These are the latest cases and convictions from Blackpool Magistrates' Court - Thursday, December 12, 2019

These are the latest cases from Blackpool Magistrates' Court.
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Joanne Anstey, 38, theft

A care home assistant stole a gold necklace from an elderly woman she helped to look after who had Alzheimer’s.

Joanne Anstey said she had carried out the theft after her benefits were stopped when she started work and she could not afford to feed herself properly or buy electricity.

Blackpool Magistrates' CourtBlackpool Magistrates' Court
Blackpool Magistrates' Court
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Anstey, 38, of Ansdell Road, South Shore, pleaded guilty to theft of the £90 necklace.

She was sentenced to 12 weeks jail, suspended for 12 months, ordered to do 160 hours unpaid work for the community and told to pay £90 compensation with £85 costs and £122 victims’ surcharge.

Presiding magistrate, Graham Curry, told her: “This was an abhorrent crime. You stole from a vulnerable person in a vulnerable situation.”

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said Anstey worked at the resort’s Westfield Care Home, Westfield Road, and when a resident’s gold necklace went missing the management made inquiries and the police were alerted.

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Police discovered that on October 3, Anstey was present when the necklace was pawned for £90 at Cash Converters.

When interviewed, Anstey said after taking the necklace from a drawer in the resident’s room she told her husband she had found it in a bin and he had no idea she had stolen it. She had hoped to buy the necklace back at some stage.Anstey, a mother-of-three, had been dismissed from her job.

Brett Chappell, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, was engulfed in shame and embarrassment at what she had done.

She had not worked for 18 years before getting the carer’s job and her husband suffered from ill health having had two heart attacks and a stroke.

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Anstey thought having a job would give her family a better life but when she started work her benefits stopped and at times she could not even afford to buy food.

The day she took the necklace she was desperately hungry.

Gemma Wilson, 25, breach of restraining order

A 25-year-old Blackpool woman has admitted breaching a restraining order by contacting her own father.

Gemma Wilson of Derby Road appeared before magistrates who asked for pre sentence reports on her to be produced by the Probation Service.

Wilson admitted sending her father Facebook messages asking him to make contact with her after she fell out with her mother.

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That was in breach of a five year restraining order imposed by magistrates .

Prosecutor Paul Huxley: “This is a minor breach but nevertheless a breach.”

Her lawyer Peter Manning said :”The messages were sent at a time when she was very vulnerable.”

Terry Thompson, 34, harassment

A 34-year-old Blackpool man has denied harassment.

Terry Thompson, of Bute Avenue ,was bailed by magistrates who fixed his trial date for January 8.

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The harassment involved in an allegation of making a phone call to a former partner who he was forbidden from contacting.

Thomas Barrett, 38, possession of a bladed article in public

The case against a man accused of having a bladed article in public in St Annes is to be reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Magistrates agreed to bail Thomas Barrett, 38, of Hornby Road, Blackpool, until December 18 pending the review.

His lawyer Steven Townley said that police found what Barrett claimed to be a nail file on his client.

“This is not a bladed article like a lock knife,” said the lawyer.