Latest convictions from Blackpool's court - Friday, September 07, 2018

Timothy Clarke, 52, sexual assault

A man has made his first appearance at court accused of a serious sex attack on a female at Weeton.

Timothy Clarke, 52, of Elm Tree Road, Bredbury, Cheshire, is charged with sexually assaulting a female over the age of 13 in March this year.

Prosecutor, Malcolm Isherwood, said the case must be heard at crown court.

Clarke, who gave no indication of his plea, was bailed to appear at Preston Crown Court on October 3 by Blackpool magistrates.

Adela Slack, 25, driving with excess alcohol

A woman sought solace in drink after being shown a picture of her former boyfriend on social media during a night out with friends.

Adela Slack had taken the recent breakup of her long-term relationship badly and the social media picture showed her ex had moved on, the court heard.

She was later stopped by police and found to be more than twice over the alcohol limit after a witness reported her bad driving.

Slack, 25, of Winchester Drive, Poulton, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

She was disqualified from driving for 22 months and fined £423 with £85 costs plus £42 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said a witness saw Slack driving a Corsa on Whitegate Drive on August 17 at 10.40pm.

Slack was straddling the white line then clipped a kerb and bounced back onto the road before going onto a grass verge.

The witness alerted police and took Slack’s car keys to prevent her driving off.

A breath test showed 89 microgrammes of alcohol in her body - 35 is the limit.

Brett Chappell, defending, said his client had no previous convictions and two weeks before committing the offence a long-standing relationship had ended which affected her badly making her depressed.

Some friends asked her out to cheer her up but while she was out she was shown a photograph on social media which showed her ex had moved on.

Mr Chappell added: “She had intended taking a taxi home but made a monumentally bad judgement to drive while she was in a hotbed of emotion.”

She had now lost her job as a pizza delivery driver.

Stephen Yates, 40, drug driving

A professional driver lost his job after police caught him driving with drugs in his body.

Stephen Yates, a 40-year-old dad-of-three, of Freckleton Street, Kirkham, pleaded guilty to drug driving.

He was banned from the road for 12 months, fined £80 with £50 costs and ordered to pay £30 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said police stopped Yates as he drove a BMW on Blackpool’s East Park Drive on June 25 at 8.10pm.

Officers could smell cannabis coming from the car and Yates admitted smoking the drug earlier that day.

A blood test showed 2.8 units of cannabis in his body - 2 is the limit.

Peter Manning, defending, said his client was given a cigarette to puff on by a friend not realising that it contained cannabis.

He then realised it was cannabis and should not have driven.

As a result Yates had had to give up his job as a professional driver.

Leon Uzan, 28, assault causing actual bodily harm

A mental health worker was traumatised after she was violently attacked by a patient at The Harbour psychiatric hospital in Blackpool.Leon Uzan rained punches on the woman’s head leaving her with black eyes, a swollen nose and severe bruising before other staff could pull him off.

The woman, who had told Uzan she agreed with the doctor’s decision he should be kept in the hospital, was off sick for three weeks recovering from her physical injuries but after returning had to go off on sick again because of mental trauma.

Uzan,28, of Swift Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

In a victim’s impact statement the mental health worker said: “Emotionally I suffer every day.

“While working I feel hyper-vigilante and anxious.

“My injurious were incredibly uncomfortable.”

She now intended having counselling.

Paul Huxley, defending, said his client had had mental health issues for 15 to 18 years and had been admitted to hospital, sometimes through formal sectioning, on at least 20 occasions.

A mental health report on Uzan stated that at the time of the assault he was not insane and was aware of what he was doing.

He was bailed to appear for sentence at Preston Crown Court on October 3.