Man jailed for stealing MBE medal in Harrogate burglary

A man has been jailed for over three years after he admitted stealing an MBE medal, jewellery and cash during a burglary at a woman’s home in Harrogate.

Shane Bainbridge, 31, broke into Patrycia Scott’s home in Wayside Avenue, Harrogate, and stole a “considerable quantity of personal items” including her MBE medal, prosecutor Brooke Morrison told York Crown Court.

Bainbridge, of King Edward Road, Ripon, was arrested nearby with a “couple of sacks containing (the victim’s) property”, she added.

He was charged with stealing jewellery, cash and the MBE medal during the burglary, which occurred on March 8.

Bainbridge denied the offence right up until the day of trial today (Monday, August 22) when he entered a last-minute guilty plea.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, jailed Bainbridge for three years and three months.

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Woman who headbutted Harrogate nightclub manager spared jail

A woman who headbutted a nightclub manager, busting her nose open, has been spared jail.

Jodie Milburn, 19, butted the victim with such force that blood “soaked” the wall outside the Viper Rooms in Harrogate town centre, prosecutor Eleanor Durdy told York Crown Court.

CCTV captured the moment Milburn repeatedly slapped the named woman, who was assistant manager at the popular nightclub, situated in the Grade II-listed Royal Baths building in Parliament Street.

With her arms restrained, Milburn, of Mayfield Grove, Harrogate, then head-butted the victim who was bleeding profusely.

Ms Durdy described the drunken attack, on August 15 last year, as “prolonged and persistent”.

A witness said there was “lots of blood, so much so that the blue wall was soaked in it”.

The victim’s clothes were also covered in blood and she was said to be “stunned”.

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Milburn set upon the manager after what she claimed was an incident inside the club involving a man and one of her family members, but this “wasn’t supported by the evidence”, the court heard. 

It was initially suspected that the victim’s nose was broken but this didn’t prove to be the case. 

Milburn was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but denied the offence. 

A jury found her guilty following a trial earlier this month.

She appeared for sentence yesterday when her barrister Andrew Stranex said that an immediate jail sentence would scupper her hopes of working abroad.

He said she had a troubled upbringing but had done well at college, had good references from her employer and had a new job lined up overseas.

‘Disgraceful piece of behaviour’

Judge Simon Hickey described the attack as a “disgraceful piece of behaviour”.

He told Milburn: 

“What you did…was throw your head back when (the victim) was simply doing her public duty…and head-butted her on her nose. 

“She reeled backwards and blood poured out of her nose and onto her clothing. A witness said (the victim) was stunned and remained stunned for quite some time. It was a nasty injury (and) you were clearly in drink.”

However, Mr Hickey said the incident was “clearly out of character” and Milburn had “strong personal mitigation” including good character reports.

The judge said that for those reasons, he would not be locking her up and preventing her taking up her new job abroad.

Instead, Milburn was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay the victim £1,000 compensation “for the hurt and the pain” caused to her.

Chef jailed after shooting teenage employee in the eye at Harrogate pub

A “bullying” chef who shot his baker in the face, blinding him in the eye, has been jailed for more than two years.

Brad Tristan Plummer, 25, fired the gas-powered ball-bearing gun at Aidan Corbyn at their workplace, the Nelson Inn on the A59 near Harrogate.

The metal ball bearing lodged in Mr Corbyn’s left eye and he was taken to hospital for an operation to remove the bullet, but his loss of vision would be for life, York Crown Court heard.

Plummer admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm but denied possessing a firearm with intent to cause Mr Corbyn fear of violence during the incident, which a judge described as “dreadful”.

In July, a jury found him not guilty of the second count, but he was remanded in custody to await sentence for GBH.

Prosecutor Howard Shaw said Mr Corbyn was busy at work in the kitchen when Plummer walked in and announced in a “bragging” way that he had an air pistol.

Plummer started pointing the pistol at Mr Corbyn’s face, “pretending to shoot him”.

‘Laughing and joking’

At that stage, it appeared that Plummer had the safety catch on, but Mr Corbyn was so worried he tried to get away from him. However, his boss followed him, “laughing and joking and pointing the gun at Mr Corbyn”.

Things turned uglier when Plummer “rested” the pistol on Mr Corbyn’s face for about five seconds and then pointed it at him “from a distance of about one metre”. Mr Shaw said:

“He pointed the gun straight at his face [and] the air pistol discharged.

“Aidan Corbyn was shot in his left eye, the ball bearing lodging in his eye, effectively blinding him.”

He said Mr Corbyn was “scared” of Plummer, who was one of four bosses at the pub.

Mr Corbyn, who was 18 at the time, said he was “miserable” at work due to Plummer’s bullying behaviour towards him and that he made several job applications because he wanted to leave the pub business.

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A waitress who witnessed the incident, which occurred at about noon on September 29, 2020, said she saw Plummer “pointing the gun” at Mr Corbyn and resting it on his forehead for “five to 10 seconds”.

Plummer, who lived at the pub on Skipton Road, was arrested and told police he thought the air pistol wasn’t loaded when he shot Mr Corbyn. The prosecution accepted he would not have known there was a ball bearing inside the gun chamber.

‘Grave and permanent’ injury

At the sentence hearing yesterday, Mr Shaw said Plummer had been “bullying” the victim and shot him from a distance of a few feet. He added:

“This has resulted in the loss of stereoscopic vision and inevitably affects his ability to judge distance.”

“The injury sustained is particularly grave, permanent and irreversible (and will) have a substantial, lifelong effect on [Mr Corbyn’s] ability to carry out his normal, day-to-day activities and which may impact on his work ability.”

Mr Shaw said that in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting, Plummer had “abused his position of power over the victim” by bullying Mr Corbyn and it was also alleged that he had assaulted him, causing bruising to his arm. However, Plummer was never charged with any prior assault.

Mr Corbyn, described as a “very gentle character”, said the incident had had a massive effect on his life. He added:

“I thought I had managed to come to terms with what happened, but recent confirmation from a doctor that the sight (in my left eye) would not return was devastating.”

He had suffered from depression and nightmares about the shooting and had lost all his confidence. He now had difficulties even with cooking, reading and crossing the road, and he was still having regular hospital appointments to check his eye condition.

He said he now “walked into things regularly” and had to abandon plans to take up driving lessons. He still suffered from a “pulsing” eye ache.

Heavy drinking

Mr Corbyn, who has since moved to Leeds to take up a university course, said the entire aftermath of the incident had been “very traumatic” and at one stage he had lapsed into heavy drinking to cope.

His GP had recently prescribed him anti-depressants and his family had also been badly affected. He now only saw blackness with his left eye.

Defence barrister Deborah Graham said Plummer was otherwise a hard-working family man of hitherto “exemplary good character” who had shown “clear” remorse.

Judge Simon Hickey said the “dreadful” incident had resulted in a “grave” injury and a “life-changing” effect on Mr Corbyn, “in that he’s now blinded in his left eye” and faced annual medical checks.

He said Plummer had abused his position of “leadership and power” at the pub by “bullying and intimidating this young man” in the days and weeks before the incident. He told the disgraced chef:

“Not only was he physically slighter than you but he was much younger and a very gentle character, easily intimidated, and [during the trial] he pointed out this game that was played, not in a jovial way… but in a more unpleasant and nasty way which resulted in some injuries.”

Plummer was jailed for two-and-a-half years, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

The judge banned him from keeping firearms for five years and ordered the destruction of the ball-bearing gun, as well as two air rifles and ammunition which Plummer had also kept on the premises.

Amazon driver found guilty of causing death of Ripon biker

A rookie Amazon driver has been found guilty of causing the death of a motorcyclist by dangerous driving.

Daniaal Iqbal, 22, was running out of fuel and texting on Snapchat when he knocked over and killed Peter Rushforth in a horror crash near Ripon in September 2019, a jury at York Crown Court was told.

Iqbal, who was on only the second day of his new Amazon delivery job, was also allegedly using a navigational app on his mobile phone when the collision occurred.

He was driving around a sweeping bend on Kirkby Road when he collided with Mr Rushforth Kawasaki Ninja travelling in the opposite direction, said prosecutor Katherine Robinson.

Mr Rushforth, who was believed to be in his late 50s, was on the correct side of the road as he came around the bend, but Iqbal’s white Transit van was on the wrong side. The side of the van struck Mr Rushforth’s helmet, part of which broke off, added Ms Robinson.

Mr Rushforth and his motorbike then slid along the road towards the grass verge, crashing into a stone wall. He then collided with some tree branches before falling to the ground. Other motorists went to his aid, but he suffered fatal injuries and was certified dead at the scene.

Ms Robinson said that about 15 minutes before the collision on September 21, Iqbal exchanged five text messages with an Amazon colleague about needing to refuel and arranging to meet up at the Morrisons petrol station in Ripon because he didn’t have a company fuel card.

He then made a delivery in Ripon and was travelling on Kirkby Lane, towards the town, when the crash occurred at about 6.30pm.

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Mr Rushforth and his bike were “thrown from the road into nearby vegetation and a small wall”.

Police were called out and Iqbal, who was described as looking “completely shocked”, remained at the scene.

Snapchat activated

Phone records showed that minutes before the collision, he had carried out a search on the Apple Maps navigation app to get directions to the fuel station.

At 6.30pm, around the time of the crash, records showed that the camera and Snapchat apps on Iqbal’s phone had been activated as he approached the collision site.

A forensic officer said his investigation suggested that Iqbal had sent a Snapchat message to a friend at about the time the delivery van came round the bend into the path of Mr Rushforth’s motorbike. Ms Robinson said:

“The conclusion is that (Iqbal) hadn’t seen the motorbike until after the collision because, we say, he was using his mobile phone.”

The collision expert said Iqbal could have been looking at the Apple Maps navigation aid or pressing the activate button on Snapchat around the time of the collision.

Iqbal, of Toller Lane, Bradford, claimed he hadn’t been using his phone and was on the correct side of the road at the time of the crash. He didn’t dispute that he caused the death of Mr Rushforth but denied that he was driving dangerously.

Motorbike enthusiast

Graham Atkinson, a friend of Mr Rushforth and a fellow motorbike enthusiast, said he received a text from his mate on the day of the crash saying that he was coming to see him and was “setting off in five minutes”.

Mr Atkinson had offered his friend a motorbike and Mr Rushforth was on his way to look at the bike when the fatal crash occurred.

He said Mr Rushforth never showed up and when he tried to call him later that evening, his phone went to voicemail.

He said they had known each other since the mid-1960s when Mr Rushforth’s parents ran a post office in Ripon.

He said Mr Rushforth was a “quiet chap” who had a garage on North Street where he kept his motorbikes.

The jury found Iqbal guilty as charged following a week-long trial. Judge Simon Hickey adjourned sentence to October 14.

Harrogate man jailed for 14 years for sexual abuse of young girl

Warning: This article contains details some people may find disturbing.

A Harrogate paedophile has been jailed for 14 years for the systematic sexual abuse of a young girl, which a judge described as “unforgivable”. 

Neil Michael Stubbs, 27, was convicted of 13 separate offences following a four-day trial. He appeared for sentence today when York Crown Court heard harrowing testimonies from the victim.

During the trial in April, the jury heard that Stubbs, of Kingsley Park Road, groomed and sexually abused the youngster over a prolonged period.

They found him guilty of all 13 charges including one count of attempted rape of a child under 13, two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, sexual assault, possessing indecent images and several counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe said that some of the offences, including sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity, were “specimen counts”, meaning they happened on multiple occasions.

He said that Stubbs would perform lewd acts on himself in front of the girl and got her to perform sexual acts on him on at least six occasions. Stubbs also “pestered” her to send him naked photos of herself. 

On one occasion, he tried to rape the youngster, but she kicked him away. On another, he told her he had a “fantasy of having sex with a virgin” and warned her not to tell anybody about the abuse, and that she had to “take it to her grave”.

‘My mental health has dramatically declined’

Following Stubbs’ arrest, police seized his mobile phone on which they found indecent images of children including some naked photos of the victim, who is from Harrogate but cannot be named for legal reasons. Some of the other images were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material.

Mr Newcombe said it showed that Stubbs had an “unhealthy obsession” with children.

In a statement read out in court, the victim said that Stubbs had “stripped” her of her childhood and she was now living with the dreadful consequences of his wicked actions.

She added:

“Since the sexual abuse my mental health has dramatically declined.

“I’ve suffered from suicidal thoughts and have on two occasions attempted suicide.”

She had suffered from “severe social anxiety” and struggled to leave her house. She found it hard to make friends and trust people, particularly men.

She had sought the help of counsellors and multiple support agencies such as the NSPCC but the abuse still had a “profound” effect on her, she added.

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She said that Stubbs had robbed her of her childhood innocence by putting her through “what I can only describe as “mental torture”.

Her mother, who has also received counselling since the offences came to light, said: 

“The impact this whole incident has had on my family as a whole is monumental.

“The worst thing in the world is knowing that (my daughter) will always suffer for the rest of her life.”

Defence barrister Robert Mochrie said that according to a doctor’s report, Stubbs was on the autistic spectrum, but the same report added that this wouldn’t have reduced his culpability.

He said that Stubbs, who had been brought up in care, was a “social loner” who had previously worked in a shop and had never offended before.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, described the campaign of abuse as a “catalogue of offending” and told Stubbs:

“While you may have perhaps some traits of autism, this does not excuse your behaviour. You know right from wrong.

“You repeatedly abused (the victim). You described to her the fantasy of having sex with a…virgin. That was your fantasy and it very nearly came about.”

Mr Morris said that both the girl and her mother had been utterly “traumatised” and blasted Stubbs for putting the victim through the ordeal of a trial when the evidence against him was “absolutely overwhelming”.

Jailing Stubbs for 14 years, the judge told him: 

“This is a sentence that you richly deserve. This girl attempted suicide twice and has had her life turned upside down by the abuse she suffered at your hands…and it is unforgivable.”

Stubbs will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on parole, but the judge ordered that he would serve an extended one-year period on prison licence because he was an “offender of particular concern”.

Stubbs was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and given a sexual-harm prevention order which will last for 20 years and is designed to limit his contact with children. 

Ripon man jailed for arranging to meet underage girls for sex

A Ripon man has been jailed for arranging to meet underage girls for sex and carrying a knife.

Mark David, 32, was sentenced at York Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to both offences.

David admitted carrying a lock knife in High Street, Starbeck, on December 15, 2019, which was the same day he had arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl for sexual purposes.

Prior to his guilty plea to the knife offence, David had already admitted two counts of attempted sexual communication with two girls under 16 years of age.

Those offences occurred in Harrogate between November 25 and December 16, 2019. The communication was via Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.

David, of North Street, Ripon, also admitted the offence of arranging to meet an under-age girl for sex in Harrogate.

He was sentenced to 43 months in prison, placed on the sex offenders’ register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £181.

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Ex-Harrogate headteacher found guilty of making indecent images of children

A former Harrogate headteacher has been found guilty of making indecent images of children.

Matthew Shillito, 42, pleaded not guilty to making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between December 3, 2012 and December 31, 2015.

Shillito was appointed headteacher of Western Primary School in 2019.

He was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools.

None of the offences related to his employment.

Shillito appeared before York Magistrates Court this morning, where District Judge Adrian Lower found him guilty on both charges.

He said the evidence showed Shillito had a “corrosive, addictive interest in child pornography”.

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During the case, “making” was defined as knowingly accessing a site that contained an indecent image.

The court was told that there was no evidence that Mr Shillito downloaded the material onto his laptop.

The prosecution opened proceedings at Harrogate Magistrates Court last month and said the indecent images were found on the cache in Shillito’s computer, which could have only have got there had he accessed sites with those images.

Philip Morris, prosecuting, said there were “indicative” terms found on Shillito’s laptop which showed intent to access the images.

Police arrested Shillito and seized two computers at his address on January 4, 2020.

Officers recovered a Dell laptop and a MacBook Pro, which contained a back up from an iPad mini which was not found.

Giving evidence to the court last month, Zoe Warboys, a digital forensic investigation officer at North Yorkshire Police, said that while the defendant may not have been aware of the cache, he could have only got them by accessing the material.

A Russian website named in court was frequently accessed on the Dell laptop, which Ms Warboys told the court was a site which contained indecent images of children.

The site is public and allows users to upload albums of images which others can view.

The court heard how the site was frequently visited on February 26, 2011.

Mr Morris told the court that Shillito visited some of the pages which were “indicative” of possibly including indecent images 30 times.

Shillito repeatedly denied both charges throughout the case.

This morning, District Judge Lower adjourned sentencing Shillito until September 7. He bailed Shillito but warned him all sentencing options would be considered including jail. 

More to follow.

Amazon driver killed Ripon motorcyclist while he sent Snapchat message, court hears

A rookie Amazon driver who was running out of fuel knocked over and killed a motorcyclist while texting on Snapchat and using a navigational app on his mobile phone, a court heard.

Daniaal Iqbal, 22, was on only his second day in the job when he drove around a sweeping bend on Kirkby Road near Ripon and collided with a Kawasaki Ninja bike travelling in the opposite direction, a jury at York Crown Court was told.

The rider, Ripon man Peter Rushworth, who was in his late 50s, was on the correct side of the road as he came around the bend, but Mr Iqbal’s white Transit van was on the wrong side, said prosecutor Katherine Robinson.

The side of the van struck Mr Rushworth’s helmet, part of which broke off, she added. 

Mr Rushworth and his motorbike then slid along the road towards the grass verge, crashing into a stone wall. Mr Rushworth then collided with some tree branches before falling to the ground.

Other motorists went to his aid, but he suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms Robinson said that about 15 minutes before the collision on September 21, 2019, Mr Iqbal exchanged five text messages with an Amazon colleague about needing to refuel and arranging to meet up at the Morrison’s petrol station in Ripon because he didn’t have a company fuel card. 

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He then made a delivery in Ripon and was travelling on Kirkby Lane, towards the town, when the crash occurred at about 6.30pm.

Mr Rushforth and his bike were “thrown from the road into nearby vegetation and a small wall”, said Ms Robinson.

Police were called out and Mr Iqbal, who was described as looking “completely shocked”, remained at the scene. He told them he had been on the correct side of the road and that he was coming round the bend when “all of a sudden his driver’s-side mirror glass got hit”.

He claimed he had “slammed on” the brakes straight away and that the first time he saw the motorbike was “just before I hit it”.

Phone records showed that minutes before the collision, Mr Iqbal had carried out a search on the Apple Maps navigation app to get directions to the fuel station.

Ms Robinson said:

“The phone does not record the Maps app being closed until after the collision.”

Snapchat message

At 6.30pm, around the time of the crash, records showed that the phone’s camera and Snapchat apps had been activated as Mr Iqbal approached the collision site. 

A forensic officer who examined the phone said his investigation suggested that Mr Iqbal had sent a Snapchat message to a friend at about the time the delivery van came around the bend into the path of Mr Rushforth’s motorbike. 

The Snapchat app was only closed after the collision and tracker data showed that “harsh braking” of the van only occurred after the crash.

Ms Robinson said:

“The conclusion is that (Mr Iqbal) hadn’t seen the motorbike until after the collision because, we say, he was using his mobile phone.”

The collision expert said Mr Iqbal could have been looking at the Apple Maps navigation aid or pressing the activate button on Snapchat around the time of the collision. 

Denies driving dangerously

Mr Iqbal, of Toller Lane, Bradford, claimed he hadn’t been using his phone and was on the correct side of the road at the time of the crash. 

He doesn’t dispute that he caused the death of Mr Rushforth but denies that he was driving dangerously. The issues at stake are whether he was in the wrong lane and whether he was using his mobile at the point of collision.

Mr Iqbal’s Amazon colleague said she had received a text from her boss saying that Mr Iqbal had run out of fuel and needed help because he was only on his second day at work and didn’t have a company fuel card. 

She agreed to meet Mr Iqbal at the petrol station in Ripon and sent him a message to make the arrangements about 15 minutes before the collision.

Shortly afterwards, she received a phone call from her boss who told her that Mr Iqbal had been involved in an accident. 

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When she arrived at the scene, she saw an ambulance and a motorbike “by a tree, on its own”. 

She added:

“Paramedics were doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on a man on the ground.”

Graham Atkinson, a friend of Mr Rushworth’s and a fellow motorbike enthusiast, said he received a text from his friend on the day of the crash saying that he was coming to see him and was “setting off in five minutes”.

Mr Atkinson had offered his friend a motorbike and Mr Rushworth was on his way to look at the bike when the fatal crash occurred.

He said Mr Rushworth never showed up and when he tried to call him later that evening, his phone went to voicemail. 

He said they had known each other since the mid-1960s when Mr Rushworth’s parents ran a post office in Ripon. 

He said Mr Rushworth was a “quiet chap” who had a garage in North Street where he kept his motorbikes. 

The trial continues. 

Harrogate chef who shot baker found not guilty of causing fear of violence

A chef who shot his baker in the eye with an air pistol, “effectively” blinding him, has been remanded in custody to await sentence.

Brad Tristan Plummer, 25, fired the gas-powered ball-bearing gun at Aidan Corbyn at their workplace, the Nelson Inn gastro pub in Killinghall.

Mr Corbyn was taken to hospital for a procedure to remove the ball bearing from his eye, York Crown Court heard.

Plummer admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm but denied possessing a firearm with intent to cause Mr Corbyn fear of violence. 

Yesterday (Thursday, July 21), a jury found Plummer not guilty of the second count following a four-day trial, but he now awaits sentence for GBH.

Prosecutor Howard Shaw said the horrific incident in September 2020 began innocently enough but turned more sinister.

He added:

“The defendant came into the kitchen and said, ‘I’ve got an air pistol’.

“(Plummer) was bragging to Aidan Corbyn about the gun, telling he.. he wanted to go outside and shoot at some bottles. He asked Aidan Corbyn to join him.”

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Mr Corbyn later said that he agreed to go outside because he was scared of Plummer, his boss.

The two men went outside to the back of the pub where they lined some bottles up as targets. 

They returned to the kitchen at about 12 noon and Mr Corbyn went back to work.

The chef started pointing the pistol at Mr Corbyn, “pretending to shoot him”, said Mr Shaw.

He added:

“He kept pointing it at his face several times.”

Safety catch

At that stage, it appeared that Plummer had the safety catch on, but Mr Corbyn was so worried he tried to get away from him. However, his boss followed him, “laughing and joking and pointing the gun at Mr Corbyn”.

Things turned uglier when Plummer pointed the pistol at Mr Corbyn’s face “from a distance of about one metre”.

Mr Shaw said:

“He pointed the gun straight at his face (and) the air pistol discharged.

“Aidan Corbyn was shot in his left eye, the ball bearing lodging in his eye, effectively blinding him.”

Plummer, who lives at the gastro pub on Skipton Road, was arrested and taken in for questioning. 

He told police he thought the air pistol wasn’t loaded when he shot Mr Corbyn.

Mr Shaw added:

“He said he thought the safety catch had been on and (that) he hadn’t aimed at Mr Corbyn.

“He said he and (Mr Corbyn) got on well and that this was an accident.”

Chef shot his baker at Harrogate gastro pub

A chef shot his underling baker in the eye with an air pistol, “effectively” blinding him, a court heard.

Brad Tristan Plummer, 25, fired the gas-powered ball-bearing gun at Aidan Corbyn at their workplace, the Nelson Inn gastro pub in Killinghall, a jury at York Crown Court was told.

Mr Corbyn was taken to hospital for a procedure to remove the ball bearing from his eye, said prosecutor Howard Shaw.

He said the horrific incident on September 29, 2020, began innocently enough but turned into something more sinister.

Mr Shaw said:

“The defendant came into the kitchen and said, ‘I’ve got an air pistol’,”

“(Plummer) was bragging to Aidan Corbyn about the gun, telling him…he wanted to go outside and shoot at some bottles. He asked Aidan Corbyn to join him.”

Mr Corbyn later said that he agreed to go outside because he was scared of Mr Plummer, his boss.

The two men went outside to the back of the pub where they lined some bottles up as targets. Mr Shaw said:

“Both (men) had a go, using the air pistol (to shoot) the bottles.”

Mr Plummer kept firing at the bottles until it appeared there were no more pellets left inside the magazine. They returned to the kitchen at about noon and Mr Corbyn went back to work. Mr Shaw said:

“By this time one of the waitressing staff arrived at work.”

Mr Plummer started pointing the pistol at Mr Corbyn, “pretending to shoot him”, added the prosecuting barrister.

“He kept pointing it at his face several times.”

Safety catch

At that stage, it appeared that Mr Plummer had the safety catch on, but Mr Corbyn was so worried he tried to get away from him.

However, his boss followed him, “laughing and joking and pointing the gun at Mr Corbyn”, which Mr Shaw said amounted to “bullying him”.

Things turned uglier when Mr Plummer pointed the pistol at Mr Corbyn’s face “from a distance of about one metre”.

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Mr Shaw added:

“He pointed the gun straight at his face (and) the air pistol discharged,

“Aidan Corbyn was shot in his left eye, the ball bearing lodging in his eye, effectively blinding him.”

Admits GBH

Mr Plummer admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm at a previous hearing but denies a second count of possessing a firearm with intent to cause Mr Corbyn to fear that violence would be used against him. Mr Shaw said:

“The prosecution say that this was not boyish high jinks.

“The prosecution say that this was bullying behaviour by an older, bigger man in a position of power at work, which was picking on a younger, smaller, more junior work colleague and trying to frighten him with a gun.”

Mr Plummer, who lives at the Nelson Inn on Skipton Road, was arrested and taken in for questioning.

He told police he thought the air pistol wasn’t loaded at the time he aimed it at Mr Corbyn. Mr Shaw said:

“He thought the safety catch had been on and said he hadn’t aimed at Mr Corbyn.

“He said he and (Mr Corbyn) got on well and that this was an accident.”

Mr Shaw said the safety catch was “clearly not on” when Mr Plummer shot the baker.

The trial continues.