A WOMAN has pleaded guilty to obstructing police during an operation which lasted for a number of hours at a Denbigh house at dawn last March.

Danielle Hepworth, 39, appeared at a weekend court at Llandudno and was ordered to pay £235 in a fine and costs.

Magistrates were told that police had been searching for a brother Nathan Hughes for alleged firearms and other offences but she refused to open the door of the house at Pen-y-Graig, Denbigh, and shouted abuse.

Andrew Slight, prosecuting, said another brother, Shane Hughes, 30, was to have faced a similar charge of obstruction but is now in jail after being convicted of more serious offences. “Matters came to a head when it became clear the person they were looking for was inside the property and was removed from the house.”

Nia Dawson, defending, said Hepworth had stated she was embarrassed and distraught after she had woken up to pandemonium when police arrived. “She described it as a horrible and frightening night. All the neighbours were out in the street,” declared Mrs Dawson. A closure order had been imposed on the house at the end of May and she was now homeless.

On Thursday Hepworth’s brother Shane was jailed for six years and eight months at Mold crown court after pleading guilty to robbing a Denbigh petrol station in April when masked and armed with a knife, during which he’d punched a terrified 19-year-old girl assistant in the face. ENDS