the unoccupied house. Despite the dog being severely underweight, suffering from an eye infection and a mammary growth, Farrimond had failed to seek veterinary care for her.

RSPCA inspector Rachel Whalley said: “When I visited the Wigan property, it was clearly unoccupied but looking through a gap in the curtains, I could just make out a white and brown dog that was lying down.

"I was very concerned for her welfare - she did not move, even when I shouted and hammered loudly on the window.

“I managed to squeeze some dog food through the letterbox, which made Bella get up and come to the front door.

"I could hear her but couldn’t see her, so I put my phone through the letterbox so I could assess her condition.

"The photos and videos I took showed Bella eating the food ravenously.

"She looked underweight, her ribs were showing and she was shaking. “After she had something to eat, she appeared more alert and jumped up onto the window sill of the front room. I could then see the full extent of Bella’s condition.

"She looked extremely underweight. There was green discharge coming from both her eyes and her nails were also very overgrown.

“I was very concerned that she was in a very poor condition and there appeared to be nobody attending to this dog.”

Following liaison with the police and local authorities, inspector Whalley was able to gain entry to the property.

The house smelt strongly of ammonia, there was fresh and mouldy faeces everywhere and the floor was cluttered with hazards including a razor blade.

While the inspector was recording a video, Bella got her leg stuck on a metal oven grill on the floor.

The property was not a safe living environment for an animal and inspector Whalley took her away to be examined by a vet at the RSPCA’s Greater Manchester Animal Hospital.

RSPCA vet Izabela Gibka examined Bella, and reported that she “was severely underweight and emaciated”.

She found that Bella’s ribs, spine and pelvic bones were prominent.

The dog was also struggling from muscle loss especially on her back limbs which can be a sign of insufficient nutrition for a long period of time.

Dr Gibka reported that Bella’s coat was dirty and smelly, her eyelids were severely swollen and covered in yellow crusty discharge and her nervousness during the eye examination suggested there was pain and irritation in this area. Tests showed this was untreated bacterial conjunctivitis.

In addition, the vet found a 5cm (2in) long pendulous tumour on her abdomen, which was most likely associated with her mammary gland.

The mass showed some ulceration was present; the skin on the mass was tense and had started breaking down.

This happens commonly with untreated mammary masses and can cause severe pain and infection.

She believed Bella would have been suffering from malnutrition for at least two months, but likely longer.

She was also suffering from the untreated mammary tumour while she felt a reasonable owner would have sought veterinary advice once they noticed the growth on the dog’s abdomen.

The owner had also failed to provide appropriate coat hygiene for a dog of Bella’s type and her nails were left untrimmed.

Bella’s owner David Farrimond, 46, of Chatsworth Avenue, Ince, later pleaded guilty to two offences under the Animal Welfare Act.

He was sentenced at Wigan magistrates’ court to a 12 month community order, with 80 hours’ unpaid work, and ordered to pay £1,015.96 in costs and a £114 victim surcharge, as well as the ban from keeping animals.

A man hurled racist abuse related to the Middle East at a security guard at a Wigan shopping centre, a court heard.

Eissa Abdullkarem, 28, of Market Street, Wigan was prosecuted after shouting about how he would hurt anyone who supported Israel at the Grand Arcade shopping centre at 7.50am on Friday, October 20.

He pleaded guilty to using racially or religiously aggravated words with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.

Justices imposed a 12-month community order with an alcohol treatment requirement – increased from nine months to reflect his racist abuse.

He must pay a £100 fine, plus £100 compensation.

Karen Saffman, senior district crown prosecutor for CPS North West said: “Eissa Abdullkarem sought to stir up hatred when he verbally abused a man who was simply going about his job.

“While individuals have a right to freedom of expression, we won't hesitate to prosecute those who undermine public order with hateful speech and threats of violence."

A Wigan man who was to stand trial for kidnap, assault and false imprisonment has died.

Mark Dunn, 43, of Comet Road, Marsh Green, had been due to appear before a Manchester Crown Court judge and jury this week after denying charges of using force or fraud to take Dominique Peet, detaining her, strangling her and assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm.

But a barrister told the hearing that the defendant was recently deceased and so the case against him was discontinued.

This means that two other local men involved in the same crimes, can now be sentenced.

Darren Williams, 46, of Robson Place, Abram, and 38-year-old Dean Braham, of Brewery Lane, Leigh, had previously appeared in court to plead guilty to kidnap, false imprisonment, burglary and possession of an assault rifle but their sentencing had been delayed until after the conclusion of Mark Dunn’s trial.

With that defendant now deceased, the judge ruled that the pair will be sentenced on December 21.

The trial date of a Wigan man who denies committing a series of child sex offences, including rapes, over a 50-year period has been moved to next summer.

Peter Wilson, 65, of Bowling Green Row, Atherton, has previously 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 had been due to stand trial at Bolton Crown Court in October, but the case has now been rescheduled to take place on June 3 2024 instead.

Sentencing of a Wigan man who finally admitted to making dozens of child abuse images five years ago has been delayed.

Karl Ashton, 35, of Rugby Road, Leigh, had previously stood before Wigan justices to plead not guilty to having indecent images falling into all three categories of seriousness - four category A (the gravest), five category B and 133 C between April and November 2018.

A trial had been due to take place at Bolton Crown Court but it was postponed several times, with the latest hearing due to take place in early October.

But after it was moved to Manchester Crown Court, Minshull Street, Ashton made his admissions and the trial was vacated.

However, when he returned to court for sentence he disputed some of the details of the case against him and so now a trial of issue will take place on December 13.

Ashton also denies a charge of perverting the course of justice.

He remains on bail until the next hearing.

A 51-year-old Wigan woman has been accused of fly-tipping.

Jayne Guest, of Medlock Way, Platt Bridge, appeared before borough justices to face a single charge under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act that she dumped four bin bags of general household waste on a footpath on Algernon Street, Hindley, on February 3 2020 when she was not covered by a waste management licence.

Guest has yet to plead and the case was adjourned until November 16.

A young Wigan man has denied allowing two horses and a dog to starve and will face a trial next year.

Jack Maunder, of Bevington Street, Ashton, is accused of failing to provide adequate nutrition, water, parasite and veterinary treatment to a piebald cob colt and piebald cob gelding between January and February this year while keeping them in an area which didn't allow them to exercise properly and was heavily contaminated with faeces.

Over the same period and at the same location - Alder Lane, Warrington - he is further charged with allowing the malnutrition of a Caucasian shepherd dog.

At his latest appearance before Wigan magistrates he entered not guilty pleas to all four charges.

He was bailed to appear at Bolton Magistrates' Court for a trial on June 26 next year.

An arrest warrant has been issued by Wigan justices for a woman first convicted of horse cruelty six years ago.

It was in November 2017 that Lorraine Ashurst was found guilty of neglecting three ponies by not seeking treatment for their lameness.

But then she twice failed to turn up for sentence the following year, thus breaching bail.

The 59-year-old of Cameron Street, Leigh, had pleaded not guilty to mistreating the animals on Barlow’s Farm at Hindley but was convicted by magistrates after a trial.

RSPCA prosecutors had brought charges in relation to a Palomino mare, a chestnut gelding and a grey mare, which were each found with injuries after inspectors visited the site off Close Lane.

The Palomino was lame with laminitis and a foot abscess, the gelding too had an abscess of his foreleg and the grey mare was suffering osteoarthritis to her foreleg.

The court heard that Ashurst failed to take medical measures that would ease their suffering and also neglected to seek parasitic worm control treatment for them.

Sentencing had been due to take place on several occasions this year, the latest in October, but again Ashurst failed to appear in court and so an arrest warrant was issued.

A man has been convicted of repeatedly fly-tipping at a Wigan beauty spot.

Desmond Alker, 51, of Beacon Road, Bickershaw, appeared before borough justices to deny three counts of illegally depositing waste at Beacon Country Park.

The first charge was of dumping bags of household rubbish there in July 2020, the second concerned leave a mental drum at the park in January last year, and the third accused him of leaving more household waste, including a black bin bag, clothing, a wooden cupboard door, DVDs and a broken vacuum cleaner on November 15 in 2022.

All the waste disposals were carried out without the proper permit and thus he was in breach of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act.

Despite Alker's protestations of innocence, Wigan magistrates found him guilty of all three offences and he was hit with fines and victim services surcharge totalling £660.

A Wigan neighbour from hell who plagued residents with loud music for months has been hit with a four-figure court bill.

Borough justices heard that Tara Jones ignored a noise abatement notice served on her in Bramble Grove, Worsley Hall.

The hearing was told that the anti-social noise continued from January 28 to April 28 this year.

The case was proved in her absence and Jones was ordered to pay a fine, victim surcharge and court costs amounting to £1,120.

A Wigan woman who stole ornaments, smashed a vase and used homophobic language has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Lisa Fisher, 42, of Rathern Avenue, Ince, had previously appeared before borough justices to admit to the theft of £370 worth of goods from Accessories 4U in the Grand Arcade on March 11 2022 and criminal damage on the same occasion.

The bench imposed an 18-week custodial sentence, saying the crimes had been aggravated by prejudicial language, but they suspended the sentence for 18 months.

She will be supervised for 18 months and must complete 30 days of rehabilitation activities.

A Wigan man will be sentenced next month after admitting to theft and trying to break into a neighbour's garage.

Kevin Furlong, 55, of Millers Lane, Platt Bridge, stood before borough justices to plead guilty to stealing a Ted Baker purse from Rachel Weigh and entering a garage on Millers Lane as a trespasser with intent to steal - both offences having taken place on October 25.

He was released on bail, conditional that he resides at his home address and observes an electronically-tagged curfew until sentencing on December 14.