A MILFORD HAVEN woman has been sentenced by magistrates after stealing three packets of chicken from The Food Warehouse.

Marion Picton, 45, was seen by store staff removing three packs, each weighing 1.7kg, from the shelves of the Milford Haven store on April 10.

“She was about to leave the store with the chicken but she was spoken to by the staff and all the items were recovered,” Crown Prosecutor Nia James told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“They went back for resale so there is no claim for compensation.”

Ms James described Picton as ‘no stranger to the courts’. In November 2023 she served a custodial sentence for a previous conviction of theft.

Picton, of Hawthorn Path, Mount Estate, Milford Haven pleaded guilty to theft. She was fined £40 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £16 court surcharge.

A MOTORIST was in court this week for giving police officers false information concerning his identity before driving off at high speed through red traffic lights with a front seat passenger and two babies strapped in the rear of his vehicle.

Lewis Palmer, 22, was stopped by officers on March 3 as he drove his Seat Ateca along Pembroke Road, Pembroke Dock.

“In the back were two very young children,” Crown Prosecutor Nia James told Haverfordwest magistrates this week. “One was four months old and the other was 14 months. In the front was his partner.”

Magistrates were shown body-worn footage in which Palmer could be heard telling the officer on several occasions that his name was Jordan. Subsequent checks carried out by the officer revealed that the information he had given was false, but when Palmer was questioned about this, drove off at a high speed.

“By now the passenger had unbuckled herself and was tending to the two babies in the back,” said Nia James. “So when the defendant drove off, she was unstrapped

“The officer had to step away to avoid impact and the defendant screeched off at high speed. He drove towards the traffic lights on Ferry Lane, and other motor vehicles had to stop to avoid a collision.

“There was only one reason that he drove off, and that was to avoid the police.”

Ms James informed magistrates that Palmer had already been disqualified by a court sitting at Aberdeen in May of this year, after being convicted of dangerous driving.

This week Palmer pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, obstructing a police constable in the execution of her duty, driving on a public road without third party insurance and failing to stop when required to do so by an officer.

After considering the facts, magistrates requested a full probation report before sentencing. Palmer was released on unconditional bail and will reappear before magistrates on December 10.

An interim disqualification was imposed.

A PEMBROKE man has appeared before magistrates charged with raping a woman on New Year’s Day 2015.

Mark Jones, 31, is accused of raping the woman at an undisclosed location in Pembroke and of sexually assaulting another woman in Llangain on September 19, 2020.

Jones, of Lord Meadow View, Pembroke, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday but entered no pleas.

Due to the seriousness of the charges, magistrates declined jurisdiction, and Jones will now appear before Swansea Crown Court on December 20. He was released on unconditional bail.