Motorist banned for drug-driving
THE Weekly News has compiled a selection of recent sentencing hearings relating to cases in and around Runcorn and Widnes, Cheshire.
They include domestic assaults and driving offences and criminal damage to a glass door.
● A MOTORIST has been banned from driving for 42 months after testing positive for excess cocaine behind the wheel of a Nissan Micra on a Runcorn road while already disqualified.
Lee Vincent Hodgson, 57, of Camelot Way, Castlefields, was given a community order with up to 20 days on a rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) when he appeared at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on January 28.
In addition to his driving ban, Hodgson was fined £210 and ordered to pay £180 in prosecution costs and victim surcharge. Court papers said Hodgson pleaded guilty on January 7 to driving while banned, with excess cocaine and its main metabolite benzoylecgonine.
Hodgson was caught behind the wheel of the Micra on West Lane on July 9 last year.
● A RUNCORN woman has been handed a community order after she pleaded guilty to domestic assault.
Julie Lauren Thompson, 57, of Bodmin Close, Brookvale, appeared at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on January 27, where she was given a curfew to last 14 weeks and running from 9pm to 7am, and up to 20 days on a RAR.
Thompson was also made subject to a restraining order.
The defendant had pleaded guilty to one count of assault by beating and was convicted at trial on January 21 of a second like offence.
The assaults happened on August 12 and September
19 in Warrington.
She was ordered to pay £135 in compensation, a £95 victim surcharge and £620 to prosecution costs. ● HEADBUTTING a woman in her own home and menacing her with a weapon has landed a Widnes man with the risk of prison if he offends again.
Stephen Paul Atkinson, 56, of Barons Close, pleaded guilty on September 29 to assault by beating over the incident, which happened on July 24.
At North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on January 27, Atkinson was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to comply with a curfew running from 6pm to 6am for 12 weeks and a restraining order to last two years was made.
Atkinson was ordered to pay £250 in compensation, Court papers said the offence was a “sustained, serious offence” in the victim’s home and involved “a weapon and headbutting”.
The sentence was suspended due to Atkinson’s “current ill mental health”. ● SMASHING a woman’s glass door resulted in a £40 fine for a Widnes man.
Rory Callum Turnbull, 32, of Siding Court, was also fined £40 for failing to surrender to court and told to pay £119 in costs and surcharge.
A restraining order was also imposed and a collection order made for the outstanding sum to be deducted from his benefits.
Turnbull pleaded guilty on January 27 to having “destroyed” a glass door on December 5.
● A VAN driver from Yorkshire caught on the M56 near Runcorn with no insurance and no licence and not in control of the vehicle has been banned from the road for 18 months.
Charlie Trevor Slater, 26, of Plover Avenue, Pontefract, was caught in a
Mercedes Sprinter on the motorway between junction 14 Hapsford and junction 12 Clifton on November 1.
He pleaded guilty on January 4 to driving while banned, without insurance, and while in a position such that he “could not have proper control”.
Slater was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete up to 35 days on a RAR.
The defendant must also pay £213 in costs and surcharge.