Wigan's week in court

A Wigan woman has been punished for failing to disclose who was at the wheel of her car when an offence was committed.

Paula Walsh, 54, of Bessies Well Place, Standish, appeared before Manchester and Salford magistrates to admit a breach of the 1988 Road Traffic Act in that she wouldn't say who was driving her Renault Clio on October 17 last year when asked by police.

Justices endorsed her licence with six points and she was ordered to pay a fine, court costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £258.

A Wigan motorist who tore down the motorway in his BMW at 109mph has been spared losing his licence.

Martin Ingham, 40, of Castle Hill Road, Hindley, broke the speed limit by nearly 40mph on the M62 westbound between junctions 12 and 11 on March 16, Tameside magistrates heard.

They took his guilty plea into consideration and endorsed his licence with six points.

Court costs and a victim services surcharge added to his £452 fine, mean that Ingham has a total of £722 to pay up.

A motorist has been fined because her young passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Christinel Petrachi, 32, of Platt Street, Leigh, was driving on Leigh Road, Manchester, on January 29 this year with a child over the age of three but under the age of 14 who was sitting in the rear of her Audi A4 without being belted up.

The 1993 Motor Vehicles Regulations stipulate that it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that passengers under 14 are complying with seatbelt laws.

Petrachi was hit with a fine, court costs and a victim services surcharge totalling £206.

A Wigan woman who let two cats starve to death has been spared an immediate jail term.

Donna Laithwaite, 48, of The Lawns in Hindley, re-appeared at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court to answer charges of failing to provide adequate nutrition for two tabbies found dead at a house in Derby Street, Wigan, on October 11 2021.

She also pleaded guilty to neglecting a tabby and white cat called Bobby by failing to get him treated for a mite and flea infestation in the weeks up to that date and thus causing the pet unnecessary suffering.

And she further confessed to a third charge of not feeding, providing parasitic control or a suitable environment for all three animals, nor attending to them regularly.

Returning to court for sentencing, Laithwaite was given a 20-week prison sentence but it was suspended for two years.

She must also complete 170 hours of unpaid work, will be supervised for 24 months and is banned from keeping animals for five years.

She was also ordered to pay costs and a victim services surcharge which comes to £878.

Laithwaite was prosecuted under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act.

A Wigan man accused of sexually touching a woman without her consent has been found guilty in his absence after a court no-show.

Jamie Ratchford, 35, of Avon Road, Norley, had denied committing the alleged offence against a woman over the age of 16 on October 7.

He also pleaded not guilty to being in possession of class B drug amphetamine on October 27.

But when he failed to turn up for his trial at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court this month, justices pressed ahead and found him guilty on both counts.

The case has now been adjourned until September 19 for the preparation of pre-sentence reports, before which time Ratchford is on bail, conditional that he does not have any contact with two named people.

The trial of a Wigan man who denies throttling a woman has been further delayed.

Matthew Griffin, of Kimberley Street in Springfield, had been due to face a June 12 hearing at the borough's magistrates' court after pleading not guilty to assaulting the named person by beating in Hindley on December 28 and intentionally strangling her two days later.

The case was then delayed until July 18 and then August 4 and now it has been postponed again until August 18.

Until then he remains on conditional bail.

Griffin has admitted to damaging a door – to the tune of £100 – belonging to the same complainant’s door on December 29 and will be dealt with for that at the end of the trial.

Sentencing of a woman first convicted of horse cruelty six years ago has been delayed until the autumn.

It was in November 2017 that Lorraine Ashurst was found guilty of neglecting three ponies by not seeking treatment for their lameness.

But then she twice failed to turn up for sentence the following year, thus breaching bail, and only this year has justice been catching up with her.

The 59-year-old of Cameron Street, Leigh, had pleaded not guilty to mistreating the animals on Barlow’s Farm at Hindley but was convicted by magistrates after a trial.

RSPCA prosecutors had brought charges in relation to a Palomino mare, a chestnut gelding and a grey mare, which were each found with injuries after inspectors visited the site off Close Lane.

The Palomino was lame with laminitis and a foot abscess, the gelding too had an abscess of his foreleg and the grey mare was suffering osteoarthritis to her foreleg.

The court heard that Ashurst failed to take medical measures that would ease their suffering and also neglected to seek parasitic worm control treatment for them.

She had been due to be sentenced in early July, then the hearing was adjourned for a month and now it has been held up again.

Ashurst is now due to learn her fate from Wigan justices on October 19.