A MAN who misused a disabled person's blue badge and a thief who stole a charity box were among defendants from York and North Yorkshire who appeared recently before magistrates courts.

Gary Maddison, 63, of Vyner Street, Haxby Road, York, was banned from WH Smith in Coney Street in York for a year under a community order passed at York Magistrates Court after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman in the stationery store and post office. He was also ordered to pay the woman £100 compensation.

Robert Batty, of Brook Lane, Pickering, pleaded guilty to misusing a disabled person’s badge when parking on double yellow lines in Leeds. Kirklees magistrates fined him £80 and ordered him to pay a £34 statutory surcharge and £500 prosecution costs.

Scott Berkley, 47, of Burnsell Drive, Acomb, pleaded guilty to assault, and stealing a charity collection box from the Co-op store on York Road, Acomb. At York Magistrates Court, he was given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for 24 months on condition he does a nine-month drug rehabilitation course, a 19-day rehabilitative programme and 20 days’ rehabilitative activities. He must pay £80 compensation.