Stock image of the M4 Picture: DAVE COX A VAUXHALL van was found to be more than half a tonne overweight on the M4, a court heard. Barry Banham, 54, whose driving licence was revoked in 1995, was behind the wheel of the 60-plate Vauxhall Movano on April 30 last year when police pulled him over on the motorway near Swindon. The van was driven over a weighbridge and found to weight 3,990kg – more than half a tonne over the allowed weight of 3,300kg. Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court, Banham, of Kirton Close, Northampton, pleaded guilty to driving after the revocation of his licence and driving an overweight vehicle.
An arrest warrant was issued for a man who sent a grossly offensive message. Martyn Clark, 43, of no fixed address, had been due before Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday morning. He was expected to be sentenced, having pleaded guilty last September to sending a grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message via an electronic communications network on January 1, 2020. When he failed to turn up to court, magistrates issued a warrant for Clark’s arrest not backed for bail.
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Two poachers were handed hefty fines after they admitted hunting with dogs in Wiltshire. Hampshire pair Luke Ockendon, 24, and Edward Goddard, 52, were caught poaching on farmland in Collingbourne Ducis, on Salisbury Plain, in December 2019. Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court last month, Goddard, of Winchester Street, Botley, and Ockendon, of Manor Park Drive, Yateley, pleaded guilty to hunting a wild animal with a dog on December 20, 2019, and entering farmland in a Subaru Forester 4x4 that was fitted with a hunting lamp. The magistrates noted that both had previous convictions for like offences and attempted to evade arrest. Ockendon was fined £800 and ordered to pay £145 in costs and surcharge. Goddard was fined £1,400 and must pay £205 in costs and surcharge. The hunting lamp was forfeit.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of two people accused of mistreating livestock. Diane Shearmon, 39, and Nicholas Shearmon, whose age is not recorded in court documents, are accused of failing to register the deaths of 21 animals, keep a register of their flock or protect their sheep and cattle from risks to their health. Nicholas Shearmon has also been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to a number of cows, including three that died and one that was allegedly found severely malnourished. The majority of the offences are claimed to have been committed in 2019 at Spiderweb Paddocks, Seend. The Shearmons, both of Seend, near Melksham, had been due before Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Monday to answer the total 24 charges against them.