A Lincoln man has lost his arm in an incident at a recycling plant in Scunthorpe due to safety failings at his work post.

On March 8, 2011, the 25-year-old’s (then 23) arm was severed at the shoulder when he tried to clear a blockage on a conveyer, part of a metal sorting line.

The man worked at a picking station, taking pieces of copper off the conveyer when he noticed something was caught.

He tried to clear the blockage using a stick — which was general practice — but his right arm was drawn into the machine.

The man was in hospital for a week, but surgeons were not able to reattach his arm. Therefore, he could not go back to work at the former City Scrap Ltd in Scunthorpe.

When the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated, it found a number of dangers at the site, leading to the company’s prosecution at Scunthorpe Magistrates’ Court.

Issues included an absence of or poor guarding around moving machine parts, no emergency stop buttons on processing lines, a lack of a safe system of work and inadequate training for employees. HSE gave the company four Prohibition Notices, and an extra notice regarding work at a height.

On April 17, City Scrap Ltd, of Dale Street, Lincoln, was fined £20,000, plus ordered to pay £8,964 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

HSE Inspector Andrew Gale said: “A young man suffered horrific, life-changing injuries in an incident that was easily preventable.

“City Scrap Ltd should have had fixed guarding, properly secured, to prevent access to dangerous moving parts.

“In addition safe procedures should have been in place for clearing blockages, including isolation of power to the machinery.

“The waste and recycling sector has one of the worst records for injury incidents across all industries and yet the dangers of working with machinery and in the waste business are well known.

“Employers must ensure they take effective measures to address these risks and properly train their staff to carry out tasks safely.”

The owner of a Chinese takeaway in the south of Lincoln has been fined after breaching a number of food hygiene standards in his kitchen.

According to health inspectors, the kitchen of Jade Garden, Newark Road, was so filthy they could barely stand without slipping, while samples contained rodent hair and remains of other pests.

North Kesteven District Council prosecuted owner Mr Jin Lang Wang, and he pleaded guilty at Lincoln Magistrates Court to 13 offences relating to the inspection of the premises.

NKDC’s Environmental Protection Team inspected the premises on November 12, 2012. The court heard a number of offences were apparent to the inspectors the second they walked through the door.

These included raw and ready to eat food on the same surfaces with little or no separation, the washing up sink partly full of raw beef, a joint being sliced next to dirty cleaning equipment, cooked egg noodles put directly onto the table and a cooked chicken stored in water near an open waste bin.

Additionally, the floor was so greasy, it was difficult to stand on, and after analysis samples were found to contain remains of two woodlice and rodent hair.

There was no documented food safety management system in place at the time.

After the inspection, Mr Wang voluntarily closed the premises, and got together friends to help deep clean the premises.

The council also served him 20 hygiene improvement notices on November 16.

He was fined £4,000 by the court, plus costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £120.

Cllr Richard Wright, who oversees food hygiene within the council, said: “It is essential that the public has confidence in the quality of all food premises across the district, which is why we are so rigorous in carrying out our inspections.

“Once again we have identified serious failures in hygiene standards and taken action to protect the public.”

This is not the first time the inspectors had been unhappy with the premises. After Mr Wang took over the takeaway in 2010, two inspections found poor cleaning and handling practices and lack of management control.

Mr Wang told the court he has since cleaned the premises and complied with the improvement notices, and taken complete control of business management.

A Lincoln man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for a street robbery and stealing mobile phones in the city.

Shane Goss (33) of Kirkby Street in Lincoln, admitted robbery and theft and was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday, May 3.

The charges related to a street robbery on December 30 last year in the city centre in which Goss used force to take an iPhone from a man.

He was also convicted for a further offence where Goss stole a Nokia Lumia from a 16-year-old boy having asked to borrow it.

Lincolnshire Police DC Nick Hakes said: “Mobile phone theft is a real issue in the city.

“The victim of one of these crimes did not report it to us and it was only after investigation into other matters that we were able to detect it and bring the offender to justice.

“We hope this conviction and sentence demonstrates to the public that we do take this type of crime seriously and we do get results when they are reported to us.”

A Lincoln woman was fined over £1,000 for persistently failing to clear dog mess from her back garden.

Kerry Carr, 25, of Monks Road, was found guilty of two counts of statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, after failing to clear up faeces and urine from her two pet dogs.

She chose not to attend Lincoln Magistrates Court on Wednesday, May 15.

She was ordered to pay £500 in fines, compensation of £330, costs of £150 and a £25 victim surcharge fee, after the mess in her garden was deemed to be a nuisance to those living nearby.

Carr was also found guilty of the same offence by magistrates in December 2012.

The prosecution was brought by the City of Lincoln Council, who gave Carr notice to clean up the excrement, which she failed to do.

Sam Barstow, Public Protection and Anti-Social Behaviour Service Manager for the council, said: “In this case we felt we had to bring this prosecution as the odour had become so bad you could smell it as soon as you pulled into the street.

“This was obviously affecting people living on her street, as well as being a nuisance.

“This case is a great result for us and shows we will take action against those people who are impacting on the lives of their community.”

A man who absconded from an open prison in Lincolnshire for almost two months has been charged with 13 offences, including indecent exposure in the county, burglaries and knifepoint robbery.

Ivan Leach (48), also known as Lee Cyrus, of no fixed address and originally from the Preston area, absconded from North Sea Camp open prison in Boston in October 2012. He was serving a life sentence for assaulting and robbing a 90-year-old woman in Ribbleton, Lancashire.

After a nation-wide manhunt, Leach was arrested in December in the Camden area of London. Metropolitan Police charged Leach on May 16 with offences including indecent exposure, GBH, aggravated burglary and knifepoint robbery.

He will appear in court in London on May 22, charged with six incidents of indecent exposure, two of which occurred in September 2012 in Lincolnshire and four in October in Camden.

Leach was also charged with a knifepoint robbery in Haringey in November, as well as two counts of grievous bodily harm and one of actual bodily harm in Camden, plus a residential and aggravated burglary.

Criminal history

• Jailed in 1984 for seven years for robbing and burgling a 79 year-old woman in her sheltered accommodation flat, and striking her in the face and body with his fists;
• Jailed in 1999 for 14 months after admitting unlawful sex with a 13 year-old girl who said he had spiked her drink and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident;
• Jailed in 2005 for robbing a 90 year-old woman. He was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of five years. He also has convictions for burglary and robbery and assault.

A local man appeared in a Lincoln court on Saturday charged with sending malicious Facebook messages following the Woolwich attack in which a soldier was killed.

Benjamin Flatters (22) was arrested in Lincoln this week after Lincolnshire Police were notified of malicious messages allegedly sent by him via the social networking website.

He allegedly sent messages described as of a “grossly offensive” nature, directed toward Muslims and Muslim extremists.

At Lincoln Magistrates Court on May 25, the court heard Flatters also missed a court appearance in Boston in February over six other charges in connection with Facebook messages.

The other charges related to allegedly sending messages of a sexual nature to underage girls on the social network, as well as allegedly offering to supply drugs via Facebook.

In mitigation, the court heard Flatters said he was a victim of serious threats of violence, as well as having to deal with a series of family issues.

Flatters is originally from Swineshead, near Boston, in Lincolnshire.

Lincoln Magistrates remanded Benjamin Flatters in custody and refused him bail. He is due to reappear in court in Skegness on May 29.

A road traffic law specialist from a Lincoln solicitors firm has found courts are incorrectly accusing motorists with old or expired photos or addresses of not having a licence at all.

Partner Michael Pace of Andrew & Co LLP had a case acquitted at Lincoln Magistrates Court recently when his local defendant was accused of not having a licence, when actually she had not updated her photo or address when she moved.

The case opened after she was involved in a small road accident that the police attended. Police found the photo was over 10 years old and the address incorrect.

Michael Pace and his defendant entered pleas of not guilty, and the court acknowledged a lot of other people had been found guilty of similar offences wrongly. The case was acquitted.

The Lincoln solicitor believes the problem lies with some police forces being “over zealous”, and seeing an expired photo or incorrect address to mean an expired licence.

They then use the wrong Road Traffic Act, section 87.1, to charge motorists. Insurance companies can also mistake an expired photo for an expired licence, meaning they inform motorists that they are not insured to drive.

Section 99 should be used to deal with updating information such as photos, which must be done every 10 years.

Under this section, a fine of £1,000 can be issued but points can’t be added to a licence, vehicles can’t be seized and insurance isn’t affected.

Michael Pace believes thousands of people nationally have been incorrectly convicted for the wrong offence. Points on a licence can lead to loss of livelihood for some motorists.

He said: “Lincolnshire Police have said they will give guidance to their officers. Anyone who has been wrongly convicted should see a specialist solicitor to help them have their case reopened and the conviction quashed.”

Should anyone feel they have been wrongly convicted in the past, they can contact the courts to appeal, and have the associated court costs returned.

A Lincolnshire man who posted offensive comments on Facebook following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich has ben jailed for two weeks.

Benjamin Flatters, 22, originally from Swineshead, near Boston, was arrested in Lincoln and charged with an offence of malicious communications in May.

He appeared at Skegness Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to 14 days in prison.

Flatters was arrested in the city after Lincolnshire Police were notified of malicious messages allegedly sent by him via the social networking website.

He first appeared in court in Lincoln, where he was charged with six other offences relating to social media communications, and had two subsequent hearings in Skegness.

A dangerous sex offender from Lincoln was jailed for seven years for an attack on an eight-year-old girl in the city.

Scott Owen (29), formerly of Willow Tree Close in Lincoln, was found guilty of assault on a child under the age of 13 by a jury at an earlier hearing.

He had also pleaded guilty to outraging public decency at an earlier date and was given a 10 year Sexual Offence Prevention Order.

The court heard that the attack took place on the junction of Newark Road and Manby Street in May 2012.

The offender sexually assaulted the child as she waited for a bus.

Lincolnshire Police Sergeant Tim Wilkinson said: “This was an extremely serious offence which has profoundly affected the people involved.

“Owen is a very dangerous offender and he will now spend a significant amount of time behind bars.

“This case demonstrates the professionalism and dedication of the specialist officers in Lincolnshire Police’s Emerald Team and we hope this conviction and sentence shows our commitment to tackling sexual violence in our communities.”

On sentencing Scott Owen, Judge Morris thanked a member of the public who had been a key witness during the early part of the investigation and had assisted in the identification of Owen.

A Lincoln man has been jailed for eight months after it was discovered he had almost 2,000 indecent images of children on his computer.

IT technician Marc Gothorp (32) of Coulson Road in Lincoln, was handed the sentence at Lincoln Crown Court after admitting to downloading 1,997 images.

He was discovered to be harbouring the indecent images after intelligence found his computer’s IP address during a search for an US citizen linked to child porn in Australia.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau then passed the information to Lincolnshire Police, who raided Gothorp’s home and recovered a laptop and USB stick.

They found hundreds of indecent child images, with children as young as 3 and 4-years-old.

He was arrested and charged with 14 counts of making indecent images of children, plus two more for possessing extreme pornographic images.

Gothorp, who has no other criminal convictions, previously worked at Sir Robert Patterson Academy in North Hykeham, but he denied ever making or possessing images at the school.

The judge handed him the prison sentence, stating there was no alternative to serving jail time.

A Lincoln man who raped a young girl has been sentenced to 15 years in prison at Lincoln Crown Court.

Darren Lewis (37) of Newland Street West denied eight sexual offences, including rape, on the victim between 2009 and 2010.

A three-week trial in Lincoln Crown Court however convicted him to jail time, plus banned from working with children for life and given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

Mitigating, Michael Cranmer-Brown stated that Lewis was a man of limited intelligence and had no previous sexual offences.

Judge Sean Morris, who passed the sentence, said that the lack of previous convictions meant he was handed a normal prison sentence rather than “dangerous offender” term.

A supplier of meals-on-wheels for the elderly based near Lincoln has been fined nearly £5,000 after a series of kitchen hygiene breaches.

The Lincolnshire Kitchen, run from Nocton Heath by David Mather was prosecuted by North Kesteven District Council after inspectors described the kitchen as “appalling” following an inspection on January 23.

At Lincoln Magistrates Court, Mather pleaded guilty to 11 food safety charges and one charge related to storing dangerous chemicals.

While no-one has become ill from eating the meals from the service, magistrates felt that there was a risk someone could be harmed in future.

They also learned that inspectors had warned Mather about the kitchen conditions since 2008, and when he took over the premises, with every officer witnessing poor conditions.

After a January visit, Lincolnshire Kitchen was given a zero out of five for the FSA Hygiene Standard.

When inspectors North Kesteven District Council’s visited, the officers found the kitchen dirty, with raw and ready-to-eat foods unwrapped on a table. Raw and cooked foods were being handled on the same surfaces, which increases risk of cross contamination.

There was a number of poorly stored food that was either out of date or without an expiry date.

Additionally, corrosive cleaning chemicals were stored above an oven, dirty sanitizer bottles, holes in walls, poor cleaning throughout, and cleaned utensils left on dirty surfaces.

An employee said that there was no documented food safety management procedures in place as he ‘didn’t really keep records’.

According to Mather’s solicitor, he’s since taken all measures to improve the kitchen, and has put the business on the market for sale or rent to “ensure absolutely that the risks of similar issues being repeated are removed”.

Cllr Richard Wright, NKDC Executive Board Member said: “Unfortunately once again we have identified serious failures in hygiene standards and taken action to protect the public.

“Given the appalling conditions identified on this and previous inspections it is a wonder that the elderly customers receiving their meals from these premises had not become ill, but reassuring to hear that Mr Mather has sought to sever his involvement with the business going forward and improve matters.”

David Mather was fined £1,400 with a £30 victim surcharge, plus the same again to the company he is a director of, The School Kitchen Company (Mather stopped supplying school meals two years ago), with a further £2,000 in costs.

A Lincoln teen charged with three disorder offences has been banned from a nearby town until her court date next month.

Tamara Bache (19), currently residing in Lincoln, has been charged with three offences that occurred in Spilsby in July.

She has been charged with one offence of violent behaviour in a police station, plus two public order offences relating to disorderly behaviour.

She was bailed with the condition not to enter the town until her appearance at Skegness Magistrates on September 3.

Three local men who burgled a house in Washingborough near Lincoln last year have been jailed.

Daniel Philip Besccoby (26), Aron Findley Duff (28) and Keith Andrew David Duff (27), were sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Wednesday.

The three men burgled a house in Ferry Lane in Washingborough on September 6, 2012 and stole tools.

Daniel Philip Besccoby, formerly of Bracebridge Heath, was jailed for two years.

Aron Findley Duff, formerly of Trent View, Lincoln, was jailed for 15 months.

Keith Andrew David Duff, of Spridlington Road, Faldingworth, was jailed for 17 months.

Lincolnshire Police DI Nikki Mayo said: “We hope the hard work of the team in securing these convictions and sentences demonstrates our commitment to tackling burglary in the west of the county.”

The man accused of murdering his mother will be on trial in January 2014.

Nigel Constable (51) of Sherburn Road, Rastrick, Brighouse in West Yorkshire was charged with the murder of his mother, Betty Constable (79), of Merleswen, Dunholme, near Lincoln.

He appeared at Lincoln Crown Court via video link on Monday, September 30, but no plea was taken at the hearing.

Constable will now remain in custody, due to appear in Lincoln Crown Court on January 10, 2014.

Previously, he only spoke at his appearance at Lincoln Magistrates on Saturday, September 28, to confirm his name, age and address and hear his charge.

As previously reported, Betty Constable was taken to Lincoln County Hospital at around 11am on September 22.

Hospital staff called police with concerns for the elderly woman, who later died in hospital at around 10am on September 24.

Officers carried out initial enquiries and a murder investigation was launched.

Police arrested Nigel Constable in the West Yorkshire area on September 25. He was charged with murder the next day.

Six peace activists, including two priests, two pensioners and a partially blind researcher, have been found guilty of causing criminal damage after breaking into RAF Waddington this summer.

On October 7, a group of around 20 demonstrators gathered at Lincoln Magistrates Court to stage an anti-drone protest alongside six people on trial.

The group have all been sentenced to six months conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 each in costs and compensation.

Operations at the air base were halted on June 3, 2013 when at around 8:45 am the group entered the via a hole in a fence made with bolt cutters, a court heard.

The six intruders, once inside, leafleted members of staff, paraded banners and pinned up pictures of drone attack victims.

Activists at the Waddington protest included members of the Stop the War Coalition, CND, The Drone Campaign Network and War on Want.

The direct action was staged in order to protest the use of armed drones over Afghanistan. RAF Waddington began flying armed intelligence and surveillance missions remotely from the base in April 2013.

Penelope Walker (62) was one of the six on trial at Lincoln Magistrates Court. “The District Judge has listened to our arguments and he said that he made the judgement with a heavy heart,” she said.

“I am still very glad that we did it and that I was a part of it. I think it’s important that people are aware of what is happening in the world.

“People perhaps don’t understand that this is the British base which is attacking about two or three times a week. It’s here on Lincolnshire soil that people are giving the go-ahead to kill people in Afghanistan. The distance separates you from the end result. A blip on the screen doesn’t look like a human being. It’s very dark.”

Richard Johnston (73) was protesting at the trial on October 7. He said: “It’s interesting because now war is being waged from our soil, just down the road. We are very near a war zone. You think of all the messages that are actually going out from that base and killing people.”

Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition in Cambridge Dennis O’malley (59) said: “A key slogan from today is ‘every Afghan has a name’. The issue of drones is about it becoming another Space Invaders game.

“The public opinion in the US is that they are already turning against drones. They realise that it’s a horror. If it’s a turning point and we are beginning to move away from drones then that’s something.”

A Lincoln man has been sentenced to six years jail for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, along burglary offences.

Lincolnshire Police arrested the man and his partner in Operation Grittar, a campaign to crack down on groups who engage in drug crime along the Lincolnshire coast.

James Thomas Kitchen (32), of Greetwell Road in Lincoln, and his partner at the time, Mary Jane Wilson (34), of Beaumont Leys in Leicester, were sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court this week.

Kitchen will serve six years at HMP Lincoln for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, plus other burglary offences.

Meanwhile Wilson was sentenced to 5 1/2 years at HMP Peterborough for the acquisition/ possession of criminal property.

Since October 2012, through Operation Grittar several people have been charged with possession or the intent to supply drugs in the county.

The campaign has mainly focused on homes in Skegness, Mablethorpe and Chapel St Leonards, which will continue to be subject to police focus.

Heroin, cannabis, mobile phones, and significant amounts of cash have been seized and confiscated.

DCI Steve Taylor said: “The towns along Lincolnshire’s coastline are family resorts where people come to enjoy themselves in safety.

“This operation focuses on a minority of individuals who seek to blight our communities by trading in Class A drugs whilst also instigating unacceptable levels of violence.

“We will not tolerate those who commit such offences.

“My specialist officers and I will continue to robustly disrupt these groups and bring offenders to justice until drug dealing and its associated violence is eradicated from our streets.”

A Lincoln man has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 15 years, after he was found found guilty of murdering his mother at Derby Crown Court on October 9.

As previously reported, Kazik Pasierbek (39) was arrested after his mother, Margaret Lynette Pasierbek (72) was severly injured at their flat on St Botolphs Crescent in Lincoln on October 12, 2012.

Later that day, she died of her injuries at Lincoln County Hospital.

The court heard that Pasierbek, a heroin addict, beat her to death in a drug-fuelled rage.

During the course of the trial, it was found that he beat her because she would not give him money.

It has been the prosecution’s case that Pasierbek, who was under the influence of drugs, caused those fatal injuries.

It also heard that Mrs Krawcewicz carers had left her alive and well when they left the home at 8.45pm on October 11 last year.

However, they did witness an argument between Pasierbek and his mother, and a neighbour heard raised voices at 2.30am the following morning.

That afternoon, she died due to head injuries, and the prosecution believed that Pasierbek caused that harm.

DCI Martin Holvey of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (Major Crime) said: “This was a brutal attack on a frail, vulnerable, elderly lady and we hope this conviction demonstrates our commitment to tackling serious domestic violence in Lincolnshire.

“We also hope it sends out a very clear message to offenders. If you commit crimes like this you will be arrested and put before the courts.

“I would like to thank the officers and the prosecuting authorities involved in the case for their hard work, professionalism and dedication.”

A 50-year-old local man has been convicted of possession and distribution of child abuse images.

Andrew Bowen (50), of Bawtry Close in Lincoln was found guilty of 23 offences relating to child abuse images at Lincoln Crown Court on October 23.

The court heard Bowen openly admitted downloading and sharing the images on the internet, believing that his actions should not be considered a crime.

The court also found out that he was initially arrested after a search warrant was executed at his home in February last year, then rearrested in July 2012 when answering bail.

He answered bail by attending the police station with a laptop, which contained more child abuse images.

Finally, he was arrested in March 2013 after a computer was seized off him on Lincoln High Street, again containing indecent images of children.

Bowen has also written to a number of prominent figures and organisations in the county about “freedom of choice for children to have sexual relationships”.

DC Nicole Linn of Lincolnshire Police’s Internet Child Abuse Team (ICAT) said: “Bowen is clearly a very dangerous man who has no concept of the deep and lasting impact his crimes have on the children involved in the material he has obtained and distributed.

“We hope this conviction demonstrates the work of the ICAT team and sends out a clear message that offenders will be pursued and brought to justice.”

Bowen will be sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on December 13.

The family of a Lincoln teenager seriously injured in a car crash last year have spoken out as delays in the criminal case mean she has been unable to commence a specialist rehabilitation process to help with her recovery.

Louise Rember from Lincoln was severely injured on March 28 2012 when she was involved in a collision on Washingborough Road.

The 19-year-old incurred multiple serious injuries including a fractured skull and severe internal injuries requiring extensive surgery. She has been left with significant ongoing health issues as a result.

Louise is working with serious injury experts at the law firm Irwin Mitchell who say that the driver of the car that hit Louise was originally charged with driving without due care and attention and pleaded not guilty.

A trial was due to take place on April 18, 2013, but was adjourned due to the number of witnesses to be heard, as more court time was needed.

The trial was then listed to be heard on October 31, with an additional day of court time allowed. Crown Prosecution Service has now decided to drop all charges.

Serious injury experts at Irwin Mitchell are working with Louise to secure the funds needed to help with her rehabilitation, but say that due to the ‘ongoing’ status on the case, the defendant’s insurers would not release funds to help.

Stacy Clements, a specialist serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Louise said: ”The family is angry that the criminal case was delayed for so long, only for it to now be dropped completely 19 months after the crash.

“Louise needs extensive rehabilitation to help in her recovery but because of the fact that the criminal case was ongoing, the defendant insurers have so far denied all liability and won’t engage in discussions about early support for her.

“As a 19-year-old she should be enjoying her early adult years but is held back by the trauma of the crash which continues to affect her both physically and psychologically.

“She has several large scars from surgery to her knee and abdomen which have an effect on her confidence because she is conscious of how they look. She has also struggled to cope emotionally since the crash as it has had a massive impact on her life.”

Louise’s mum, Colleen Rember, said: “When we heard about the crash and Louise’s injuries we were just devastated. We were terrified at first as she needed life-saving surgery.

“We wanted to know exactly what had happened and when the police handed their case to the CPS, we were told that the other driver would be charged with careless driving and a trial was arranged for April 2013. This was then put back until October and we have spent months preparing ourselves for the day.

“To find out just two weeks before that all charges have been dropped seems like taking the easy way out. We want the circumstances of the crash to be explored in a proper trial.

“We’re angry that Louise has not been able to potentially access specialist support because of the delays in the case. It’s 19 months since the crash and we have now basically been put back at square one.”