Here are the biggest stories from court this week.
1. A mum has admitted sending a threatening message but denied attacking a man’s car or fighting.
Tanika Attwood from Worcester is now banned from a city street as part of her bail conditions and pleaded guilty to the offence at Worcester Crown Court.
The 20-year-old, now living in Avon Road, Kidderminster, sent the 'threatening' communication between November 19 and December 5 last year.
However, the mother denied sending another similar communication to a different complainant between the same dates, criminal damage to a Seat Leon car on December 4 last year and affray, also alleged to have taken place on December 4 last year.
Jason Aris, defending, told the court Attwood was of previous good character and asked if a pre-sentence report could be prepared by the probation service ready for the sentencing hearing time.
Agreeing to the request, Judge Martin Jackson ordered the report to be prepared. He told Mr Aris: "I think that might be sensible (ordering the report). There's obviously some background here."
Her bail conditions are that she must not enter Wheelwright Close in Worcester and must not contact, directly or indirectly, Richard Robinson or Jade Jones.
READ MORE: Worcester mum sent 'threatening message' but denied fighting
2. A gang is accused of fleecing Worcestershire’s hospitals of more than £322,000 – with the NHS already on its knees because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Solomon Adeyemi, Emmanuel Nbanga and his wife Remilekun Olusesi did not enter pleas to fraud, theft and money laundering against Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust when they appeared before magistrates in Worcester yesterday.
The trust runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. The case involves the alleged theft of medical equipment and supplies.
Ralph Robyns-Landricombe, prosecuting, said: “Mr Nbanga was in the employ of the NHS and is alleged to have been stealing theatre equipment from the hospital (the Alexandra) where he worked. As a result of this role he was then organising the procurement to purchase items back from a company established by him.”
The case involves the alleged theft of single use supplies from operating theatres which were then said to be sold back to the trust.
The prosecutor told magistrates that the total value of the alleged theft and fraud was £322,482 made up of invoices paid by the trust, the value of invoices received for which no payment was made and the value of stock recovered during a search.
READ MORE: Gang 'stole £320K from Worcester hospital in huge NHS fraud'
3. A 'peacemaker' who attacked a doorman during a mass brawl outside an Evesham nightclub was told by a judge he should have just walked away.
Callum Barnett became embroiled in the fight after several people were ejected from Marylin’s and trouble flared between 'local lads' from Evesham and others from 'Eastern Europe'.
As previously reported, the violence began after a large group of men had gathered in the town’s Bridge Street at around 3.15am on Christmas Day 2018.
Judge Martin Jackson said the violence began when a group of Romanian men had been ejected from the nightclub for ‘ordering a round of drinks and not paying for it’.
The court heard that the 24-year-old defendant had been trying to break up the fight as had the victim, doorman Jordan Adkins, who was later struck at least four times by Bennett.
Bennett had already admitted escaping lawful custody, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday.
It was the same brawl which led to Thomas Packwood being cleared of affray by a jury last November. However, like Bennett, 33-year-old Packwood had attempted to run away from the scene in handcuffs.
Packwood was convicted of escaping lawful custody after the violence - for all of 12 seconds, actions which led Judge Jackson to brand him 'a complete idiot' when he sentenced him last November.
Bennett pleaded guilty on the basis that he did not start the trouble and that, when trouble began, he acted as a ‘peacemaker’ before he himself was assaulted and the joined in the violence.
READ MORE: 'Peacemaker' turned thug in mass Evesham brawl
4. A drunk woman 'exploded' with rage as she tried to batter her way into a neighbour's flat while the victim's two terrified children were inside.
Sonia Fry called her neighbour a 'bitch' as she repeatedly kicked the door in Vesta Tilley Court, Worcester. The 48-year-old admitted using violence to secure entry during the Boxing Day bust-up when she appeared before magistrates in Worcester yesterday. Fry was not pleased at the presence of the reporter, telling him: "He's the Evening News. I don't want him in here. It's a joke!"
Mark Hambling, prosecuting, said children were in the property at the time. The woman inside heard Fry shouting 'you bitch!' while banging on the door on a number of occasions.
At one stage she also put a chair behind the door, the court heard. "She has two children in the flat at the time whilst this matter is going on" said Mr Hambling. Fry was arrested along with three others. In interview Fry told officers she was frustrated due to an ongoing dispute with her neighbour. "She has consumed alcohol in the evening and, in her own words, 'must have exploded'.
Barry Newton, defending, said: "She didn't know any children were present. She is adamant about that."
READ MORE: Drunk Worcester woman 'explodes' in fight with neighbour
5. A drunk thug attacked a police officer and threatened to burn down a Worcester pub after a city bender - but ended up with three broken ribs.
Wayne Godfrey, who had not touched alcohol for 17 years, made up for it on a session in Worcester, assaulting a police officer and threatening the landlord of the Horn and Trumpet pub after staff refused to serve him. He was one of two people at Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday following assaults on West Mercia Police officers. Richard Davis was also in court for assaults on two emergency workers, both police officers.
Godfrey, 44, of Linnet Rise, Kidderminster, admitted common assault on an emergency worker and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards landlord Adrian Birch during the incident on December 20 last year.
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