Blackpool: From the courts 29-03-16

Clare Gough, 37, theft

A woman accused of stealing cash from her workplace has had the first hearing of her case at court.

Clare Gough, 37, of Grasmere Road, Blackpool, is charged with the theft of £589 from Blackpool’s Doric Hotel between May 26 and 28 last year.

She was not present at court and her case was adjourned.

Jane Smith, 54, breach of Criminal Behaviour Order

A woman accused of illegally phoning the police and ambulance service has had the first hearing of her case at court.

Jane Smith, 54, of Withnell Road, South Shore, is charged with breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order by calling Lancashire police and the North West Ambulance Service on March 2 this year.

Smith was not present at the hearing and the court was told she was ill.

Her case was adjourned and she was bailed.

Sharon Foster, 45, fraud

A woman defrauded the State out of £11,745 over a two year period by failing to tell the authorities that her husband was working.

Sharon Foster admitted benefit fraud when she appeared before District Judge Philip Barnes.

He put Foster, 45, of Hodder Avenue,Fleetwood, on a 12 week curfew and ordered her to pay £170 costs. The judge heard that the money was being paid back.

Pam Smith, prosecuting, said Foster claimed Employment and Support Allowance. She did not tell the Department of Work and Pensions that her husband was working part-time at a Fleetwood caravan park.

Sean Godfrey, 48, possession of a blade in public

A man was found with a lock-knife as he looked through unwanted household items that had been thrown out into a garden.

Sean Godfrey, 48, of Beryl Avenue, Cleveleys, pleaded guilty to possessing a blade in public.

He was fined £120 with £30 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said police saw Godfrey and a woman looking at items in the front garden of a house on March 6 at 2pm.

When asked to empty his pockets Godfrey produced a multi-tool which included a lock-knife.

Vicky Siddall, 36, theft

A shoplifter was jailed for five months.

Vicky Siddall stole from Sainsbury’s the day after she received a suspended prison sentence.

Siddall, of Cornwall Avenue, Blackpool, admitted nine thefts from Sainsbury’s and three from a One Stop store.

The judge was told by Mitch Serangi, defending, that Siddall had stolen to support her drugs habit and that of her partner.

A probation report revealed that at its peak it was costing Siddall £200 a day to fund their crack cocaine habits.

Margaret Woods, 44, drink-driving

A school assistant was more than three times over the drink-drive limit when police stopped her mid-afternoon.

Margaret Woods, 44, of Dowbridge, Kirkham, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

Woods wept in the dock as she was sentenced to a 12 months community order with up to 35 days rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service, ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work for the community, banned from the road for three years and told to pay £85 costs plus £85 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said Woods was stopped by police in a routine check as she drove a Ford Ka on Blackpool Road, Newton, on March 3 at 3.30pm.

A breath test showed 105 micrograms of alcohol in her body – 35 is the limit.

She had a previous drink-drive conviction from 2009.

Gail Hatton, 51, assault

An alcoholic mother attacked her two daughters when they tried to stop her drinking.

Gail Hatton grabbed and pushed her daughters in front of her two grandchildren and her mother-in-law.

Hatton, a 51-year-old cleaner, of Elvastone Road, Poulton, pleaded guilty to two assaults.

She was sentenced to a 12 months community order with up to 30 days rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service, ordered to do 70 hours unpaid work for the community and told to pay £85 costs plus £85 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Martine Connah, said the daughters became concerned on March 19, because their mother had received some money and they were worried she would spend it on alcohol.

There was an argument and Hatton grabbed one daughter by the wrist and pushed her.

The other sister tried to take a bottle of vodka from her mother’s bag and Hatton grabbed her by the throat.