Zoe Smith was handed a criminal behaviour order at Warrington Magistrates Court on Thursday, February 25. The CBO will prohibit her from entering the town centre for the next three years – other than to attend an appointment with the probation service, Warrington Police Station, Warrington Magistrates Court or the job centre. This follows her conviction in January for assaulting an emergency services worker, assault, racially-aggravated affray, theft and attempted theft. Smith, of Lovely Lane in Whitecross, was previously given a 16-week imprisonment suspended for two years over these offences. The order will also prevent the 22-year-old from carrying an open container of alcohol anywhere in Warrington, as well as ‘acting in a manner which causes harassment, alarm or distress’ within the borough.
Abigail Findlay-Stankovich kept up to 16 canines in her semi-detached house on Bluebell Court in Runcorn. Halton Borough Council was first contacted by residents raising concerns over the noise in June 2018. During its investigation, the council’s environmental health department installed recording equipment in the complainant’s home. Evidence gathered ‘demonstrated that the dogs were barking repeatedly to the extent that they caused a statutory nuisance’. But the noise continued and the equipment picked up more repeated barking after being reinstalled in March 2019. Findlay-Stankovich admitted breaching a noise abatement notice and was fined £480 at Warrington Magistrates Court on Monday, March 1. The 67-year-old was also told to pay court costs of £1,500 and a £48 victim surcharge.