The following cases were heard at Reading and Slough Magistrates’ Courts.

November 1

CAROLINE GAMBELL, 43, of London Road, Twyford, admitted stealing an Amazon Voucher worth £50 on March 2, 2021, and £110 in cash between November 30, 2021, and December 7, 2021. Fined £50 and ordered to pay £110 in compensation. Must pay £85 in costs and attend up to 20 days of rehabilitation appointments.

BLAZEJ KOPIASZ, 40, of Norfolk Road, Maidenhead, admitted possessing amphetamine on December 23, 2021, in Berkshire. Fined £266. Ordered to pay £85 costs and a surcharge of £34. The amphetamine was forfeited and destroyed.

DANIEL CASSIDY, 60, of London Road, Binfield, admitted driving a Jaguar in High Street, Bracknell, with 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on August 14, 2022. The legal limit being 35mcg. Disqualified from driving for 25 months, reduced by 25 weeks if a course is completed. Ordered to undertake 40 hours unpaid work and pay £85 in costs. Surcharge payment of £114 required.

PRITPAL RAJU, 23, of Essex Avenue, Slough, admitted driving a Vauxhall in Royal Windsor Way, Windsor, on October 2, 2022, with 61 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit being 35mcg. Disqualified for 40 months and fined £200. Ordered to pay £85 costs and an £80 surcharge.

November 2

CHARLES FRANKHAM, 23, of Wellingtonia Avenue, Crowthorne, admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in Ascot on July 18, 2020, with the intent to cause the fear of, or provoke, unlawful violence. Fined £800, ordered to pay costs of £500. Must pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £80.

MOHAMMED KHAN, 38, of Beresford Road, Reading, convicted of possessing a lock-knife with a four inch blade in Victoria Park, Newbury, on April 13, 2022. Sentenced to 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months. Ordered to pay costs of £300 and a surcharge of £128.

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.