A defendant who was spared jail after being assaulted while on remand is back in custody for returning to a “grotesque obsession” of fishing soiled nappies out of bins.
Previous court hearings have been told that Abbi Taylor, 47, who has also appeared on earlier court lists as Martin Tarling, identifies as a woman, but is being held at a men’s prison.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that after avoiding an immediate jail term in August 2025 for a series of incidents involving nappies being taken out of bins, Taylor returned to similar behaviour within months.
Taylor was handed a criminal behaviour order by Nottinghamshire Magistrates’ Court in April 2023, that included a ban on going within 10 metres of a nursery without a reasonable excuse.
During a sentencing hearing on Tuesday (28 April) in Newcastle, Recorder Tony Hawks said: “The purpose of that order was to tackle what is a grotesque obsession that you apparently have with rooting around in bins near care homes or nurseries in order to retrieve soiled nappies or incontinence wear.”
Taylor was handed a 30 month prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court, after admitting to four breaches of a criminal behaviour order. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees
In August 2025, Taylor was given a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to offences including breaching that order with a series of incidents at nurseries in South Tyneside.
These included staff at a nursery in Cleadon noticing nappies “much larger than the ones they used” being dumped on the premises “on a fortnightly basis”, and the manager at another South Shields nursery seeing someone “rooting around inside” one of the clinical waste bins.
Taylor was spared an immediate jail term on that occasion after the judge heard she “had had a particularly difficult time in custody” and “been subject to a number of physical assaults”.
On Tuesday, Taylor, of South Shields, was jailed for 30 months after admitting to four breaches of a criminal behaviour order with four separate incidents in December last year.
These included soiled nappies being taken from a bin and left strewn in a garden.
Mr Hawks told Taylor: “It is the view of the psychiatrist who has examined you, you are not motivated by any sexual motive.
“I am prepared to accept that, however your conduct is highly antisocial and extremely distressing to people who are affected by it.
“You have got to understand when you are released, if you continue to behave in this way, you will receive longer and longer periods of imprisonment.”
He said the latest incidents were “grotesque, grossly antisocial and no doubt caused considerable distress to people to have witnessed or are affected by your behaviour”.
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