These are the latest cases and convictions from Blackpool Magistrates' Court - Monday, June 3, 2019

Clare Bailey, 36, abstracting electricity, causing damage and theft.

A woman tenant by-passed the electricity meter in her flat because she said it was costing her too much to heat.

Clare Bailey, 36, of North Drive, Cleveleys, pleaded guilty to abstracting electricity, causing damage and theft.

She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £106 compensation.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said a convenience store owner heard the fire alarm going off at six flats he had. One of the flats was rented by Bailey and when he checked it he saw the electricity meter had been tampered with.

He put a notice on her door asking her to contact him but when she did not he changed the locks.

The landlord then found Bailey had forced open the flat door.

He also checked the CCTV at his store, which showed Bailey stealing a bottle of wine.

Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, said her client had been paying £5 a day for electricity some of which was used in a communal area of the flats.

She could not afford it and her flat was draughty and bitterly cold.

Bailey, who was being treated by her doctor for mental health issues, still lived in the same flat and was paying money back to the landlord.

Daniel Hodson-Ridgeway, 35, failing to provide a specimen, possessing cocaine and driving without insurance and not in accordance with his learner’s licence.

A man who said he had a hatred of needles refused to give blood for a test to show if drugs were present in his body.

When police in Blackpool pointed out to Daniel Hodson-Ridgeway that he had a number of tattoos he told officers they had been done with a different kind of needle.

Hodson-Ridgeway, a 35-year-old night-shift worker, of Moorcroft Drive, Manchester, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen, possessing cocaine and driving without insurance and not in accordance with his learner’s licence.

He was sentenced to an eight weeks curfew from noon to 9pm, disqualified from driving for 17 months and fined £325 with £85 costs plus £32 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

Ashley Evans, 35, possessing cocaine

A man was found with class A drugs when the car he was in was stopped on Blackpool Promenade.

Ashley Evans, 35, of Ryder Drive, Telford, Shropshire, pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine.

He was fined £350 with £85 costs and ordered to pay £35 victims’ surcharge by magistrates who ordered the destruction of the drugs.

David Tuck, 29, theft

A man accused of stealing an air rifle worth almost £700 has appeared at court.

David Tuck, 29, who is from Blackpool but currently of no fixed address was remanded in custody.

Tuck faces a second a second shoplifting offence,a charge of assaulting a police officer and and an allegation of racially aggravated harassment.

He denied the offences and his trial was fixed for July 9 when he will appear before Blackburn magistrates court.

Neil Gallagher, 28, damage

A former taxi firm owner broke the windscreen of a cab while he was on holiday in Blackpool.

Neil Gallagher, 38, of Compass Street, Swansea, pleaded guilty to causing damage.

He was fined £120 and ordered to pay £330 compensation towards the cost of the windscreen and the driver’s lost earnings.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said a taxi picked up Gallagher and his wife outside Blackpool Pleasure Beach ice arena on May 6 at 12.25am.

Gallagher asked to go to a cash point then a kebab house where he and his wife would eat and wanted the cabbie to wait for them and then take them to their hotel.

The driver said it was a very busy time and he would not be able to wait while the couple ate.

Gallagher told him: “I own a taxi company in Wales and you will do this as I’m paying.”

The driver refused and Gallagher got out and hit the windscreen shattering it. The cabbie said he lost earnings as he could not drive the taxi that night or the next which was a bank holiday because he could not get his vehicle repaired.

Robert Castle, defending, said his client had had a taxi company in Wales but it had failed.

Gallagher’s mental health had been affected by that and he had had a nervous breakdown earlier this year.

He and his wife had come to Blackpool for a few days break to get away from it all. Gallagher felt the cabbie had a legally obliged to take them.

In frustration he slapped the windscreen, not intending to damage it.