Court fines have been handed out to two women for flagrant breaches of a powerful town centre protection law.
Catrina Holland was seen defecating in a doorway on Brentnall Street by a Middlesbrough Council Neighbourhood Safety Warden in June this year.
She was issued with a £25 Fixed Penalty Notice on the spot which went unpaid.
Holland, of Montrose Street, Darlington, was subsequently found in breach of the town’s TS1 Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) when the case was heard in her absence at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.
The 50-year-old was fined £220 with an £88 victim surcharge and ordered to pay court costs of £200.
In a separate case, Chantelle Andrews was also hit with a £220 fine and £88 victim surcharge and ordered to pay £200 in court costs for breaching the same PSPO by urinating in a public place.
The 38-year-old, of Windsor Street, Hartlepool, had been seen urinating in the doorway of a charity shop on Whin Street, Middlesbrough, also in June.
Councillor Janet Thompson, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive member for Community Safety, said: “Our valuable public spaces are there for the benefit of everyone, and a great deal of work goes into maintaining and protecting them.
“Public Space Protection Orders are there to keep them clean and safe for law-abiding members of the public.
“The sort of behaviour demonstrated in these two cases is completely unacceptable, and I’m pleased that the courts are backing our efforts to stamp it out.”