Wigan's week in court

A Wigan borough 17-year-old has denied launching a brutal attack.

The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Manchester magistrates to deny intending to cause a named male grievous bodily harm on August 30 last year.

He was released on conditional bail pending a further appearance at the court on June 5.

Sentencing will take place on April 18 of a Wigan 34-year-old who admits to stalking and breaching a non-molestation order.

James Radcliffe, of Southmead, Lowton, appeared before Manchester justices to plead guilty to harassing Suzanne Williams between December 2023 and March this year and in so doing breaching an order made by the family courts.

He was released on conditional bail until he learns his fate.

A Wigan 60-year-old who went into Wigan town centre armed with a knife has narrowly avoided a jail term.

Gary Metcalfe, of Woodcock House, Scholes, appeared before borough magistrates to admit to having the blade on Wallgate on January 10.

He was given a 12-week custodial sentence but it was suspended for 18 months.

He must also complete 30 days of rehabilitation activities and pay costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £239.

A Wigan borough man has admitted having sex in public.

Robert Wilson, 34, of Chisworth Close in Leigh, appeared before Wigan magistrates to face a charge of outraging public decency by having sexual intercourse in a public place on January 28.

He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 in court costs.

A 38-year-old Wigan man has been accused of assault and intentional strangulation.

Scott King, of Yewdale Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, stood before borough justices facing charges of deliberately throttling a woman and causing her actual bodily harm on March 19.

He will next appear before a Bolton Crown Court on April 26 before which time he is on bail whose conditions include not approaching the complainant and observing a night-time, electronically-tagged curfew.

No pleas have yet been entered.

A man convicted of performing a lewd act in public is on the run from police.

Kieran Taylor, 35, of Victoria Road, Platt Bridge, had previously appeared in court to admit to a 2021 bail breach and causing £100 of damage to a police van on June 13, but had denied the sexual crime on the latter of those two dates.

However, he has since been found guilty of it in his absence after a court no show and justices have now issued a warrant for his arrest.

Charges of serious stalking and deliberate strangulation have been brought against a Wigan 41-year-old.

Clint Quinn, of Linney Square in Scholes, appeared before borough magistrates accused of intentionally throttling a named woman and putting her in fear of violence through stalking by repeatedly visiting the home of a friend of hers, knowing she was there and issuing threats on July 3 last year.

He has yet to plead and the case was sent to Bolton Crown Court where Quinn will make his first appearance on April 26, before which he is on unconditional bail.

A Wigan teenager has appeared in court facing multiple rape charges of a woman and girl when he was just 15 years old.

The now 17-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons is accused of raping a girl of 13 in June 2021 and then of twice raping a woman aged over 16 on January 11, 2022 as well as twice sexually assaulting her on that same day.

He has yet to enter any pleas and the case was adjourned until he appears before Manchester city magistrates on April 10, before which he has been released on unconditional bail.

A Wigan schoolboy has been accused of robbery.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named, stood before Manchester magistrates accused of robbing John Barlow on February 7 in Manchester.

The case was adjourned until July 9 when the boy will appear before a Manchester Crown Court judge.

Before then he is on unconditional bail.

A prison sentence has been imposed on a Wigan 32-year-old who terrorised one woman and attacked another.

Alex Frost, of Norfolk Street, Newtown, appeared before Manchester magistrates to admit to a charge of stalking causing serious harm or distress in that between January 1 and March 1 he called his victim numerous times, sent emails from fake email addresses, attended her place of work and attended her home, causing "substantial adverse effect on her usual day-to-day activities."

He also pleaded guilty to the assault by beating of another woman on February 29.

He was jailed for 20 weeks and a restraining order prevents him from any contact with his stalking victim, including attending her address, until at least March 2029.

A Wigan motorist has been banned from the road for 40 months after he was caught drug-driving in Southport.

Andrew Hockey, 37, of Kimberley Place, Ashton, appeared before Wigan justices to plead guilty to driving a vehicle down Duke Street at the resort last June 30 while under the influence of cannabis and also while having no licence nor insurance.

He also pleaded guilty to cocaine possession on the same occasion.

As well as the disqualification from driving, Hockey must also pay £357 in fines, costs and a victim services surcharge.

A driving while banned charge has been brought against a Wigan motorist.

Bradley Herring, 38, of Whistley Street, Platt Bridge, stood before Manchester justices to be accused of being at the wheel of a Range Rover in Trafford on March 24 when disqualified from the road.

He is further charged with driving without a licence or insurance.

Herring was remanded on conditional bail until January 2 next year when he will next appear at the same court.

A Wigan teenager has denied robbery.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named, stood before Manchester justices to plead not guilty to mugging a named male of a metallic baton on August 21 2022 and to causing him actual bodily harm.

However he admitted to another ABH of the same person on the same day.

A 16-year-old co-accused from Farnworth has admitted to both ABH and the baton robbery.

The Wigan boy will next appear before city magistrates on July 25.

A Wigan man is to be sentenced after admitting he was armed with two flick knives, a BB gun and knuckleduster.

Ian Carrington, 39, of Kingsdown Road in Abram, appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead guilty to charges of possessing the blades and knuckleduster in a public place - namely Withington Lane, Aspull, on December 7, and to having the gun, causing affray and perverting the course of justice on October 7.

He disputes some of the details of the case though, so there will be what is called a "trial of issue" on April 25 before he learns his fate.

The trial of a Wigan man who denies attacking the same woman six times in less than two months will only take place in 2026.

Kane Richardson, 22, of Crescent Road, Bickershaw, appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge charged with causing Bethany Maher actual bodily harm on both December 12 and January 26 and assaulting her by beating on January 3, 12, 27 and 29.

He has entered not guilty pleas to all the charges.

A pre-trial review has been scheduled for May 21 this year, but there is only space in the court schedules now for the trial itself on January 28 2026.

He is on bail until then.

A Wigan man will appear in crown court accused of sexual assault.

Benjamin Waterworth, 46, of Rylands Street, Springfield, is charged with intentionally touching a woman over 16 in a sexual way without her consent on May 28.

Wigan magistrates sent the case for trial at Bolton Crown Court and Waterworth will appear there on May 8.

He was remanded on unconditional bail.

A teenager has been charged with having a banned weapon and drugs.

Tyler Cunliffe, 18, of Willow Grove, Golborne, is accused of having a Taser, which was designed or adapted so that two or more missiles could be successively discharged without repeated pressure on the trigger.

He is also charged with possessing class B drug cannabis on August 16.

Wigan magistrates sent the case to Bolton Crown Court, where he will appear on May 8. He was remanded on unconditional bail.

A Wigan man has admitted carrying out an assault, causing actual bodily harm.

Jamie Catterall, 34, of Pepys Place, Worsley Mesnes, pleaded guilty to attacking Norman Bolton on September 10.

He was remanded on conditional bail until he is sentenced at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court on May 10.

A man has been charged with driving in a supermarket car park without due care and attention and after taking drugs.

Cameron Meadows, 24, of Lovers Lane, Atherton, is alleged to have committed the offences in the car park of Asda, on Priestners Way, Leigh, on October 21.

He will appear before Wigan justices on April 18 and was remanded on unconditional bail.

Two men have been ordered to carry out unpaid work after stealing catalytic converters from a Wigan car dealership.

Callum Elson, 20, of Woodstock Road, Wolverhampton, and Callum Fieldhouse, 21, of Hollington Road, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to taking the catalytic converters worth £5,000 from Arnold Clark in Wigan on December 17.

Wigan justices imposed 12-month community orders, with 80 hours of unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation activities each.

They were both also told to pay £100 compensation and £85 prosecution costs.

A trial has been axed after a Wigan man finally admitted to attempted robbery.

The case of David Cobley, 34, of Wright Street in Platt Bridge, had been due to go before a Bolton Crown Court jury on June 12 this year after he denied trying to steal cash from a man on December 14.

But at the latest hearing he changed his plea to guilty and the trial was vacated.

Sentencing will take place on May 16.

A young Wigan man who admitted making and distributing indecent images of children has narrowly avoided an immediate spell behind bars.

Kieran Atkinson, 20, of Belle Green Lane, Ince, stood before a Bolton Crown Court judge to plead guilty to creating images, 212 of which fell into the most serious category of abuse - A - plus 186 category B pictures and 208 category C between March 2014 and June 2022.

He further admitted to possessing and distributing a banned picture of a child.

Atkinson was given a 16-month custodial sentence but it was suspended for 24 months.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and must sign on the Sex Offenders' Register for the same period.

A 31-year-old Wigan motorist has been banned from the road for two and a half years after being found more than double the drink-drive limit in charge of a van while having no insurance or licence.

Daniel Winstanley of Field Street, Ince, appeared before borough justices to plead guilty to giving a reading of 80 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath when police stopped his Ford Transit on Wallgate on January 28.

Also pleading guilty to the insurance and licence offences, he was given a 36-month disqualification from driving, was ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work and must pay £199 in costs and a victim services surcharge.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Wigan shoplifter who failed to turn up at court for sentencing.

Gavin Barker, 37, of no fixed address, had been due to appear before borough magistrates having admitted at a previous hearing to stealing £90 worth of coffee from Farm Foods on February 13.

But when he did not show up, the bench issued an arrest warrant.

A trial date has been fixed for a Wigan 39-year-old who denies stealing power tools during a burglary.

Terence Dale, of Elm Avenue, Golborne, stood before borough justices to enter a not guilty plea to entering a gazebo in his home town on March 6 and stealing £1,790 worth of tools.

He was released on conditional bail pending his trial which is scheduled to take place at the same court on January 7 next year.

A motorist who was high on cannabis and the horse tranquiliser ketamine has been banned from the road for four years.

Mathew Johnson, 26, of Kings Road in Golborne, had denied being over the drug-drive limit when his Volkswagen Golf was stopped by police on the East Lancs Road in Leigh on November 16 2022, but he was convicted of both offences after a trial at Wigan Magistrates' Court.

As well as the 48-month disqualification, he must complete 25 days of rehabilitation activities and 200 hours of unpaid work.

A bill of £199 is also due to the court and victim services.

Sentencing of a Wigan man who admits flouting a driving ban has been delayed by two months.

Graham Liptrot, 39, of Mains Avenue, Bamfurlong, was due to learn his fate at Bolton Crown Court last Friday after pleading guilty to being at the wheel of a Renault Scenic in Woodcock Drive, Platt Bridge, while serving a road ban and doing so while uninsured.

But the hearing has now been put off until June 4 before which time he has been released on conditional bail.