These are the latest cases and convictions from Blackpool Magistrates' Court - Thursday, May 23, 2019

Clare Cartmell, 43, fraud

A benefits cheat who received money from the public purse because she was in poor health was caught working as a carer.

Clare Cartmell illegally claimed almost £9,000 but bizarrely spent almost none of the benefits money she got and was able to repay in full what she owed.

Cartmell, 43, of St Heliers Road, South Shore, pleaded guilty to three offences of dishonestly failing to disclose information. She was sentenced to a 12 months community order with up to 20 days’ rehabilitation to be supervised by the probation service, ordered to do 80 hours’ unpaid work for the community and pay £85 costs with £85 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said Cartmell claimed Personal Independence Payment (PIP), formerly known as Disabled Living Allowance.

She said she suffered from narcolepsy, a tendency to fall asleep, and cataplexy, a sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone.

Cartmell also claimed Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and housing benefit.

Enquiries by benefit fraud investigators found she had failed to disclose an improvement in her physical capabilities.

She was working as a carer for a company and illegally claimed £8,691 in benefits between February and August last year.

Martin Hillson, defending, told magistrates his client, who had no previous convictions, said she had made a call to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) saying she might possibly start work.

She had been sent a form to complete and returned it but the DWP did not receive it.

Mr Hillson added that Cartmell may have had an inkling all was not right as she basically put the benefits money she got in a pot and most of it was left, so she had paid back what she owed in full.

There was a strong possibility she would lose her job when she disclosed the offences to her employers.

Karl Boardman, 32, driving offences

A man will try and keep his driving licence at a special court hearing.

Karl Boardman, 32, of Devonshire Road, Blackpool, is charged with driving a Ford Transit van in Park Road while disqualified on Thursday, February 28.

Defence solicitor Mitch Sarangi said his client did not know he had been banned from getting behind the wheel.

Boardman’s case was adjourned until Wednesday, June 5, by magistrates so he could explain why he should not be disqualified.

Neil Tyerman, 47, criminal damage

A St Annes bricklayer took revenge on a man who he believed owed him money by using a wheelbrace to damage his van.

Neil Tyerman, 47, of Grenville Avenue admitted causing £2,000 worth of damage to the tyres and bodywork of the vehicle.

District Judge Jane Goodwin ordered Tyerman to pay a compensation order totalling £2,000 at £100 a month.

Michael Woosman ,defending, told the judge: “My client had been doing sub contract work for a man. The agreement was to pay for the work Mr Tyerman did and pay for his fuel to get to sites.

“At first the agreement worked but then his employers became harder to contact and did not come to the sites very often.

“Twice an arrangement was made for Mr Tyerman to travel to Preston to collect the money he was owed – several hundred pounds.

“The man was not in and then the red mist came down and my client took a wheelbrace to the man’s van.”

Tyerman was photographed by a neighbour leaving the area and police traced him.

Sentencing him, Judge Goodwin said: “You took the law into your own hands. There are other lawful ways of getting money which do not include damaging property.”

Bryan Wakeling, 64, case discontinued

A man at the centre of a human trafficking investigation has had legal proceedings against him ended.

At the fifth hearing of his case, Bryan Wakeling, 64, of Charles Street,Blackpool, was told by Lancashire Police prosecutor Chris Keogh that the application for an order under the Modern Slavery Act was being discontinued.

District Judge Jane Goodwin was told that a 16-year-old girl, whose evidence would have been central to the police case, had refused to attend court.

An application for costs by defence lawyer Hugh Pond was turned down by the judge, who said the original application had been made on reasonable grounds.