HERE are some of the notable cases heard at Worcester Magistrates Court recently.

A student drove her car at a supermarket staff member who confronted her for stealing flowers and crashed in a Worcester supermarket car park.

Naomi Judge admitted theft and careless driving when she appeared before magistrates in Worcester on Thursday [December 3] . The staff member ‘jumped’ out of the way of her car.

The 21-year-old, of Winchester Avenue, Worcester, stole the £15 flowers from Sainsbury’s but, when challenged by a member of staff, drove off, striking a bollard and a parked car on September 17 this year.

Shafquat Reaz, prosecuting, said it was around 12.30pm when the defendant took flowers from the display at Sainsbury’s in Worcester and a member of staff followed her out to her car. “It’s here he has confronted her and here he explained she has not paid for these flowers,” said the prosecutor who said Judge ‘refused to engage with him’.

He added: “The car was driven at him and he has jumped out of the way. As she has has passed she has struck a bollard and a nearby parked car.”

Police later arrived at her home address. Judge had no previous criminal convictions. No injuries were caused during the incident.

Sam Lamsdale, defending, said Judge was a student at the university and had completed her degree and was now studying as a postgraduate.

“During this year she has become increasingly anxious,” the Worcester solicitor said. She argued that Judge had been ‘acting out of character’ when she took the flowers and had money enough to pay for them and had already purchased a greetings card for a friend. “She thinks this was a cry for help” said Mrs Lamsdale who said the member of staff had been ‘very strident with her’ which triggered ‘the feeling of fight or flight’.

Magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered her to pay £15 compensation. They also added five penalty to points to what had been a full, clean licence and ordered her to pay an £80 fine, a £34 victim surcharge and £135 costs.

A sea cadet leader stole close to £5,000 from the charity by fraudulently filling up his own car using a fuel card intended to pay for minibus trips for young people.

Liam Pickering admitted fraud by abuse of position when he appeared before Worcester Magistrates Court on December 3.

The 40-year-old dad of Knights Hill, Severn Stoke, near Worcester was the chairman of Malvern Sea Cadets, dishonestly abusing his position to make a gain of £4,753 between June 15, 2018 and July 19 last year. On their website it says the cadets offer a range of different activities from sailing, windsurfing and powerboating to rock climbing, camping, and music.

Shafquat Reaz, prosecuting, said Pickering had used the fuel card on 82 occasions before the fraud came to light during what he called 'a breach of trust' although he accepted that Pickering had paid some of the money back in the meantime.

The starting point within the sentencing guidelines indicated Pickering should receive a sentence of 36 weeks in prison as a starting point with a range available of a high level community order, at the bottom of the range, to a year in prison at the top.

Heath Thomas, defending, said: "He really wasn't dealing with money. The treasurer looked after that. He wasn't in control of the purse strings. One of his jobs was to sort out the fuel card for the minibus transporting the youths around."

He added: "It's not as if he set out with an intention to defraud the Malvern Sea Scouts of the sum of money."

Mr Thomas described the fraud as 'a very unsophisticated matter'. The card had a unique number and the defendant's name on it.

The Malvern Sea Cadets were paying the bill via a direct debit set up by the treasurer.

"It would not come to light until July 2019 when it was thought the fuel charges were a little higher than they might expect" he said.

Picketing has been paying the money back since December last year, so far returning £3,250 of the cash. He has also offered to pay any interest on top.