SOUTHPORT
20 November 2019
Vol 26 l Issue 47
CELEBRATING
25 YEARS
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OUR BUSINESS IS PICKING UP
Thousands turn out to see nineties heart-throb turn on town’s Christmas lights
Peter Andre performing at the Christmas Lights Switch On
THOUSANDS of visitors flocked to Southport to see nineties heart-throb Peter Andre performing the town’s big Christmas lights switch-on at the weekend. Organisers estimated as many as 8,000 people were in Southport for the event. More inside
Mysterious Girl calling? Peter Andre checks his texts at the town’s lights switch on
DEATH TRAP HOUSE LANDLORD HAS FINE SLASHED BY COURT
INSIDE THIS WEEK...
Botanic volunteers scoop 7 awards!
Judge takes pity on woman who rented out rooms to the homeless and who had spent her life caring for people
Heather Jackson outside court
THE landlord of a ‘potential death trap’ house in Southport which was rented out to homeless people, has had fines imposed on her slashed by half. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Heather Jackson had committed 11 breaches of housing regulations leaving the occupants at serious risk of being caught in a fire. But the court also heard that she had spent her life caring for people and after the convictions this summer had served her six tenants with eviction notices - one of whom consequently
By our Court Reporter killed himself. Jackson, 56, who has no previous convictions, broke down in tears when her lawyer told of the death and the judge and two magistrates hearing her appeal against the amount of fines were handed a letter he had written. South Sefton Magistrates had fined her a total of £51,000 plus costs totalling £3,159 in June but after a hearing on Friday, the judge, Recorder
Jeremy Lasker and his lay colleagues reduced the fines to £25,500. The costs figure was left unchanged. Jackson had previously owned Eagle’s Rest Care Home at 10 Church Street, Southport but she closed it down in 2013 after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) raised concerns about its ‘failure to comply with national standards of care.’ She then turned the property into a house of multiple occupation and part of the house, in which she lives, was also converted into a ‘dog hotel’.
Continued inside
Car smash horror at shop CROSSWORD See Page 34
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