South Shields woman spent a night in a police cell for a seven-minute misdemeanour
A South Tyneside woman with poor timekeeping spent a night in police cells for a seven-minute misdemeanour, a court heard.
Alison Kennard, 47, was among a group of bystanders ordered by police to leave South Shields’ transport interchange after reports of booze consumption.
To compel her to stay away for 48 hours, Kennard, of Norham Avenue North, Horsley Hill, was handed a section 35 anti-social behaviour directive.
Prosecutor Jade Houston said that was done at 4.10pm on Friday, June 13, and Kennard was given 20 minutes to get going.
But she was still present when police returned at 4.37pm, leading to her arrest and a charge of failing to comply with the order.
Ms Houston told South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court: “Officers have attended South Shields interchange, due to a report of people drinking in the area,
“A 48-hour dispersal notice was given at 4.10pm and they were asked to leave by 4.30pm.
“Officers returned at 4.37pm, seven minutes after the people were told to be out of the area. The defendant was in breach and was arrested.
“She has four previous convictions from four offences but none of a similar nature. The offence is three months in custody or a fine.”
Kennard pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to comply with a section 35 direction excluding a person from an area.
Janice Hall, defending, told District Judge Zoe Passfield: “She was arrested at 4.30pm and kept in cells overnight. She was released at four in the morning.
“Since then, she has broken her foot and has spent a month in hospital and had metal plates in her foot.
“That has restricted her mobility, and she says it’s taken her an hour to get her today. She’s been restricted to her home address.”
Judge Passfield sentenced Kennard to a six-month conditional discharge and fined her £85, with a £26 victim surcharge.
She told Kennard she would hear nothing else about the offence if she stayed out of trouble during that entire period.
But she warned her that any other criminal offence in that time would see the section 35 matter revisited.