Blackpool Magistrates Court cases and convictions for November 8 - November 22

The following cases were heard by Blackpool Magistrates’ between November 11 and 22.

Blackpool man accused of torching car

A Blackpool man has denied making threats to torch a relative’s car and smash her mobility scooter.

Paul Logan, 63, of Lytham Road is also accused of assaulting the same woman, which he also denied.

Logan was bailed to an address in County Durham until his trial at Blackpool Magistrates Court on February 14, 2023

Twenty-year-old banned from road but spared jail

A police officer was alerted to a Ford Fiesta’s speed and the fact it was carrying five young people.

The officer followed the car as it did laps of Blackpool town centre.

Checks revealed the vehicle had no insurance and had to be blocked in by a police car when it finally halted near Whitegate Drive.

The town’s magistrates heard there was a strong smell of cannabis coming from the car.

Driver Dylan Platts, 20, of Buxton Avenue, Blackpool admitted disqualified driving and having no insurance.

Drug tests revealed he was well over the legal limit for ketamine and cannabis. He also admitted drug driving and breaching the terms of a previously imposed community punishment by failing to turn up for unpaid work.

Steven Townley, defending, said that groundworker Platts had been clean of drugs for three to four months.

The lawyer said Platts missed unpaid work because he was doing paid work at weekends for a subcontractor employed by the Highways Agency.

Platts was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation days and 150 hours unpaid work, as well as serve an eight week curfew.

He was also banned from driving for three years.

Dad finds daughter’s ex hiding in a cupboard

A supermarket worker rode roughshod through the terms of a restraining order designed to protect his former partner.

Benjamin Briggs, 30, was already the subject of two suspended jail terms in respect of the order which was imposed in September this year by Blackpool Magistrates.

Briggs, of Stone Street, Bradford has now admitted harassment of his ex who lives in Blackpool. He also admitted breaching the restraining order, kicking two police officers and assaulting his ex’s father.

Magistrates heard that Briggs turned up in Blackpool where his former partner had consented to the visit

Her father found him at her home hiding in an airing cupboard and took a photo of Briggs.

Briggs then punched the father in the face and kicked out at two arresting officers who arrived a short time later.

“He has repeatedly rode roughshod through the restraining order,” said Karl Gaffney, prosecuting.

Sue Mugford, defending, said: “His problem is that his former partner keeps asking him to visit her. He does visit despite the court order.”

Briggs was jailed for 18 weeks.

Man calling himself ‘The Archbishop’ accused of robbing KFC

A man calling himself ‘The Archbishop’ allegedly stormed into a KFC in Blackpool and demanded cash from the till.

Ricky Teasdale, 34, pushed to the front of the queue in the Devonshire Road branch and reportedly told staff he knew the password to the till.

Teasdale, formerly of Spencer Court, Blackpool, appeared before the town’s magistrates charged with attempting to rob the fast food restaurant.

Pam Smith, prosecuting, said that Teasdale referred to himself as ‘The Archbishop’ who owned the property. She said he repeatedly demanded the till be opened using what he claimed to be the password...‘Chucky’.

Teasdale was refused bail and sent for trial at Preston Crown Court.

Grieving man went ‘off the rails’ on booze and cocaine

A Blackpool man turned to alcohol and cocaine after the uncle he regarded as a father figure committed suicide.

The town’s magistrates heard how Kristopher Dakin had gone off the rails courtesy of the illicit cocktail.

Dakin, of Enfield Road, admitted criminal damage to a door worth £696 and assaulting a 15-year-old female.

The incidents took place in a friend’s home when he was drunk.

He was also in breach of a suspended jail sentence.

He was jailed for 14 weeks and must pay a total of £300 compensation to his victims.

Man broke bail by asking dad for toilet roll

A man breached his bail terms to make a bizarre request.

Russell Robinson had abided by bail terms for weeks until he walked into his father’s conservatory and asked his dad for some toilet roll.

He was handed some and returned a short time later to ask for tobacco.

Robinson, 27, of Sherwood Avenue, Layton admitted breaching his bail at Blackpool Magistrates Court.

Whilst he is awaiting trial on other matters he must not enter Annesley Avenue or have any contact with his parents .

Pam Smith, prosecuting, said that after weeks of not breaching his bail terms, Robinson had suddenly acted in a ‘blatant manner’.

She said his worried father had called police and his son was swiftly arrested.

Robinson was rebailed and will now be fitted with a GPS monitor tag.

Accused calls Magistrates a ‘bunch of nonces’

Magistrates ordered the removal of a man from the dock after his foul mouthed rant.

Kelvin Abraham, 40, had pleaded not guilty to two breaches of a Criminal Behaviour Order imposed at Crown Court last year.

The three year order bans him from parts of Blackpool Town centre.

Abraham said he had been forbidden to watch his brother take part in an Army parade.

He also claimed he was unable to go to the Jobcentre because of the ban.

He then started to swear and bang the dock windows, referring to those in court as a “bunch of nonces.”

Blackpool Magistrates told security to take him to the cells.

Man jailed after being found sleeping rough under piers

A man who came to relocate to Blackpool was abandoned penniless by the friends who accompanied him.

Blackpool Magistrates heard how Chesterfield man Matthew Cook ended up sleeping rough under the piers.

Cook was later arrested for wilfully breaching the terms of a community punishment. He admitted the offence.

The court heard how he failed to attend any appointments with the probation service.

Magistrates activated a suspended sentence and jailed Cook for 16 weeks.

Man spared jail for carrying knives in public

A man described in court as vulnerable has admitted assaulting a neighbour.

Anthony Stone, 42,of Singleton Street, Blackpool also admitted having two knives in public.

His lawyer Robert Castle said the assault was a push on his neighbour as Stone tried to leave the neighbour’s flat.

Stone said he was disposing of the knives in a bin because he felt suicidal.

Blackpool Magistrates gave Stone a one year community punishment with 20 rehabilitation days and ordered him to pay £195 costs.

He was also made the subject of a restraining order in respect of two neighbours.

Woman banned from Blackpool

A woman has appeared at court charged with kicking in a flat door and assaulting her former partner who was living there.

Maria Reid, 34, faces an allegation of forced entry at the flat in Alexandra Road, Blackpool.

She also faces three assault charges.

Blackpool Magistrates bailed Reid to an address in Southport and told her she must not enter Blackpool.

She denied the offences and her trial will take place at Preston on January 4, 2023.

‘Missing’ rapist found hiding from drug dealers

A man at the centre of a major police appeal has been caught.

Convicted rapist Darren Wright, 39, was named by Lancashire Police when he failed to register an address with police as required under the terms of his Sex Offender Order.

Blackpool Magistrates heard that Wright was being recalled to prison. Police found him at an address in Havelock Street, Blackpool.

His lawyer Gerry Coyle said Wright had ‘gone to ground’ because he was in fear of drug dealers chasing him for a heroin debt.

Mr Coyle said: “He was staying with his girlfriend because of this fear. There is no suggestion of any sex offending.”

Wright had served eleven years in prison for the rape offence.

Magistrates sentenced him to 24 weeks in prison.

Banned driver was ‘unaware he was disqualified’

A young man was stopped by police at the wheel of his mother’s car.

Sean Shelton, 25, of Poulton Old Road, Blackpool was a disqualified driver and officers also smelled alcohol.

Shelton admitted disqualified driving, failing to provide a specimen of breath at the police station and driving without insurance.

His lawyer Robert Castle said: “This man was unaware he was disqualified. It was done in his absence and he did not receive any paperwork.”

Blackpool Magistrates ordered pre-sentence reports on Shelton who will next appear at court on December 7.

Blackpool man denies assaulting women

A Blackpool man facing three allegations of assaulting females has been bailed.

Thomas Lawson, 24, of Abingdon Street, denied the offences when he appeared before Blackpool Magistrates.

His trial was fixed for January 29, 2023 at Preston Magistrates Court.

He was told he must not enter High Street, Blackpool as a term of his bail.

Man accused of sneaking into ex’s flat

A man has denied trying to illegally gain access to his former partner’s flat.

Aaron Logan, 24, of Drummond Avenue, Blackpool will stand trial on January 31, 2023 at Blackpool Magistrates Court.

He was bailed until then.

Man accused of burgling flats with baseball bat

A young man has appeared at court charged with burgling flats armed with a baseball bat covered with glass shards.

Bradley Heckingbottom, 19, of Dickson Road was sent for trial at Preston Crown Court where he will appear on December 6.

He is charged with five allegations of burgling flats on Dickson Road and possessing an offensive weapon.

District Judge Philip Barnes sitting at Blackpool Magistrates Court heard how the defendant had told police he had gone into flats looking for his dog which had been stolen.