These are the latest convictions from Blackpool Magistrates' Court - May 3, 2019

Mark Howarth, 45, assault, shoplifting, and drunk and disorderly

A man who threatened a shopkeeper must pay his victim £100 compensation.

Mark Howarth, 45, of Preston New Road, Marton, admitted a charge of assault, two counts of shoplifting, and being drunk and disorderly.

He must also pay £100 costs.

Howarth stole a bottle of cider one time, and a bottle of wine another, the court was told.

He was also found drunk on a bus.

Defending, Patrick Nelligan said: “During a 1o-year period when he was sober, Howarth did not commit any offence. When he does have a drink, he becomes a different person.”

A dad was over the legal drink-driving limit when he went out to buy some nappies.

David Penny, 36, of Clare Street in South Shore, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £80 with £85 costs, and ordered to pay £30 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor Pam Smith said police saw Penny driving a Mercedes at speed in Dickson Road, North Shore, on Friday, April 12.

He was stopped and a breath test showed 59 microgrammes of alcohol in his system. The limit is 35.

Penny, who had a previous drink-driving conviction from 2004, told magistrates he had drunk two glasses of wine but believed he was alright to drive and get some nappies.

He said the ban would hit his family hard because he had children who were disabled and his wife could not drive because she had epilepsy.

Kyle Sweet, 19, possessing indecent images

A Blackpool man facing child sex charges has been remanded in custody.

Kyle Sweet, 19, currently of no fixed address, face three allegations of possessing indecent images.

He is also charged with inciting a girl to perform an indecent act and three allegations of getting a child to watch sexual activity.

Sweet is due to appear at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday, May 29.

Kyle Currie, 23, drug-driving

A motorist admitted to police who stopped him that he had used cannabis before driving.

Kyle Currie, 23, of Whitehill Road, Marton, pleaded guilty to drug-driving.

He was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £140 with £85 costs and ordered to pay £30 victims’ surcharge.

Prosecutor Pam Smith said police stopped Currie in a Toyota Corolla in Preston New Road, Marton, on January 3 because the car was showing as uninsured.

He was arrested at 2.40pm and a blood test showed 9.8 units of cannabis in his system. The legal limit is two.

Hugh Pond, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, had been paying the insurance by direct debit but that was stopped and Currie had not been told.

Currie claimed he had smoked cannabis a couple of days prior to being stopped.

Liam Hewitt, 21, having a knife in public

An unemployed man told police the craft knife he had on him he used in the course of his job.

Liam Hewitt then admitted the blade belonged to a friend and he had taken it because he was a “divvy”, and “idiot”, and a “show-off”.

The 21-year-old, of Inver Road, Bispham, pleaded guilty to three offences of having a knife in public.

Prosecutor Pam Smith said police were called to the lifeboat station in Knott End to reports of a man with a knife at around 8.20pm on Thursday, April 18.

It was then Hewitt made his claims – saying he had finished work at 4pm.

When interviewed, he confessed he had been drinking with a pal and had taken his knife. He was playing with it in public but had no intention of using it.

Gary McAnulty, defending, said he client had not used the knife in dangerous circumstances.

Hewitt was bailed for pre-sentence reports with all options, including jail, being considered by magistrates.

Francis Cullen, 33, assaulting an emergency work and racially-aggravated threatening behaviour

A man went on a crime spree, attacking a woman police officer and two male police officers in one day in Freckleton.

Francis Cullen, 33 of Garstang Road North, Wesham, pleaded guilty to three offences of assaulting an emergency worker on April 9. He also admitted two counts of racially aggravated threatening behaviour.

Cullen also pleaded guilty to smearing excrement in the back of a police van and in his cell at Blackpool Police Station. Cullen was bailed for pre-sentence reports.