Blackpool: From the courts 13-02-17

Here is a round-up of some of the cases at Blackpool Magistrates Court.
Blackpool Magistrates CourtBlackpool Magistrates Court
Blackpool Magistrates Court

Lee Anderson, 33, failing to comply with the terms of a Sex Offender’s Registration Order

A registered sex offender failed to tell police where he was living in Blackpool.

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Lee Anderson, 33, of Saville Road, South Shore, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the terms of a Sex Offender’s Registration Order between December 31 last year and January 20 this year.

He was sentenced to a four weeks curfew from 9pm to 7am and ordered to pay £85 victims’ surcharge by magistrates.

Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said Anderson had been put on the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years in May 2015 for an offence of sexual assault on a woman.

Anderson had been reporting to police once a week when he was homeless in Blackpool.

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He failed to inform police when he started living at a flat in Saville 
Road. Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, said it was her client’s first breach of the order.

Anderson had moved into the flat and was arrested seven days later. He said he had not fully understood the conditions of the order at the time but did so now.

Darren Currie, 30, drug-driving

A father-of-two was found to have cannabis in his body after police stopped his van.

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Darren Currie, a 30-year-old joiner, of Bloomfield Road, South Shore, pleaded guilty to drug driving.

He was banned from the road for 12 months and fined £85 costs with £30 victims’ surcharge by magistrates.

Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said police stopped Currie’s van on Ribble Road, on October 19, and could smell cannabis coming from the vehicle.

A blood test showed three units of cannabis in his body – two is the legal limit,

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Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, said her client, who had no previous convictions, had been a recreational user of cannabis.

He had not used the drug on the day he was stopped so it must have been in his system from a day or two previously

Currie had co-operated with police, pleaded guilty immediately and felt stress and anxiety over appearing in court.

Darren Crawford, 36, burglary

A Blackpool man has been sent for trial facing four allegations of house burglary.

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Darren Crawford, 36, of Knowle Avenue, North Shore, is alleged to have broken into a house on Beattock Place and stolen a wallet containing £170.

He is also charged with burgling a house in Stronsay Place and two homes on Braemar Walk.

Magistrates remanded him in custody until he appears at Preston Crown Court for trial on March 15.

Thomas Johnson, 27, drug-driving

A man who had taken cocaine at a party was still five times over the drug drive limit when he was arrested two days later.

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Father of two Thomas Johnson, 27, of Kidbrooke Avenue, South Shore, was also under the influence of cannabis when his car was pulled up by police.

Officers had noticed his erratic high speed driving along Highfield Road, South Shore during which he overtook a van only narrowly avoiding a collision.

Johnson admitted two charges of drug driving and one of possessing two bags of cannabis which police found in his vehicle whe he was arrested.

He was banned from driving for three years and ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work for the community. He must also pay £280 costs.

Andrea Hall, 48, drink-driving

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A Kirkham woman has pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol

Andrea Hall, 48, of Station Road, admitted driving a Vauxhall Corsa on Old Row, Kirkham, while two-and-a-half times over the limit with 215 microgrammes of alcohol in her blood – the legal limit is 80.

Her case was adjourned by magistrates for further inquiries and she was banned from driving in the meantime.

Paul Bellis, 33, failing to ensure regular school attendance

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A father failed to send three children to their schools in Blackpool.

Paul Bellis, 33, of Rothwell Drove, Fleetwood, was found guilty in his absence after a trial, of three offences of failing to ensure a child’s regular attendance at school.

He was fined £200 with £120 costs and ordered to pay £30 victims’ surcharge by magistrates.

Nicola Morgan, prosecuting for Blackpool Council’s Education Department, said the case concerned the attendance of an eight-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy at their Bispham primary school and a 13-year-old girl at Montgomery.

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The eight-year-old attended on 83 out of a possible 124 occasions making her attendance record 66.9 per cent. The boy went to lessons on 81 out of a possible 124 occasions putting his attendance record at 65.3 per cent. The teenager attended 76 out of 122 possible occasions making her attendance record 62.3 per cent.

Bellis had a previous conviction for failing to ensure the regular attendance at school of a boy and a girl.

Patrick Nelligan, defending, said his client had been unable to attend court previously because he was suffering badly from a hernia. He had now been taking a different approach and the children’s attendance at their schools had improved.

Scott Mitchell, 36, drunk in charge of a child

A drunken dad who wanted to be an alcohol rehabilitation worker was seen pulling at his three-year-old daughter’s arm and reported to police by a bar worker.

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Scott Mitchell came under suspicion went he went into the Dutton Arms pub on Blackpool’s South Promenade and was heard shouting and swearing at the little girl.

He had turned to drink after not getting the job he expected to acquire as a counsellor helping people with alcohol problems in their rehabilitation.

Mitchell, a 36-year-old shop worker, of Broomhill Drive, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to being drunk in charge of a child.

He was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs with £85 victims’ surcharge by magistrates.

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Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said Mitchell went into the pub on January 21 at 4.45pm. He was drunk and was shouting and swearing in his daughter’s face.

Mitchell told police his daughter’s mother had died of a heroin overdose in June last year. He decided to bring his daughter for a holiday to Blackpool. He was upset about not getting a job he wanted and drank three-quarters of a bottle of vodka on the coach journey to the resort.

Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, said Mitchell had not touched alcohol for two-and-a-half years but when he did not get the job as an alcohol counsellor he expected to land, it tipped him over the edge and he had a drink. He was now getting help with his drink problem.