Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team Sergeant Mark Edwards continues his regular blog on Aycliffe Today…
It’s hard to believe that we’re well on our way into March – only seems like five minutes ago that I was driving around the town in the early hours of January 1st!
Yet looking out of the station window at the thin layers of snow covering the ground it still feels as if it should be that time of year.
Anyhow, nostalgic weather commentary aside, on to business!
What’s been happening in Newton Aycliffe?
In the last blog I reported about a number of daytime burglaries that had occurred in the town – within Hylton Close and Van Mildert Road.
I am happy to report that as a result of enquiries conducted by members of the team we identified a suspect towards the back end of last week, and on Friday a 36-year-old male from the town was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
Several items of property that had been stolen from one of the addresses were recovered by the team and will be returned to the rightful owners once further enquiries have been conducted.
The male has been released on bail due to a number of other leads that need to be progressed.
However, I can safely report that he is – and will continue to be – subject to regular daily home visits (and I do mean regular!).
At the PACT forums we hold within the community we regularly hear concerns regarding speeding vehicles and several of the priorities we have for wards within the area concern these issues.
As a team we are committed to focusing on addressing these matters and part of our approach involves community speedwatch activities.
These are events where members of the team work with volunteers from within the community setting up position with a speed matrix board roadside and monitoring the speed of passing traffic.
If you feel that speeding is an issue in your area yet you have not spoken to the local neighbourhood team about it then please come along to your next PACT meeting and discuss it with those beat officers for your area.
Details of when and where the PACT meetings are held can be found on the Force Website www.durham.police.uk or alternately you can contact 101 and ask for details.
You can also volunteer to participate in these activities and community speedwatch allows effective, first hand experience to the public as to the scale of the issue and how reality matches perceptions.
It’s time for those all important court results now!
Colin David Pearman, 26, from Aycliffe, appeared at the town’s Magistrates’ Court on 6th March and was convicted of assault and resisting arrest. He was made subject of a community order with a supervision requirement, ordered to pay £25 compensation to a police officer and £100 compensation to the assault victim, and is required to pay £125 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Gordon Michael Nicholson, 24, from Aycliffe, was convicted of a burglary committed at a furniture outlet on the Business Park back in January. He appeared at Darlington Magistrates’ Court on 5th March and was made subject of a community order in which he must carry out 80 hours unpaid work within a 12-month period. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and to pay CPS costs of £105. Anthony David Woodfine, 26, also of the town, received the same sentence.
Daniel Robinson, 21, from Howden-Le-Wear, was convicted at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates on 4th March of theft of food from Tesco. He was committed to prison for four weeks – a hefty price to pay for stealing a sandwich!
Karl Anthony Kelly, 29, from Aycliffe, was convicted on 4th March of harassment against another. He was made subject of a community order and a restraining order prohibiting him from entering Rowan Place, Newton Aycliffe, and from contacting directly or indirectly the complainant. He was also ordered to pay £161.63 compensation to the victim, and £100 court costs.
I would like to state that the Police do not decide on sentencing – that’s in the hands of the courts.
We build up the case against suspects and the Crown Prosecution Service prosecute.
That’s it for now, until next time…
Be good!
Mark J Edwards
Aycliffe NPT Sergeant
