Ex-Wigan Infirmary patient admits breach of peace

WIgan Infirmary
WIgan Infirmary

A mother has admitted to causing a disturbance outside the town’s hospital shortly after being discharged as a patient.

Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court heard that Lauren Cunliffe was released from Wigan Infirmary on Tuesday this week, having been an in-patient the previous evening.

But the 23-year-old, of no fixed address, remained in the area and eventually the police were called after receiving reports that Cunliffe had been threatening and upsetting people.

Officers described her as being “incoherent” and a security guard told them she had been ejected but was still outside the hospital.

They spoke to staff who could only report hearsay and, after failing to establish if an offence had occurred, police attempted to contact her family, without success.

Tess Kenyon, prosecuting, said that because Cunliffe would not engage with the officers and they felt she would not leave the area despite being asked, she was arrested on suspicion of causing a breach of the peace.

Representing herself in court, Cunliffe told the bench: “I just don’t have a fixed abode and my child, I believe, deserves a better family than what she’s got right now.”

Cunliffe pleaded guilty to the offence and justices bound her over to the sum of £50 to keep the peace for a period of 12 months.