From drug drivers to restaurant owners: the latest sentences handed down at criminal courts in Berkshire this month.

Lisa Monaghan, 34, of Nideggen Close, Thatcham, was handed a suspended jail sentence after coercing a lover into giving her tens of thousands of pounds.

The defendant met a married man online, with whom she had a four-year relationship.

This ultimately turned sour - leading Monaghan to demand large sums of money.

She threatened to expose the affair to the man's family, friends and colleagues if he did not comply.

In 2020, the victim went to the police - by which point he had already forked over £38,000 to Monaghan.

She was sentenced to two years and four months behind bars, suspended for 18 months.

She has also been made subject to a restraining order, forbidding her from contacting her victim.

Terry Giles, 38, of Warfield Street, Bracknell, ran a van into a woman while drug-driving - then took off before the emergency services arrived.

The victim was seriously injured in the collision on June 16 last year.

It subsequently emerged that Giles had taken the van without the owner's consent.

Asked by police why he drove dangerously under the influence of cannabis, the defendant said he had been 'in a rage' following a breakup.

He was jailed for two years and eight months.

In addition, Giles was stripped of his driving licence for four years and four months - and must take a special extended course to get it back.

Forid Khil, of Mill Lane, Wokingham, committed two sexual assaults while working as a delivery driver - and also stalked a woman.

The defendant arrived in the UK as an Afghan refugee in 2021.

On one occasion, he blocked the path of a woman with the bicycle he used for deliveries, before forcing himself on her.

Khil was jailed for two years and eight months, and will be made to register as a sex offender upon release.

He is believed to be 21, but a lack of documentation has made it difficult to ascertain his age.

Wai Tak Wu, 70, of High Street, Thatcham, pleaded guilty to food safety violations after a customer at his restaurant went into allergic shock.

Mr Tak Wu runs the Szechuan Inn in Thatcham.

On December 10, 2022, a diner at the eatery was served a curry containing nuts - against his explicit requests.

This triggered a nut allergy.

Reading Magistrates' Court handed Mr Tak Wu a hefty £4,272 fine.

In light of these failings, Mr Tak Wu was fined £4,272

Dennis Sterling, 45, has been a patient at Broadmoor Hospital since 2009.

On October 28, 2022, he carried out a brutal assault on a member of staff, stabbing him in the head repeatedly with a stick.

Sterling took the stick from a tree in the communal garden.

The victim was unable to return to work at the hospital for several months.

Sterling was handed a £200 fine.

As he is already under an indefinite hospital order, the judge said that no further custodial punishment would be necessary.