Newbury Weekly News

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Thursday, May 11, 2017
Man guilty of
sexual assault
A CALCOT man has been convicted of sexually
assaulting a woman.
In the dock at Reading Magistrates’ Court on
Tuesday, April 11, was 34-year-old Ahtif Ahmad
Chowdhary of Piercefield.
He denied deliberately engaging in sexual touch-
ing of a stranger when she did not consent, in Tile-
hurst, on October 26.
But magistrates did not believe his story that the
touching was accidental and he was convicted
following a trial.
Mr Chowdhary was made subject to a commu-
nity order with a rehabilitation activity require-
ment of up to 15 days.
He was also ordered to pay £500 costs plus a
statutory victim services surcharge of £85.
Finally, magistrates ordered him to pay £50
compensation to his victim.
Vehicle ‘took off’
in police pursuit
A SPEEDING car hit a traffic
island so fast it “became
airborne” during a dramatic
police chase.
Daniel James Moss nearly lost
control several times as he
jumped red lights and sped the
wrong way around roundabouts,
Reading magistrates heard on
Thursday, April 27.
The teenage motorist then fled
on foot after leading officers on a
hair-raising ride at speeds of
80mph, on the wrong side of the
road, in a built-up area.
Clare Barclay, prosecuting,
said the 19-year-old, of The
Strouds, Beenham, was guilty of
“prolonged, dangerous driving”.
She added: “He was fleeing
from police pursuit, driving at
speeds of 80mph in a 40mph
limit.
“He drove through a red light
and nearly lost control of his
vehicle on a traffic island, swerv-
ing round other vehicles.
“At a second roundabout he did
spin out of control but managed
to recover.”
At one point, the court heard,
Mr Moss was driving at speed on
the wrong side of the road.
Ms Barclay said it appeared he
might even outrun the pursuing
police car and escape – but even-
tually his luck ran out.
She explained: “He struck a
roundabout and the car became
airborne.
“It slammed back down and
continued on the wrong side of
the road for a short way before
slowing and then stopping.”
Even then, the drama was not
over, magistrates were told, as
Mr Moss tried to flee on foot.
He was eventually caught and
arrested, and on Thursday he
admitted driving a Honda Civic
dangerously, failing to stop when
required by police, driving with-
out insurance and driving other-
wise than in accordance with a
licence.
All the offences were commit-
ted on the A33 near Reading on
March 20.
Mr Moss also has previous
convictions, the court heard.
Ms Barclay suggested that the
offences were so serious they
might merit more than the maxi-
mum six months’ imprisonment
available in a magistrates’ court.
She urged district judge
Shomon Khan to send Mr Moss to
the crown court for sentencing.
instead.
Adonis Daniel, defending,
pointed out that the offences had
happened around 3am and that
there was little or no traffic on
the roads.
He said the vehicles referred
to, that his client had swerved
around, had been stationary at
the time.
Mr Daniel added: “It has been
described as prolonged bad driv-
ing but, in fact, it was rather
short.”
But district judge Khan told
Mr Moss: “I’ve listened carefully
to what has been said on your
behalf but I feel the safest option
for me is to send this, on an ‘all
options’ basis, to the crown
court, where the judge will have a
fuller sentencing range than I
have.”
He ordered pre-sentence
reports to be prepared and
imposed an interim driving ban.
Mr Moss was then bailed until
a date to be fixed for sentencing
by a judge sitting at Reading
Crown Court.
Carhitaroundabout and ‘became airborne’ courthears
Report by JOHNGARVEY
email john.gar vey@newbur
twitter @johng_nwn
District council has new switchboard number
WEST Berkshire Council has
changed its customer switch-
board number to (01635)
551111.
Although more people are
accessing West Berkshire
services online, it still receives
more than 2,330 phone calls to its
switchboard each week.
The former (01635) 42400
switchboard number will remain
active until the end of March
2018. West Berkshire Council's
out-of-hours emergency number
remains (01635) 42161.
The council has an ongoing
programme to provide more
services online, which will
reduce costs for the authority,
ranging from accessing informa-
tion and advice, requesting new
bins or the cutting of overgrown
hedges. These can be accessed at
Benyon boost for Companions Hour
REGULARS at the Empire
Cafe in Newbury were joined
by some new faces at a recent
Thursday morning Compan-
ions Hour, including
Newbury’s Conservative
parliamentary candidate
Richard Benyon.
The 60-minute session, organ-
ised by community group Coffee
Companions, encourages
customers to chat to each other
in an effort to provide social
interaction for some older or
isolated residents.
Customers are issued with a
‘Chat Mat’, and if they want to
get chatting they show the green
side, but the red side shows they
don’t want to be disturbed.
Following the session, Mr
Benyon said: “Too few of us say
hello to our neighbours, let
alone have a proper conversa-
tion.
“Coffee Companions has intro-
duced an easy way to open the
communication channels.
“Change doesn’t have to be
expensive but failure to change
may be for individuals and wider
society.”
The Companions Hours are
held at the following coffee shops
in Newbury:
Mondays – Sainsbury’s, Hector
Way, 10.30am-11.30am; Café Nero,
Northbrook Street, 2pm-3pm;
Coffee#1, Parkway, 3pm-4pm;
Café Nero, Kennet Shopping
centre, 4pm-5pm.
Tuesdays – Weaver’s Coffee
Shop, Weaver’s Walk, 10am-
11am; Corn Exchange, Market
Place, 2.30pm-3.30pm.
Wednesdays – King’s Café, The
Broadway, 3pm-4pm.
Thursdays – Empire Café,
Cheap Street, 10.30am-11.30am;
McDonald’s, Northbrook Street,
6pm-7pm.
Fridays – Waterstones, Park-
way, 2pm-3pm.
Sundays – Waterstones, Park-
way, 10.30am-11.30am; Café
Rouge, Parkway, 3pm-4pm.
For more information, or to
download your own Chat Mat,
visit www.coffeecompan-
Newbur y ’sConservative parliamentarycandidate Richard Benyon dropped intotheEmpire Cafe forachatduring
Companions Hour
Did you see
thefts in the
town centre?
POLICE are appealing for
witnesses following a spate of
thefts in Newbury town centre.
On Sunday, May 7, at around
4.30pm, thieves stole a mobile
phone from a coat pocket in a
shop queue at a premises in
Oxford Road. Then, between
3.10pm and 3.25pm on Tuesday,
May 9, offender(s) in Northbrook
Street stole a wallet from a
trouser pocket. Again on Tues-
day, thieves stole two mountain
bikes in Market Place between
5.30am and 3pm, while a Giant
Talon mountain bike was taken
from Bartholomew Street
between 4.30pm and 5pm.
Shop assistant recognised shoplifter from
their school days after seeing CCTV footage
A NEWBURY man travelled to
Hungerford for a shoplifting
outing.
Jordan Richard Dickins, aged
18, of Kings Road, was only
caught because a shop assistant
recognised him from CCTV
footage.
Sarah McKay, prosecuting,
told Reading magistrates on
Thursday, April 20, that the
employee had recognised Mr
Dickins from school days and
reported his identity to police.
Mr Dickins admitted stealing
alcohol worth £20 from the One
Stop store in Fairview Road,
Hungerford, on March 4. He has
previous convictions.
Mike Davis, defending,
handed magistrates a daily
newspaper cutting headline
which read: ‘Mum’s reign of
cruelty’ which outlined abuse
his client had suffered as a child
while temporarly living in
another town with his mother.
He added: “The newspaper
article may give you some idea of
the sort of start this young man
has had in life.
“The theft itself was pretty
blatant.
“He just walked in with
another young man, picked up a
case of lager and walked out.”
Magistrates made Mr Dickins
subject to a nine-month condi-
tional discharge and ordered
him to pay £20 compensation to
One Stop plus a statutory victim
services surcharge of £20.
No order was made for costs
because Mr Dickins is on bene-
fits.
Newmayor
NEWBURY will have
a new mayor this
week.
The town council was
due to elect the new
figurehead at a meet-
ing last night (Wednes-
day).
The new incumbent
will then be formally
installed at the annual
town council meeting
in Newbury Town Hall
at 10am on Sunday.
Retiring mayor Julian
Swift-Hook will
present his report on
his year in office.
RODERICK ANTHONY
21-23 The Broadway,
Newbury (by the clock tower)
tel: 01635 522200
Welcome Lou
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Read on for details.....
Our newest stylist all the way from
New Zealand has recently joined us.
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with 10 years experience working in
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her home and is excited to start building
her clientele at Roderick Anthony.
Newbury Weekly News