Janet Nagle was an eminent judge who presided at Weatherfield Magistrates Court and dealt with eight cases relating to residents of Coronation Street.
The first occasion was in March 1996 when Jim McDonald was in the dock as a result of events linked to his collapsing marriage to Liz. He had become paranoid that she was having an affair with Des Barnes and when she admitted to a fling many years ago with his ex-army colleague Johnny Johnson he became enraged, assaulted her and threw her out of the car on the way back from a regimental reunion. She ultimately changed the locks on 11 Coronation Street, causing Jim to forcibly break in and be arrested. He was charged with assault and granted bail on the condition that he stayed away from his wife, but he took no notice of the order and continued to hound her. Arrested once again, he appeared before the magistrates where his solicitor Peter Lloyd made a mitigating speech and the judges accepted that on this account occasion Jim had not meant to harm his wife, but nevertheless he had broken his bail conditions and was therefore remanded in custody in Strangeways Jail pending a hearing three weeks’ hence. On that occasion, he was released from prison but ordered to pay Liz £140 compensation.
Anna Windass was the next resident in court when she was accused of GBH in November 2017. The supposed victim was Seb Franklin who, entirely by accident, had fallen off his ladder when cleaning the windows at Barlow Legal Services. Anna was nearby and first on the scene to tend to him and the matter would have stayed outside of the court system but for Pat Phelan, Anna's implacable enemy, who saw an opportunity and planted one of her earrings in the solicitors’ office thus putting her at the scene of a fictional crime. He also worked on Seb in his confused and recovering state to say to the police that Anna had indeed pushed him from the ladder, intent on keeping him away from her daughter Faye when she had bitterly objected to the two youngsters seeing each other. In view of Seb’s injuries and Anna's supposed intent, the judge denied bail and remanded her in custody pending her trial at the Crown Court where she received a five-year sentence.
In November 2018, Abi Franklin, Seb’s mother, was similarly sent to jail. She was also innocent, accused of trashing Preston's Petals when her son was the actual culprit, but she took the blame to protect him and prevent him of going back to jail following a previous unrelated offence. On this occasion, Seb had carried out the vandalism in an act of revenge against Tracy Barlow who had suspected Abi of an affair with fiancé Steve McDonald. She had sabotaged the car in Webster's Autocentre that Abi was working on in a successful attempt to get her fired, and then stole a laptop which contained CCTV footage of her in the act. This began a downward spiral of events for Abi which a guilt-ridden Tracy confessed eventually to, causing Seb to take his revenge. In court, Tracy stood up to defend Abi during the sentencing but quickly backed down. The judge gave the defendant a 16-week custodial sentence for criminal damage, theft and resisting arrest.
Brothers Nick Tilsley and David Platt were up before the judge in July 2019 accused of breaking bail conditions. The month before Nick was arrested for stealing £80,000 from his grandmother Audrey Roberts and David was similarly charged with money laundering when he and Nick used the cash to set up the new barber shop Trim Up North. Nick had been persuading David to try and take the rap for him as he was facing a greater charge of sabotaging the roof at Underworld for an insurance scam, something he was actually innocent of. When the structure did collapse, it killed Rana Habeeb. With no love lost between the two brothers, their mother Gail Rodwell tried to bring the two of them together in a bad-tempered family conference which resulted in a huge row during which Audrey was accidentally hit by a thrown vase. When the police followed the paramedics to 8 Coronation Street, it became clear to them that the two brothers had been trying to pressure a witness involved in a forthcoming trial and they were arrested. David's solicitor, and Rana's vengeful brother Imran Habeeb tried to mitigate for his client by saying he was afraid of his brother having seen what he could do with the roof sabotage, but the judge dismissed his words as hearsay and revoked the bail conditions, sending the two brothers to Highfield Prison and threatening to send Gail there too when she tried to intervene during the hearing.
In May 2020 Yasmeen Metcalfe was refused bail outright when she appeared before the judge on charge of attempted murder. For months her husband Geoff had been repeating his pattern of coercive control towards any woman he was married or in a relationship with, constantly putting them down with a chain of complaints and abusive behaviour. After one particularly fraught evening, Yasmeen had snapped and, afraid that she was going to be assaulted, stabbed Geoff in the neck with a broken wine bottle. In court, Imran was again the defence barrister, pointing out that his client had no previous record and had not attempted to flee the scene of the crime. The judge was not convinced and felt that Yasmeen might attempt to flee from her forthcoming trial if released, or try to contact Geoff as she had indicated she would when interviewed by the police. Yasmeen was sent to Norcross Prison pending her trial when she was found to be not guilty.
In August 2022, Ryan Connor appeared before her on a charge of theft from his employer, Debbie Webster at the Viaduct Bistro. In reality it was an insurance scam perpetrated by Debbie with Ryan as her accomplice when she was in danger of losing all of her businesses. Ryan staged a theft from the premises but was caught on CCTV circuit that was different to the main one and neither was aware of. Ryan agreed to take the job in exchange for a promotion and accommodation at Debbie’s Chariot Square Hotel otherwise he would have no employment and nowhere to live. He hid Debbie’s involvement in the crime by claiming that he had been pressured by thieves sent by Debbie’s former imprisoned partner Ray Crosby but nevertheless admitted to his own individual charge. In doing so he received a relatively light sentence of community service.
In March 2023, the hearing was of a different matter when Daisy Midgeley applied for a stalking protection order against Justin Rutherford. The mentall-ill young man was convinced that Daisy loved him as much as he loved her, despite her engagement to Daniel Osbourne, and had been bombarding her with flowers, texts and visits. Daisy was told that the police could do little unless she obtained an order although she was warned by her solicitors Adam Barlow and Dee-Dee Bailey that such orders were rarely granted. Daisy felt she had a good case but her efforts were sabotaged the night before when Daniel was provoked by Justin into committing a violent assault against him. Justin appeared in court in a neck brace, telling the judge and her two colleagues on the bench about the assault and claiming that he and Daisy were nothing but good friends. The judge stated that orders of this nature were only granted when there were no reasonable doubts about doing so and in this case that wasn't the matter. The order was therefore refused.
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- The character was credited as "Magistrate" in 1996 and "Judge" in all subsequent appearances until March 2024. She was named in dialogue as "Janet Nagle" in Episode 11373/4 (27th September 2024).
List of appearances[]
1996
2017
2018
2019
2020
2022
2023
2024