Brothers whose dad was killed in knife attack are jailed just minutes apart in same court

Nathaniel Wardle, 22, and Leon Wardle, 21, appeared one after the other in the dock to admit unrelated offences.

The older brother was brought before magistrates in South Tyneside first and admitted motoring offences committed in Cleadon at 3.45am on October 31.

Householders spotted him acting suspiciously in Sunniside Lane and he fled when police arrived.

But he drove into a bush and was arrested, prosecutor Glenda Beck said.

He pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop for police, driving without insurance and driving without a licence and was banned from driving for six months and fined.

Yet he was also imprisoned for a minimum of 56 days after being recalled on licence by the Probation Service for a separate offence.

Leon Wardle followed him into the dock to plead guilty to a charge of breach of a sexual risk order or interim sexual risk order.

He befriended a teenage girl in Northumberland and her friends in a Facebook Messenger chat group.

They communicated in written messages and in a phone chat he asked her to send him intimate photos of her, Mrs Beck said.

Mrs Beck said the 16-year-old girl had made her correct age known to him but that he had claimed to be a boy of 17.

It is understood he has never been charged with any sexual offence and the risk order was put in place via a civil magistrates’ court procedure in December.

The order prohibits him from having any contact with a child aged under 18.

Mark Styles, who defended both brothers, described Nathanial Wardle’s motoring matters as being “relatively minor”.

He added of his client, of no fixed address: “His background, it’s a traumatic background.”

Magistrates also fined Nathaniel Wardle £120 with £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Of Leon Wardle, also of no fixed address, Mr Styles said: “I would ask that this court sentence Mr Wardle to prison.

“He asks this court to conclude that this does cross the custody threshold. He says that he’s desperate to go with his brother.

“They lost their father several years ago. He was unlawfully killed, a man was convicted of manslaughter.

“This happened in front of this defendant in the family home. He was killed with a zombie knife.

Mr Styles added: “They only feel safe when in company together. It’s an exceptionally sad set of circumstances.”

Magistrates jailed Leon Wardle for four months and ordered him to pay a £154 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

An earlier hearing involving Nathaniel Wardle heard his father was killed in Wallsend in June 2022.