HERE'S a round-up of some of the biggest court cases to have taken place in Carlisle and West Cumbria this week.
Three firms due to be punished for health and safety breach
Three companies are due to be punished by a judge next month for breaching health and safety law after a man working at Carlisle’s Pirelli tyre factory was badly hurt when a skip fell and landed on him.
In March last year, two firms — Pirelli Tyres Ltd and also International Rubber and Tyres Recycling Ltd (IRTR) — admitted failings following an incident on the city’s Dalston Road site which occurred on November 14, 2019.
Carlisle man convicted of child abuse had previous conviction for rape
The devastating impact of sexual abuse suffered by a Carlisle teenager was spelled out at a hearing which the offender refused to attend after claiming he was unwell.
Michael McCreedy, 59, who had previous convictions for raping, assaulting and falsely imprisoning a woman in the 1990s, denied four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
He was convicted after a trial. The victim was aged 13 or 14 at the time when she was abused, Carlisle Crown Court heard.
Woman's injuries after Carlisle man's violence among 'worst'
A Carlisle man repeatedly yelled that he had been “stitched up” as a court heard a graphic account of how he twice assaulted his partner and threatened her with a knife.
The crown court judge said that photos of the serious facial injuries inflicted on the woman by her then partner, 24-year-old Matthew Vickers, were “among the worst” that he had seen for a very long time.
Cleaner at Derwentwater Hotel, Keswick, took keys and stole booze
A hotel cleaner helped herself to nearly £800-worth of booze after she had agreed to fill in for the porter’s shift.
Carly Weighman, 34, had been employed at the Derwentwater Hotel in Keswick and was ‘drunk on shift’ in the early hours of November 19 last year.
Watch footage of police pursuit of Albanian drugs courier in Carlisle
Police dashcam footage shows a terrifying high-speed pursuit in Carlisle that could have ended in tragedy.
The video, below, taken just before 10am on Saturday, February 17, has been released following the sentencing of Albanian drugs courier Francesko Ago at Carlisle Crown Court.
Man living in a tent gave his partner a black eye, court hears
An angry man assaulted his partner, leaving her injured and bleeding, as she visited him at the tent in which he was living.
The woman had gone to see 38-year-old James MacDonald in Workington on the afternoon of August 26 last year. At that time, MacDonald was living in a tent at the rear of a fire station in the town’s Moorclose area.
Drugs and pepper sprays leave Carlisle man with £1,251 court bill
Police who visited a property in Carlisle as part of an investigation found that one of the residents living there had three illegal pepper sprays.
Patryk Wozinszki, 35, had also "taken possession of" a small quantity of cannabis and cocaine which had originally belonged to a previous tenant, magistrates heard. As a result, he pleaded guilty to five offences, the two drugs possession charges and three charges of possessing illegal weapons.
Van driver whose carelessness led to couple's death in Carlisle jailed
A van driver whose carelessness caused the death of a Carlisle couple near the city centre has been jailed for 18 months and given a two-year ban.
Marc Large, 49, had denied wrongdoing but he was convicted after crown court trial, which heard detailed accounts of the collision on March 1, 2021, which caused the deaths of 62-year-old Terence Abson and his 56-year-old partner Georgina Lands.
Banned Carlisle Walkabout customer used bottles to attack manager
AN awkward customer who resisted as staff at a Carlisle bar tried to eject him because he was barred turned violent, using two bottles to attack one of them.
The manager from the Walkabout Bar in Botchergate was left with a scar on his forehead after Lewis O’Neil, 24, attacked him, lashing out first with a bottle of Malibu and then with a bottle of Heineken lager.
Domestic abuse victims urged to come forward after Dion Aiye case
Victims of domestic abuse are being urged ‘not to suffer in silence’ following the conviction of a professional rugby player who assaulted his ex-partner.
Dion Aiye, 35, was branded an ‘entitled bully’ by a judge and slammed for his treatment of women as he was sentenced at Preston Crown Court last week for assault by beating and harassment.
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