Guilty plea after £140,000 of cannabis seized in Boroughbridge

Two men who were stopped on the A1(M) at Boroughbridge have admitted their part in a major cannabis-supply operation.

Police seized 14 kilos of cannabis worth £140,000 when they pulled over Silvio Kondi, 30, and Flamur Saliasi, 45, on September 30.

They were arrested and charged with possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Today, Kondi, of Tong Road, Farnley, near Leeds, and Saliasi, of no fixed address, appeared at York Crown Court where they pleaded guilty to the offence.

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Prosecutor Rachel Landing said the drugs had an estimated street value of £140,000.

She said that because of the sheer amount of the drugs seized, it had to be assumed that the two men had close ties to the “original source” of the supply chain.

Robert Mochrie, for Kondi, contested this allegation on behalf of his client, whom he said was merely a courier for the drug enterprise.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, adjourned sentence for the defendants’ bases of plea to be reviewed in terms of their respective roles within the drug operation. They will be sentenced on November 16. 

Daytime knifepoint robbery in Ripon left ‘little boy crying’

Two knifepoint robbers threatened to “shank” a young boy as they stripped him of precious items including his jewellery and mobile phone.

The terrifying incident in Ripon had the boy in tears as other youths laughed at the spectacle, York Crown Court heard.

The teenage victim was sat with friends on a bench outside the Ship Inn on Bondgate when he was approached by John Paul Wilson, 21, from Harrogate, and others including a youth — the second robber who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Prosecutor Michael Cahill said that as the victim’s friends got up to leave, the teenager himself was blocked from doing so by Wilson’s sidekick.

“They waited until the (victim’s) friends had walked out of sight (and then) both (robbers) began to remove his jewellery, his Nike shoes and his phone,” added Mr Cahill.

“They then threatened him with a knife, and he was told that if he “did not hand everything over, he would be shanked”.

“The other individuals (who were with Wilson and the youth) watched this and at one point they were laughing,” said Mr Cahill.

The Ship Inn, Bondgate in Ripon.

The Ship Inn, Bondgate in Ripon.

The victim, who had been surrounded by the group, took off his trainers as instructed and handed over his phone and jewellery including a silver chain.

“They then demanded he come with them around the back of the Ship Inn,” said Mr Cahill.

“When he told them he didn’t want to, they ordered him to come with them as a knife was held to his upper leg.

“He was told he would be stabbed if he didn’t comply,” added Mr Cahill.

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A witness called the victim’s father who rushed to the scene and ran towards the group, shouting at them.

The robbers handed back the phone and ran off with the other youths, taking the trainers and jewellery.

Previous convictions

However, they were later arrested and charged with robbery and possessing a blade. They admitted robbery but neither accepted they were the one carrying the knife.

The prosecution ultimately accepted this, although there was no argument that it was a knifepoint robbery.

Wilson and his teenage co-defendant appeared for sentence on the robbery charge on Tuesday after being remanded in custody.

Mr Cahill said the victim was left in tears following the incident on August 13 which made him “extremely nervous”.

The court heard that Wilson had previous convictions for 12 offences including robbery, battery and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The youth had four previous convictions for offences including possessing a weapon, criminal damage and serious violence. They had both served youth detention orders in the past.

Difficult childhood

Lauren Hebditch, for Wilson, said he had endured a difficult childhood and had effectively been living rough at the time of the incident.

“He says he can’t even imagine how scared the victim must have been.”

Rob Stephenson, for the youth, said he too had had a “turbulent and unhappy” upbringing but said there was a “degree of peer pressure” from Wilson to commit the robbery with him.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, criticised the pair for the appalling daytime attack which was “prolonged” and left “a little boy crying”.

“You were the oldest of the two and you were more criminally experienced. You were playing to the gallery of other youths who found it at times amusing.

“You reduced your (victim) to tears and threatened him (with being) knifed or ‘shanked’.

“A knife was used to keep him detained and to lead him round the back of that pub, well out of sight, and I’m satisfied that you would have been the leading role in this group, and I’m satisfied that you exercised a degree of influence on your co-accused.

“Your victim was a lone (teenager) abandoned by his friends at the start of this incident and surrounded by a group, with you at the forefront.”

Banned from Ripon town centre

Wilson, of Newby Crescent, Harrogate, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and given a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim or going anywhere near his address.

Mr Morris said he was satisfied that it was only due to the “malign influence” of Wilson that the youth joined in the robbery.

He said he believed the youth could “start afresh” in life, partly because he had work lined up.

The youth was given a three-year youth-rehabilitation order which the judge said was an “exceptional” sentencing decision. He told him he had come very close to going to prison.

The order includes a 91-day rehabilitation programme, supervision and a six-month doorstep curfew.

In addition, the judge made an exclusion order banning the youth from Ripon town centre for the next 12 months, except in the company of youth-justice officers or guardians. He too was made subject to the same restraining order as Wilson.

Harrogate man jailed for cashpoint robbery of mother

A heroin addict with over 100 offences to his name has been jailed for over four years for the cashpoint robbery of a young woman and a shocking attack that left a man with a broken neck.

Clifford McDermid, 44, targeted the woman as she withdrew £150 from the cash machine outside Sainsbury’s Local on Kings Road in Harrogate.

McDermid crept up behind her and snatched the money from her grasp, saying “Thank you” as he fled amid the “terrified” woman’s screams, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Cahill said the victim, who was named in court, was with her five-year-old son at the time of the incident on December 4, 2019.

McDermid, a heroin addict, was identified on CCTV and arrested later that day in Grove Park Terrace.

He told police:

“I can’t believe I did that. I’m ashamed of myself. Robbing a lady at a cash point. Her screams will live with me forever.”

Neighbour ‘feared dead’

McDermid was released under investigation and was still at large when he was involved in a run-in with his neighbour in March last year which could so easily have been fatal, the court was told.

A couple had just returned to their apartment block after a night out and could smell cannabis coming from McDermid’s flat.

McDermid, who was stood in the doorway, said to the husband: “What’s your problem?”

The victim, who was named in court, asked him to shut his door because of the smell coming from the flat and threatened to report the matter to their landlord, whereupon McDermid walked up to him, asking him to “leave it and not report it”.

He asked to shake hands but as the victim “reluctantly” did so, McDermid grabbed his hand “forcefully” and deliberately pulled him off-balance, causing him to fall down the stairs.

“He fell 12 stairs down the (stairway) and hit his head on the floor, losing consciousness,” said Mr Cahill.

The man’s terrified wife feared her husband had died and called 999. Police and an ambulance crew were called out.

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The victim – who suffered two fractures of his neck, two cuts to his head and a “frozen” shoulder — was taken to Harrogate District Hospital by ambulance. He was given cortisone injections and fitted with a neck collar for pain relief.

McDermid, of Kings Road, was arrested 12 days later and charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the victim and robbing the woman at the cash machine. He ultimately admitted both offences and appeared for sentence on Wednesday.

Thrown down stairs

The male victim said he had lost his job due to his injuries and still had trouble sleeping due to the pain in his neck. He could still barely move his right arm and was still receiving treatment.

His injuries had severely curtailed his once-active social life and he’d had to step down as captain of a snooker-and-darts team.

His wife said McDermid was clearly high on drugs and she thought she was “about to become a widow” when she saw her husband land head-first and lose consciousness after being thrown down the stairs.

“He could have been killed or (ended up) in a wheelchair,” she added.

The young mother who was robbed at the cash point said she was “stunned, shocked and extremely cross” after being targeted by McDermid in broad daylight.

She said McDermid must have targeted her because he knew that a mother with a young child wouldn’t be able to chase him. She added:

“This (incident) triggered weeks of not sleeping (and) I have a very demanding job.”

She had since suffered from anxiety which was a “horrid feeling” and was unable to pay some of her bills because £110 was a “huge chunk of my wage”.

McDermid had 48 previous convictions for 159 offences including theft from the person. In 2002, he was jailed for eight years for armed robbery.

Heroin habit

Danielle Graham, for McDermid, said the father-of-one had robbed the woman to get money for drugs. He had a 20-year heroin habit and a personality disorder exacerbated by drugs.

She said she could not argue against the profound effect these “nasty” incidents had had on both victims.

Judge Simon Hickey said McDermid had a “worrying” record and that he had “obviously” been lurking in the area waiting to target a “vulnerable woman with a child”.

He told McDermid he was “fortunate not to have killed” his neighbour after “deliberately pulling (him) off-balance and down 12 steps”.

McDermid was jailed for four years and nine months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

 

Arsonists jailed for setting fire to Harrogate brewery

Two arsonists have been jailed for setting fire to a brewery in Harrogate causing up to £17,000 worth of damage.

John Christopher Brown and Scott Spurr were loitering around Harrogate Brewing Company in Hookstone Chase before throwing a “flammable item” into the grounds, causing a blaze which quickly got out of control and tore through the compound, York Crown Court heard.

The fire melted two Portaloos and several beer kegs and smoke infiltrated the brewery itself as the two “drunken idiots” ran off, said prosecutor Rob Galley.

Firefighters arrived at the scene after the arsonists themselves called 999 shortly after the blaze took hold in the middle of the night. 

They brought the fire under control, but severe damage had been caused to the family-run business which was already reeling from the covid pandemic. 

CCTV footage of the incident at about 11pm on October 6 last year showed the two men climbing over the fence at the edge of the brewery. One of them remained on the outside and lobbed a “lit piece of something”, possibly a lit cigarette or papers, into the compound.

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A flash of light could be seen on the footage before the two men ran away.

The blaze caused between £14,000 and £17,000 of damage. The heat was so intense that the Portaloos had melted an inch into the ground.

Brown and Spurr, both 22 years of age, were later arrested and identified from the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident. The two Harrogate men appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting to the offence.

Mr Galley said:

“Two Portaloos were melted and unrecognisable.

“Several beer kegs melted (and there was) damage to the cooling system (used for refrigeration). There was damage to (the brewery) windows.”

‘Went up like an inferno’

Owner Martin Joyce, who was finance director at Rossett School in Harrogate before buying the brewery, said the scene when he arrived the following morning was “horrendous”.

The toilets and stock room inside the building had suffered smoke damage and the windows had melted. 

Damage had been caused to stock and the rooms needed complete redecoration. The Portaloos, thought to be the source of the fire, “went up like an inferno”.

Mr Joyce, who only bought the business in January last year, said the incident had a “huge and traumatic effect” on his family.

He said the business had lost £5,000 in takings alone because he was initially unable to reopen the tap room.

Despite insurance pay-outs for the damage, they were still left with a loss of about £4,000 and their premiums had doubled.

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The business – which produces award-winning craft ales to bars and clubs in North Yorkshire – was still dealing with structural damage caused by the blaze, notably melted plastic which had seeped into the drainage system.  

Mr Joyce, known to friends and colleagues as Joe, said he had “no idea what the motive was”.

Adam Walker, for Spurr, said his client was a hard-working man with no previous convictions.

He was “truly remorseful” for the attack which was carried out while he was “heavily in drink”.

Alasdair Campbell, for Brown, said his client had acted like an “immature, drunken idiot” but that he had tried to put the fire out before fleeing.  

Judge Sean Morris blasted the two men for “setting fire to somebody’s livelihood”.

He added:

“These people worked hard to set up their business and you set fire to it.

“What resulted was serious economic impact to their business and it’s had a devastating effect on their lives. You two were a pair of drunken idiots that night.”

Brown, of Avenue Place, and Spurr, of Prospect Road, were each jailed for nine months. 

Man jailed for having sex with under-age Harrogate girl

A man who had sex with an under-age girl has been jailed for over three years after a judge heard of the devastating effect on the victim.

Jamie Smart, 21, groomed and took advantage of the “vulnerable” girl who said her life was now “in turmoil”.

Smart, who was 19 at the time of the offences, had sex with the girl in Harrogate but although it was consensual, the victim said it was “wrong”.

Prosecutor Katherine Robinson said that Smart had bombarded the girl with “graphic” text messages and kept asking to meet her for sex, on one occasion in a park in Harrogate. 

He subsequently sent her more messages asking to meet her again for sex and twice she refused. 

However, he finally persuaded her to meet him again and they had sex after smoking a cannabis joint together, but when Smart offered the girl some “orange powder” she refused because she didn’t know what it was. 

He urged her “to go further” but she only consented to sex because she was “worried what (Smart’s) reaction would be if she turned (him) down”. 

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Ms Robinson said the “extensive” text messages sent by Smart to the girl represented a “degree of grooming”.

Smart had been associating with other under-age females before and after his offences against the girl and had “failed to heed” previous warnings about his behaviour.

He was arrested following the discovery of the ultra-graphic text messages but denied the allegations.   

However, a jury found him guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child and sexual communication with a minor. The offences dated back to the end of 2018. 

Smart, who was also convicted of possessing cannabis which was found upon his arrest, appeared for sentence on Tuesday at York Crown Court.

‘He took my childhood’

In a statement read out in court, the victim, who lived in Harrogate but cannot be named for legal reasons, said:

“I was a child and vulnerable. (Smart) knew this and took advantage of my circumstances.”

She said Smart “took my childhood” and that she now suffered from acute anxiety, a panic disorder and depression.

Smart — latterly of Invicta Court, York — had previous convictions for a racially aggravated incident and resisting a police officer, but none for sexual offences. 

Helen Chapman, mitigating, said Smart was immature and had his own “vulnerabilities” after a troubled childhood spent largely in foster care. 

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Judge Simon Hickey said the offences had had a “drastic” effect on the victim.

He told Smart:

“(The victim) was undoubtedly a vulnerable person – you must have known that given your background.

“It was quite clear you knew her age. You are rather a risk because you don’t acknowledge what you’ve done, even now.”

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

He was also made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order which bans him associating with girls under 16 years of age and living or sleeping in any household with under-age children.  

In addition, he was given a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for an indefinite period. 

Drug-driving mum escapes jail after 80mph police chase round Harrogate

A drug-driving mother-of-three has been spared jail after leading police on a high speed car chase around Harrogate.

Jasmine Wilson, 26, reached speeds of up to 88mph on icy roads in her Vauxhall Astra — at some stages on the wrong side of the road — during the chase on January 3.

Wilson, from Pateley Bridge, sped faster after police put on their blue lights and accelerated to 82mph on the wrong side of the road in a National Speed Limit area, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

She then swung the vehicle around a sharp bend at 60mph and at Whipley Bank once again crossed over onto the wrong side of the road, driving at 70mph before tearing through a 50mph zone at 84mph, York Crown Court heard.

Wilson, who was three times over the limit for cannabis and had a male passenger in the car, then overtook another vehicle on a right-hand bend “at some speed”, said Ms Morrison.

She then shot straight over crossroads at 48mph without stopping and reached peak speeds of 88mph as she took another right-hand bend on the wrong side of the road, where she lost control of the Astra, which came to a halt in a field.

The chase lasted around 13 minutes, said Ms Morrison.

Smoking cannabis

Wilson, of High Crest, was taken to hospital by ambulance along with her male passenger, both of whom were relatively unscathed. She was also uninsured to drive the car, which belonged to her partner.

Wilson told police she had been smoking cannabis earlier in the day and that was why she didn’t stop.

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She admitted drug-driving, dangerous driving and having no insurance and appeared for sentence yesterday.

The court heard that Wilson had a clean record until the police chase, which began at about 9.50pm when police were informed by witnesses of what they thought was a drink-driver travelling around the Harrogate area.

Temitayo Dasaolu, mitigating, said Wilson’s actions “made sense to her” at the time because she had been smoking cannabis and didn’t want to get caught.

Responsibilities as a mother

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified, but that he could suspend the inevitable jail term because Wilson had caring responsibilities as a young mother.

He said Wilson had “put all that at risk” by her actions which risked the lives of police officers and other road-users.

He added that Wilson was “one of the few people” convicted of such crimes who would walk free, but only because of her lack of previous convictions and responsibilities as a mother.

Wilson was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and a 40-day rehabilitation programme. She was banned from driving for 12 months.

Ripon paedophile jailed a second time

A registered sex offender from Ripon has been jailed for possessing videos showing girls as young as six being raped.

Andrew Burt, a former maintenance worker at Newby Hall, was on a strict court order which banned him from possessing any internet-enabled device without informing police, York Crown Court heard.

But when his monitoring officers turned up at his home in Skelton-on-Ure, which is between Ripon and Boroughbridge, they found two new devices which he hadn’t disclosed to police.

Police seized the devices, one of which was an LG mobile phone on which they found five video clips featuring the rape of young girls.

Burt was charged with possessing indecent images of children and two breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order which had been imposed in November 2017 for inciting an under-age ‘girl’ to engage in sexual activity.  He appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting all three charges.

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Prosecutor Ms Hajba-Ward said Burt was a registered sex offender and still subject to the 10-year order when police called at his home earlier this month.

They found two unregistered devices including the mobile and a tablet of which police had not been notified.

The videos found on the phone were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material depicting the rape of pre-pubescent children.

Burt told police he had downloaded the images at a guest house “while drinking a lot of Strongbow (cider)”.

Caught by a vigilante

In 2017, Burt was jailed for 20 months after being caught by an online vigilante posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The adult decoy told police she had been chatting to a man on the internet who had used a false name and said he worked at Newby Hall.

Burt had sent her naked pictures of himself and a video of himself performing a lewd act.

He was ultimately identified by photos which showed that he was indeed a maintenance worker on the country estate.

The sexual-harm prevention order was imposed to prevent Burt cruising chatrooms and refusing a polygraph test.

Richard Reed, for Burt, said his client accepted he had a sexual interest in children and wanted help for his problem.

Judge Sean Morris jailed Burt for 32 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Mr Morris made a new sexual-harm prevention order for life. Burt will remain on the sex-offenders’ register, also for an indefinite period.