The following cases were heard at Reading Magistrates’ Court:

February 26

Nidan Singh, of Palmerston Road, was made to pay £8,137 for admitting to six counts of breaching regulations around the management of houses in multiple occupations and two counts of failing to provide information and documents about the land at a property on London Road, Reading. The 80-year-old was fined £6,000 for the breaches, made to pay costs of £1,956 and a victim surcharge of £181.

February 27:

Terry Smitheyman, 25, of Donnington Road, Reading, was made to pay £60 in costs and a victim surcharge for being caught in possession of crack cocaine and diamorphine in Basingstoke in February 2019. 

READ MORE: Chocolate thief among residents in the dock

March 1:

Kojo Ritchie, of Kings Road, Reading, was handed a community order after he admitted to using threatening language likely to cause distress and to assaulting a person on a train between Southampton and Reading in February 2020. The 33-year-old was also told to pay compensation of £75 as well as a victim surcharge of £90. 

Ingus Velikanovs, 30, of Kensington Road, Reading, was made to pay costs of £60 after admitting to breaching a community order. 

Andrew Urquhart, of Granville Road, Reading, was fined £100 after admitting to failing to comply with a rehabilitation activity handed to him as part of a suspended sentence. The 43-year-old was also told to pay costs of £75.

March 2:

Thomas Stone, of Well Avenue, Reading, was fined £168 after being caught with crack cocaine and diamorphine in Reading in June 2020. The 21-year-old was also made to pay a victim surcharge of £34 and costs of £85.

James Hazard, 38, of Russell Street, Reading was made to pay a victim surcharge of £21 after being caught with crack cocaine and diamorphine in Bracknell in August  2019.

READ MORE: Punishment for man who handled stolen Reading FC kits

Timothy Lloyd, of Drake Way, Reading, was fined £438 for driving while under the influence of drugs in Reading in August 2020. The 27-year-old was also banned from driving for 12 months and told to pay a victim surcharge of £44 and costs of £85. 

Gareth Melhuish, of Hunters Hill, Burghfield Common, was told to pay costs of £40 after stealing alcohol worth £166 from Morrisons in Reading in February 2021. The 41-year-old was also made to pay a victim surcharge of £22. 

Silas Yonghang, of Greenfields Road, was fined £120 after admitting to driving while under the influence of drugs in Reading in August 2020. The 30-year-old was also told to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £34. He was also banned from driving for 14 months. 

March 3:

Kevin Bowers, of Kersey Crescent, was fined £75 for stealing bottles of Jack Daniels whisky from Sainsbury’s, sunglasses from Boots, and assaulting a police officer in Newbury in March 2020. The 42-year-old was also told pay £100 compensation, a victim surcharge of £34 and costs of £150.

READ MORE: Fraudster who made £70,000 selling fake service histories gets jail time

Darren Geraghty, of Old Manor Stables, Upper Lambourn, was sent to prison for six months after being convicted of two counts of assaulting a man thereby occasioning them actual bodily harm, in Lambourn in July 2018. He also admitted to failing to surrender to custody at Reading Magistrates Court in November 2020. The 31-year-old was also made to pay compensation of £500 and costs of £500.

March 4:

Robert Dee, 43, of Russell Street, Reading, was made to pay compensation of £585 after he admitted to stealing North Face jackets worth £730 from John Lewis in Reading in August 2019. 

Jocelyn Eaton, of Church Street, Hungerford, was banned from driving for 12 months after being caught drink driving in Newbury in July 2020. The 31-year-old was caught with namely 40 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the limit being 35mg per 100ml of breath. She was also fined £140, made to pay £34 in victim surcharge and £250 in costs. 

Ryan Gaudreau, of Caleta Close, Reading, was banned from driving for 12 months after being caught driving while under the influence of drugs in Reading in August 2020. The 22-year-old was fined £120, made to pay a victim surcharge of £34, and told to pay costs of £85. 

Chris Hamilton, 56, of Northfields, Chieveley, was told to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £22 after he admitted to sending ‘racially aggravated’ offensive messages to two men in October 2020. 

A fundamental principle of justice is that it must be seen to be done. Open justice is acclaimed on a number of grounds: as a safeguard against judicial error, to assist the deterrent function of criminal trials and to permit the revelation of matters of interest.