SENTENCED IN MAY: 5 cases from courts over past month

Here is a look at five court cases heard during May which the Star has reported on.

Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith

A man who was caught trying to have sex with a cleaning cone at a train station two years ago has been jailed after he was seen exposing himself at the window of his apartment.

Smith was seen by a neighbour standing at the window of his apartment on Hall Street in St Helens town centre performing a lewd act on the evening of March 18.

There were a group of teenagers outside on the street at the time, the court heard.

Smith was jailed for 10 months at Liverpool Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to exposure, possession of cannabis and breach of a suspended sentence.

His defence barrister said Smith's offending was “in relation to drug abuse”.

See the full story here.

Logan Pritchard

Logan Pritchard

A teenager who started a fire on a double-decker bus with a lighter close to where an unwell student was sleeping has been jailed.

Logan Pritchard, now 18, was sent to a young offenders’ institute for two years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to arson while reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones described the act, in which Pritchard, who at the back of the top deck set fire to a seat in front of him as one of “dangerous and reckless stupidity”.

Pritchard started the fire on January 28, 2020 on a 10A Stagecoach bus after getting on at Bridge Street, St Helens.

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Sarah Clarke

Sarah Clarke

A woman who helped her partner evade arrest after the murder of Warren Glover in St Helens has been sent to jail.

Sarah Clarke, of Chester Avenue, Stalybridge, was convicted last month after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court of assisting an offender.

Her boyfriend Stephen Strutt was one of four who were given life sentences for the 'joint enterprise' murder of 33-year-old Warren Glover in Toll Bar after the group had travelled from Manchester.

Strutt, 39, of Chester Avenue, Stalybridge was jailed for life in April and must serve a minimum of 20 years in jail.

Brother and sister Aaron and Melissa Stubbs, and Peter Walker, were also given life sentences and the four of them must serve more than 80 years in jail between them.

Clarke, 31, who lived with Strutt, was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Friday after she had been found guilty after trial of assisting an offender, after she helped him to "lie low" in a hotel in Blackpool after the fatal attack.

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Lee Smith

Wheatsheaf pub

A man with a criminal past has been spared an immediate jail sentence over an assault outside a pub – after a judge accepted it was an "aberration".

Lee Smith, of Marian Road, Haydock had pleaded guilty to GBH after he had pushed over a man outside the Wheatsheaf pub on Westfield Street, St Helens.

The assault took place at about 3am on August 3 last year after Smith, 38, had been drinking for around 13 hours and consumed 20 pints of cider, the court heard.

There had been no previous interaction between Smith and the victim, with the assault described as a case of "mistaken identity".

Smith, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, had turned his life around since 2014.

He has carried out lots of charity work, including for the NSPCC, Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Macmillan and was asked to switch on the Christmas lights in Haydock.

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Jodie Smith

The Old Vicarage care home

A nurse who stole medication prescribed to a recently deceased resident at a care home she worked at has been spared jail.

Jodie Smith, from Rainford, took a prescription of Lorazepam, which is used to treat anxiety and sleeping problems, as she was ‘struggling to cope’ with the pressures of working during the coronavirus pandemic.

She was caught with the class C drug after being spotted driving ‘erratically’ by swerving in the road and mounting the kerb.

The reason for this was drinking a bottle of wine after finishing her shift working at The Old Vicarage Care Home in Burtonwood.

The 35-year-old appeared for sentence at Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday after admitting charges of theft, possession of a class C drug and drink driving.

But her previous good character and prompt guilty pleas spared her from being sent to prison.

See the full story here.