'Misguided loyalty' to brother saw South Shields woman arrested, court told

Sophie Newman, 30, denied her brother was at his home in Soane Gardens, Whiteleas, when police called looking for him.

But they had already heard a man’s voice and suspected Newman, of Whitehead Street, Tyne Dock, was bluffing at 1.20am on Saturday, August 27.

Their hunch proved right – and moments later they nabbed her sibling as he made an escape bid out the back of the property.

Newman was also arrested, and charged with obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, to which she pleaded guilty.

Prosecutor John Garside told borough magistrates: “Police went to the address in relation to her brother who was wanted by them.

“They heard a voice from inside, it was a male’s voice. The defendant looked out the window and stated just her and her sister were inside.

“She denied that any male was inside, but police thought he was around the back.

“He was arrested, and she was subsequently arrested for her behaviour.”

The court was told Newman committed the offence while subject to an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for a year.

It was imposed in July, after she broke a restraining order in relation to her grandmother.

Richard Scott, defending, said: “The police visited the house, which was her brother’s, she was just staying there.

“The brother was upstairs, and she answered the door and told them that he wasn’t there.

“He was arrested at the back of the house. The police were not greatly inconvenienced, they still got their man.

“It was misguided loyalty to her brother.”

Magistrates sentenced Newman to a six-month conditional discharge, with £85 court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

They did not activate the suspended sentence but extended it by six months, creating an 18-month order.