Judge issues warrant after court no-show

A WARRANT has been issued for a Co Antrim man who failed to appear in court to face charges of breaching probation orders.

Judge Stephen Fowler QC ordered the bench warrant for Christopher Hughes after the 23-year-old failed to attend a hearing at Belfast Crown Court.

The defendant, from Queen’s Avenue in Newtownabbey, was due to appear on three counts of breaching probation orders.

The two orders were imposed in September and October last year on charges including theft and threats to kill.

Hughes was charged with breaching those orders on three separate occasions by failing to notify his probation officer of a change of address.

A defence barrister told Judge Fowler that his client was “on his way to court” and was “willing and keen to re-engage with both orders”.

Claiming that Hughes accepted the breaches, Mark Farrell said: “The problem is that during the pandemic, he lost his accommodation and was sofa-surfing for a number of months.”

A probation officer told Judge Fowler that Hughes had missed a “high level of appointments”, adding: “This was not only during the pandemic, but from the beginning.”

She said Hughes was due to attend programmes including an alcohol treatment scheme, but “he has not done any of that” and “it has been difficult to engage with him”.

She concluded by saying that because of the volume of missed appointments and breaches by Hughes, and following consultations with management, the Probation Board was not prepared to continue with the orders.

Judge Fowler said that in his experience it was “very unusual” for the probation authorities to not give someone a second chance, so the decision must have been reached “for a very good reason”.

When it was confirmed by court staff that Hughes had not appeared for yesterday’s hearing, the judge said: “Unfortunately, it does not appear that he is making any effort.

“He failed to attend court for this hearing and he will have to be re-sentenced.

“He decided not to be here today to face the breach hearing. He decided not to engage with probation and he decided not to take part in any courses.”

Judge Fowler issued the warrant and said he would re-sentence Hughes for the original offences at a later date.