Courtround-up
● Shop lout fined: A Widnes man was fined for loutish behaviour at a supermarket.
Rory Callum Turnbull, 31, of Sidings Court, was convicted of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour in his absence at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on September 15, the offence having occurred at Tesco Extra in Widnes on April 4.
Turnbull was fined £440 and ordered to pay £129 in victim surcharge and prosecution costs.
● Drunken antics punished: Being drunk and disorderly landed a Widnes man with a £50 fine plus £119 in costs.
John Spencer Halliburton, 54, of Bower Street, pleaded guilty at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on September 15.
His drunk and disorderly behaviour happened on Peelhouse Lane on August 10.
● Message pest given unpaid work: A Widnes man who sent a “grossly offensive” message has been ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
Dominic Baynham, 46, of Kilsby Drive, pleaded guilty to sending the message on May 24.
Magistrates court papers said the content was “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.
At North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on September 15, he was also made subject to two restraining orders.
Baynham was slapped with a community order and told to pay £85 in prosecution costs and £95 to victim services.
● Prison for car smasher: A lout from Runcorn who vandalised a car and stole someone’s lager as well as a child’s scooter has been jailed for 16 weeks.
Steven Robert Hobson, 35, of Stenhills Crescent, pleaded guilty to vandalism, theft, possessing Class B drug cannabis and breaching several suspended sentences.
Court papers said the charges related to: Smashing a Vauxhall Corsa’s window as well as damaging its gas gauge and indicator stalk on Victoria Road on August 9-10 last year.
Stealing a child’s scooter, £7 in cash and eight cans of lager on Victoria Road on August 9-10 last year. Possessing cannabis on November 1, 2019, on Irwell Lane.
The offences were in breach of suspended sentences imposed in 2019 for assault by beating and two separate harassment matters.
Hobson must also pay £122 to victim services.
● Man with two knives avoids jail: Prison could beckon for a Runcorn man found with two knives on him in public if he offends again in the next 12 months.
Andrew Ryan, 42, of Iveagh Close, Palacefields, pleaded guilty on August 13 to being in possession of a kitchen knife and a craft knife on Castle Road in Halton Village on June 28.
He was sentenced on September 14 at magistrates’ court to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
Ryan must complete a 35-day rehabilitation requirement and pay £213 in victim surcharge and prosecution costs.
Court papers said he was spared prison because of a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing the Class B drug cannabis on the same date as having the knives.
● Six months in prison was the sentence imposed after a Widnes man breached a restraining order. Daniel Thomas O’Connor, 37, of Wavertree Avenue, pleaded guilty to the breach on September 14, the offence having occurred in Castlefields, Runcorn, on September 12.
Court papers said it was the fifth time he had breached the order and O’Connor had shown “flagrant disregard”.
He must also pay £156 towards victim services.
O’Connor was sentenced at North
Cheshire Magistrates’ Court.
● Order breach warning: A Widnes man who contacted his ex-partner’s mother in breach of a restraining order was spared prison.
Andrew Wayne Matthews, 28, of Abbey Close, pleaded guilty at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on September 14, where he was sentenced to 12 weeks behind bars suspended for two years.
Court papers said he had a “final chance to rehabilitate”. Matthews must also pay £213 to victim services and prosecution costs.
● Persistent nuisance imprisoned: Breaching a restraining order has landed a Widnes pest in prison for six months.
Gary Towns, 63, of no fixed abode but from Widnes, appeared at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on September 11, where pleaded guilty and was sent down for 26 weeks.
Towns must pay £128 to victim services. Court papers outlined the reasoning for the length of sentence, saying: “Offence so serious because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for court orders; because the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending; because persist breach of the restraining order.”