Harrogate man jailed for perverting course of justice

A Harrogate man has been jailed for six months after he tried to get his ex-partner to drop assault charges against him.

Daniel Berisha, 33, contacted the victim through a third party demanding she withdrew the complaint she had made to police, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Cahill said Berisha and the named victim started a relationship when she came to live in the UK in 2019.

She moved into his then home in Pendragon Way, Harrogate, but by the summer of 2020 the relationship began to break down due to Berisha’s cocaine use.

On November 4 last year, an argument broke out as Berisha pestered her for money to buy drugs. 

The victim refused to give him the £80 but Berisha “followed her around the house, saying: “Give me the money’”.

Berisha told her that if she didn’t give him the money, he would personally transfer the cash from her account into his.

Mr Cahill said:

“He pushed her a few times (and) she fell to the floor.”

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She managed to push Berisha away, but he grabbed her phone and began using it. Knowing that he knew the passcode for her account, she transferred the money into his account and locked the door. Berisha by this stage had moved out of the house. 

The following day, in the early hours of the morning, Berisha bombarded her with text messages telling her he had “nowhere to go”.

She blocked him on WhatsApp and blocked his calls, but then received over 20 calls from an unknown number. 

Shortly after the phone calls, Berisha, who was high on cocaine, got into the house. The victim “screamed for help” and warned him she would call police. 

Furious, Berisha shoved her and put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming. He then took her phone and told her not to call police. 

The victim, who worked in the care industry, eventually managed to call police when Berisha went downstairs. When officers arrived, they found the victim with scratches to her hand and grazes on the bridge of her nose. 

Berisha was arrested and bailed pending further enquiries. In the meantime, police requested a domestic-violence protection order from magistrates to stop Berisha pestering the victim. The order was granted.

However, on November 12, a week after the second assault, Berisha sent messages to a named third party asking her to tell the victim to drop the charges.

Furthermore, he told the victim through the intermediary that he had a “video of the (victim) at work” and would send it to her employer if she didn’t withdraw her complaint, warning her that she would “never get a job in the UK again”.

Berisha told her through the third party that the video was of “(the victim) with a male she cared for”.

However, the victim, whose work record was impeccable and knowing she had “nothing to hide”, knew that Berisha was bluffing and refused to drop the charges. 

‘I’ve lost everything’

Berisha, lately of Redfern Mews, Harrogate, was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and two counts of assault. He ultimately admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today.

In a statement read out in court, the victim, who had since moved out of the area, said she had moved to the UK for a fresh start after a previous abusive relationship. 

The mother-of-two said she had “endured a nightmare” at the hands of Berisha who had initially helped her settle into her adoptive country.

She added:

“I later found out this was too good to be true.

“I’ve lost everything, all my belongings, so he could get money for his drug use.”

Defence barrister Ismael Uddin said that despite the “unsavoury” episode, Berisha was a hard-working man whose employers thought highly of him.

Judge Sean Morris told Berisha: 

“Trying to get (victims) not to turn up in court strikes at the very heart of the criminal justice system and civilised society.

“If these kinds of offences don’t (attract) custodial sentences, then they will become rife. As a matter of policy and as a matter of making sure others are deterred (from trying to pervert the course of justice), only an immediate prison sentence is appropriate.”

Berisha received a six-month jail sentence and was given a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and going to her home or workplace. 

Ex-teacher jailed for raping girl at Harrogate district school

A former maths teacher has been jailed for 18 years for raping and sexually assaulting a young girl at a boarding school in the 1990s.

John William Renel, 68, pinned the girl down and raped and indecently assaulted her in a locker room at Cundall Manor School near Boroughbridge, prosecutor Rupert Doswell told a jury at York Crown Court.

The victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, didn’t report the matter to police until 2021, more than 20 years after the alleged sexual abuse.

She said that before the alleged rape at the fee-paying independent school, she and Renel were “joking about something” in the school kitchen when he picked her up and joked that he was going to “throw her in the bin”.

He then carried her out into the corridor and touched her on the thigh near an intimate part of her body, said Mr Doswell.

Mr Doswell added:

“He then took her into a side room – a changing room or locker room – where (pupils) hang their clothing.

“He put her down on the ground on her back. He was on top of her and she remembers him wearing a tweed jacket.”

She said she turned her head “to stare at the wall” as Renel allegedly raped her.

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A family member later noticed that the victim, who was very young at the time of the offences, had become withdrawn and in adult life she had developed post-traumatic stress disorder which led to counselling and therapy.

Mr Doswell said that about five months after the victim’s first police interview, she contacted them again about the incident in the school locker room.

She said she could remember that during the rape, she felt as if Renel’s “body (was) crushing her” and that she was struggling to breathe.

According to the victim, Renel “simply walked away” after the incident, “leaving her on the ground”.

Mr Doswell said:

“She (told police) she had one further memory of another incident (at the school) when she was older.”

She said that before this incident, Renel again picked her up and dropped her on a bed in a dormitory. 

He then laid down next to the victim, sexually assaulted her and then forced her hand onto an intimate part of his body. 

Mr Doswell said:

“Her next memory is of the defendant’s face close up to her.

“She remembers feeling terrified. He was staring at her and scowling. He told her not to tell anyone, before leaving the room.”

Guilty on all counts

Renel, of Main Street, Sessay, near Thirsk, was brought in for questioning in 2021 but denied even knowing the girl. 

He told police he had always taught in a tweed jacket but denied raping or sexually assaulting the girl. 

He was charged with one count of rape and four counts of sexual assault against the girl. He denied all offences but was today found guilty on all counts.

Recorder Anthony Hawks moved straight to sentence and jailed Renel for 18 years.

The former teacher was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order for the protection of children. That order will also run indefinitely.  

Following his sentence, Detective Constable Alison Morris, of North Yorkshire Police’s non-recent abuse investigation team, said:

“John William Renel is a predatory child abuser who has caused unimaginable trauma to the courageous victim in this case.

“I truly hope the outcome at court along with the significant custodial sentence handed to her perpetrator, provides comfort, strength and hope for the future.”

In 1997, a few years after Renel left Cundall Manor, he was convicted of three counts of indecently assaulting a girl at another school in Keighley. 

Man jailed for 140mph Harrogate police pursuit after being banned from driving

A man walked out of court after being banned from driving and jumped straight into his car before leading police on a 140mph chase from Harrogate.

Jason Ryder, 45, was so furious at being found guilty of drug-driving and losing his licence at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court in March that he got behind the wheel of his Audi A3 and raced from police at astonishing speeds while weaving in and out of traffic on the A1(M) and bombing down the hard shoulder at speeds of more than 130mph.

Dashcam footage of the hair-raising police chase was shown at York Crown Court today when Ryder appeared for sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and without a licence.

Prosecutor Edward Steele said that Ryder was released from the Harrogate court on March 20 after being convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in a previous incident near Knaresborough and receiving a 12-month motoring ban.

He said that Ryder got into his black Audi “immediately after being released from the court” at about midday. 

Police switched on the blue lights, but Ryder didn’t stop and a 17-minute car chase ensued, firstly along the A658 John Metcalf Way in Harrogate where he overtook vehicles, causing motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

He then “manoeuvred around” a heavy-goods vehicle and sped onto the A1(M)’s northbound carriageway, “moving across all lanes and travelling for long periods of time on the hard shoulder, at times at speeds of over 130mph in a 70mph zone”.

Mr Steele said that at certain sections, the Audi was travelling at over 140mph as it zig-zagged between dense traffic and overtook and undertook vehicles from one side of the road to the other.

You can watch police footage of the chase below.

Ryder then turned onto the A6055 towards Northallerton at 140mph on a wet road surface due to the rainy weather. 

Mr Steele added:

“The driving included overtaking and driving on the opposite side of the carriageway.”

Police laid a stinger on the road which deflated the Audi’s tyres and the car came to a halt. He was arrested and brought before York magistrates the following day, where he pleaded guilty to all three offences. 

The court heard that Ryder had a previous conviction for careless driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis in 1998, for which he received an 18-month motoring ban.

‘Not thinking straight’

Defence barrister Gabrielle Wilks said that Ryder made a “split-second” decision to speed from police due to “heightened emotions” following the trial which went against him.

She said he was “not thinking straight” and was suffering from “mental angst” on the day in question due to personal problems.

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She added that Ryder, of Wellgarth, Bishop Auckland, had lost his full-time job and could lose his home if he were jailed. 

Recorder Anthony Hawks described Ryder’s driving as “appalling” and said that he could easily have killed someone.

He told Ryder: 

“The circumstances of the dangerous driving are…extremely serious, both as to how it started and the actual driving itself.

“I reject entirely the suggestion put forward (by Ryder’s defence counsel) that you didn’t understand the disqualification ran immediately. You had been disqualified before (and) you must have realised that following your conviction and sentence (for drug-driving) you were a disqualified driver.

“You had no business…in taking your car to the magistrates (court) in the first place.”

Mr Hawks said it was clear that Ryder was “angry” when he got behind the wheel because the trial “had gone against you”.

He added: 

“At any time during the 17-minute police chase, you could have come to your senses and stopped, but you didn’t. 

“The dangerous driving was appalling. There was heavy traffic. You were weaving all over lanes. You were driving at speeds up to 140mph. It’s extraordinary that nobody was seriously injured or killed.”

Ryder was jailed for 10 months and given a 23-month driving ban. 

Harrogate man jailed for ‘sexualised’ online chats with young girls

A Harrogate man has been jailed for over three years after his debauched online chats with young girls led him into a trap set by police.

Benjamin Shutt, 30, “cruised” the internet in search of easy targets and found them on social media apps installed on his phone, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor David Hewitt said police forensic officers downloaded no less than 816 pages of chats which “began innocently and soon became sexualised”.

Shutt, who told one girl she “needed a sugar daddy”, used the KIK messenger app to contact the first under-age child, who told him she was 14 years old.

Mr Hewitt said there were about 220 messages sent between Shutt, of Grove Park View, and the teenager between April 20 and May 16, 2020.

Shutt sent her a picture of his private parts, which he followed up with a request for her to “send me more please, baby”.

Mr Hewitt added:

“He asked for some photos of her body in the bath.”

He told the girl he wanted to have sex with her “so badly” and then they talked about meeting up. 

The girl agreed to meet, but Shutt told her they “probably couldn’t” because he was twice her age.

There were further sexual conversations in which Shutt talked about “the various things he would like to do to her”.

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After the girl sent him a very intimate picture of herself upon request, Shutt asked her if she had photos of herself when she was younger.

He then sent her a link via the KIK app to videos of him performing a sexual act on himself and urged her to watch them. 

Shutt targeted another young girl on the Whisper app in December 2020. He asked how old she was and when she initially told him she was 12, the messages continued regardless.

He asked her if she “enjoyed” the conversations and urged her to send him an intimate photo.

The girl later told him that her real age was 14, to which Shutt replied: “That’s fine with me.”

He said he wanted to have sex with her and “advised” her on how to perform a sexual act on herself. He then sent the girl an image of himself performing a lewd act.

Police trap

On Valentine’s Day 2021, Shutt ran out of luck when the 12-year-old ‘girl’ with whom he thought he was chatting turned out to be an undercover police officer posing as a teenager who posted a message on Whisper asking: “Why are boys so rubbish?”

Mr Hewitt said:

“The defendant replied and invited her to engage in private chat.”

The chats moved to another online platform and lasted about five weeks to the end of March 2021.

Mr Hewitt said:

“He told her that she needed a sugar daddy and explained what this was.”

Shutt asked the ‘girl’ if she had ever performed a sexual act on herself and offered her an “instruction” on how to do so. He then urged her to carry out the act.

Police raided on his home in Harrogate in April 2021 and found him in his bedroom. They seized his mobile phone.

Forensic analysis showed there were seven category C indecent images of children on Shutt’s phone. Mr Hewitt said there was also evidence to suggest Shutt had been chatting with other children, although this didn’t lead to further charges.

Shutt was charged with two counts of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, one count of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and one count of possessing indecent images of children. 

He admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence today.

‘Corrupting young girls’

Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said Shutt had endured a traumatic childhood and had been chatting with the girls during the coronavirus lockdown.

He added that Shutt was an “isolated and marginalised” figure with few friends and that his offending had had a “massive” impact on his family.

Judge Sean Morris told Shutt: 

“You pleaded guilty to a whole series of offences which involved you cruising the internet looking for young girls to corrupt. 

“There were two real victims before you were caught by an undercover officer patrolling the internet. 

“As far as you were aware, that was (an underage) girl. You were obviously sexually aroused by young teenage girls.” 

Shutt was jailed for three years and five months and placed on the sex offenders register for life. 

He was also given an eight-year sexual-harm prevention order mainly to curb his internet activities. 

Harrogate dominatrix who ran international sex trafficking racket to be deported

A Portuguese dominatrix who ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution racket is to be deported from the UK.

Fabiana De Souza, 43, and her English husband Gareth Derby, 55, were jailed for a combined 10 years in February last year after they were caught running a sex den in Harrogate, where many of the sex workers were based after being flown in from abroad.

Today they appeared at Leeds Crown Court for a financial-confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act. These proceedings will determine how much the former couple has to pay back for their mega-money trafficking scheme, which involved sex workers from Portugal and Brazil.

Defence barrister Michael Fullerton said full analysis of the defendants’ assets and finances had not yet been completed and De Souza had yet to provide her own statements.

He said the defence would be contesting the undisclosed sum being sought by the prosecution.

Mr Fullerton asked for an adjournment in the proceedings to allow time for De Souza to serve the statement but asked for a postponed date no later than August 21 when she would be deported from the country.

He said Derby’s defence team also needed more time to ascertain the value of a car belonging to him which appeared to have ended up in Portugal.

He claimed some of De Souza’s financial gains during the offending period were from her work as a beautician and in the fitness industry.

He said this money was “not…earned by her as a dominatrix with her own website during that period”.

Mr Fullerton claimed that De Souza’s involvement in trafficking six sex workers from abroad was for a “limited period” only.

He claimed Derby had transferred some of the money into De Souza’s account and she had received some legitimately from a family member.

‘Flying in’ sex workers

During their trial at the same court in December 2021, the jury heard that De Souza and Derby, from Norfolk, had been “flying in” sex workers from Europe and South America.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said the couple treated the women like “commodities” as they made massive sums from their illicit trade.

De Souza, who provided dominatrix and discipline services to punters in Harrogate, was said to be the ringleader of the “large-scale commercial operation” in which she and Derby, a high-earning engineer and machine specialist, flew in sex workers from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to sex dens where men paid for “massages” and “full (sex) services”.

They had exploited the “vulnerable” women for “significant” financial gain by “controlling (their) finances (and) choice of clients”.

The sex workers were put at a “significant financial disadvantage” and forced to lie to police to avoid detection.

De Souza and Derby, who ran the lucrative business from their home in East Anglia, were arrested in August 2018 and charged with controlling prostitution for financial gain and human trafficking. They each denied the charges, but the jury found them guilty on both counts following a 10-day trial.

The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den and two properties in Norfolk between April 2017 and August 2018.

Bower Road brothel

Mr Lumley said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”. He added:

“There was another (rented) flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers.

“As soon as the (prostitutes) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from airport around the country and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road in Harrogate. The adverts were placed on the classified escort websites Viva Street and Adult Work.

Bower Street

Bower Street in Harrogate

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay.

The money usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax, Bank of Scotland and NatWest bank accounts, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Between May 2017 and August 2018, some £38,000 cash was deposited into De Souza’s bank accounts at branches in Harrogate and Norfolk. About £9,000 of bank transfers were then made to accounts in Brazil and Portugal using a money-services bureau.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in on an EasyJet flight from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

They would arrange for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved the women around the country “or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Undercover officer

Following her arrest, De Souza, who is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Peterborough, told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She had rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

Derby said only that he had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

In a text sent to a friend in January 2018, he boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

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Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone.

An undercover officer posed as a client to make appointments for the sex den on Bower Road. De Souza would answer the calls in “broken English” and arrange the appointment.

The officer was offered a “range of services”. On his first visit, dressed in civilian clothes, he was met by a sex worker named ‘Lisa’ who buzzed him into the flats above shops.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a “Hot Brazilian, full service”. She was about 57 years old but was advertised as 33.

De Souza and Derby, of Town Street, Upwell, in south-west Norfolk, were each jailed for five years in February 2022. They are still serving those sentences in different parts of the country and had to be transported to Leeds for the confiscation hearing.

Judge Mr Stubbs KC adjourned for a further hearing on June 27 when the case might be resolved but is likely to go to a contested, half-day hearing on July 28, when the prosecution and defence will set out their cases for a greater or lesser financial settlement based on the defendants’ assets and finances.

Ex-Harrogate Lib Dem candidate jailed for abusing girl

Former Harrogate Liberal Democrat candidate Anthony Medri has been jailed for over two years for sexually abusing a teenage girl and paying her to send him intimate photos of herself.

Medri, 64, from Knaresborough, sexually assaulted the girl on several occasions and sent her a picture of an intimate part of his body, York Crown Court heard.

The Harrogate Borough Council candidate in 2015 also urged her to send him indecent pictures of herself, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds.

He said that Medri, who is married, had sexually assaulted the youngster by touching her on intimate parts of her body and kissing her on the lips.

Medri asked the girl on social media if she had “ever seen a grown man’s (private parts)”. He then sent her an intimate picture of himself and told her to delete the messages.

Mr Dodds said that in 2017, Medri started transferring money into the girl’s bank account and asking her what she was wearing.

This was followed by a request for a picture of her in her underwear and a promise to pay her £50 if she sent it. Mr Dodds said:

“She sent an image of herself wearing a bra.

“He had previously bought her some underwear…and asked her for photos wearing that underwear.”

The prosecutor said that between 2017 and 2019, £580 of payments were made into the victim’s account for intimate photos of her. Mr Dodds added:

“Sometimes she would also get payments in cash as well.”

Grooming process

Medri – who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Lib Dems in the 2015 local elections when he contested the Stray ward – initially gave the girl money so she could treat herself, which the prosecution said was part of the grooming process.

He would tell the girl “to get yourself something nice”, said Mr Dodds.

The victim “wasn’t in a good place” at the time and she felt that Medri used this to take advantage of her difficult circumstances.

He bought her treats such as perfume, clothes, tobacco and vodka – along with a sex toy and told her to “try it out”. The victim put the item in a bin.

Mr Dodds said that on the occasions Medri tried to kiss the girl, she would pull away, but he would kiss her again. He once drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.

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Medri was ultimately brought in for questioning and accepted having asked for pictures of the girl in her underwear and that he had given her money, but initially denied sexually assaulting her.

A trial was due to be held but Medri ultimately admitted one count of intentionally causing a child to look at an image of a person engaging in a sexual act, three counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child to become a prostitute or be involved in pornography, namely asking the girl for photos of herself in her underwear.

Mr Medri, of Forest Moor Road, appeared for sentence today when the court heard a harrowing statement from the young victim.

She said she had been left with the “overwhelming” feeling that she was somehow at fault for the abuse.

This and the fact that Medri had protested his innocence for so long had caused her “extreme anxiety”. She added:

“I don’t think I will ever get over what has happened. I think about it every single day.”

Carer for disabled wife

Defence barrister Jeremy Barton said there had been a “plethora” of character references provided by friends and family of Medri.

He conceded, however, that Medri’s offences, which occurred over a period of about a year, were “disturbing and worrying”.

He said that Medri, who had worked all his life and was now a carer for his disabled wife, had shown a “degree of remorse”.

Judge Sean Morris told Medri he should have owned up to his offences “a long time ago” and described his protestations of innocence until his belated guilty pleas as “gutless”.

He told Medri:

“For heaven’s sake man, why did you put this girl through all those months of anguish waiting for (what was expected to be) a trial. It’s gutless.”

He said that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate for inciting a young girl “in a vulnerable position to sell pictures of (herself) for Medri’s “sexual pleasure”.

The judge said that Medri had taken advantage of the girl when she was in a “desperate state” because of her life circumstances.

Medri was jailed for two years and two months, but he will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Medri was also given a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to protect children and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

 

Drug dealer jailed for second time for supplying cocaine in Harrogate

A drug dealer has been jailed for supplying cocaine in Harrogate for the second time in the space of a year.

Robert Luke Varela, 27, was caught “bang at it” after police spotted him lurking suspiciously on Franklin Road, Harrogate.

Prosecutor Camille Morland told York Crown Court that Varela – who once bragged he would “need a counting machine” due to the vast profits he was making from his illicit trade – took his hands out of his pockets as police drove past and threw a bag of crack cocaine to the ground.

She said that when officers went to speak to him, they found the bag, containing 11 wraps of high-purity crack cocaine, dumped on the pavement.   

They seized an iPhone from Varela on which WhatsApp messages showed he had been dealing crack cocaine in the three months preceding his arrest in February 2021.

Varela, formerly of Harrogate, was charged with possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply and ultimately admitted the offence. He appeared for sentence via video link today.

Ms Morland said that in February 2022, Varela was jailed for two years and three months for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply in 2019. 

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That sentence was imposed without Varela or the prosecuting authorities informing the then sentencing judge that he had been quizzed about the new matter a year earlier. 

He was arrested for the 2019 offences after security staff and Harrogate Borough Council’s CCTV operators spotted Varela and his notorious sidekick Sirus Alexander, then aged 21 and from Idle, Bradford, engaged in a transaction in a red Audi with two “unknown men” behind an Early Learning Centre in Harrogate.

Alexander and Varela scuttled off to a nearby Travelodge where they stashed over 60 wraps of heroin and cocaine in their room.

Police turned up at the hotel, but the two men had vanished. A search of the room revealed a major cocaine and heroin stash worth about £2,575 – as well as a machete and digital weighing scales.

In the early hours of the following morning, police received another call from CCTV operators who spotted the pair going into Asda in the town centre. 

Officers swooped on the supermarket and arrested the two men. Varela was found with a large hunting knife in his jacket and about £300 cash.

17 previous offences

Varela, who was living in Elland before being jailed, had 17 previous offences on his record including assault, possessing cocaine and carrying a blade. He was jailed for the latter offence in August 2021.

Defence barrister Lydia Pearce said Varela should have been sentenced for all the dealing offences in February last year.

She said that Varela was twice interviewed about the previous dealing matters in 2019 but carried on offending until his arrest in Harrogate in February 2021.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Varela: 

“This case has come back to bite you, but that’s your fault, as well as the prosecution’s fault.”

He said that if Varela had been facing this new offence alone, he would have been looking at a jail sentence measured in years, but that he should have been sentenced for all matters over a year ago, which meant he would receive a reduced sentence.

The judge said that the new offence was part and parcel of Varela’s overall offending and “showed you were a determined drug dealer bang at it”.

Varela, who was due to be released from his existing prison sentence in December this year, was handed a new 12-month jail sentence which will run consecutively and extend his period behind bars by a further six months. 

Harrogate sex offender sentenced to two more years in prison

A sexual predator has been jailed again for sexually assaulting a very young girl at a property in Harrogate.

Steven Anthony Jennings, 52, was already serving a 15-year jail sentence for similar offences against two other girls.

Now he’s been handed a further two years’ prison time for the new offences which pre-dated the old ones, but only came to light relatively recently when the victim went to police more than a decade after they occurred.

Daniel Penman, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said that Jennings, who was in his early 30s at the time, sexually assaulted the girl twice between 2005 and 2007.

The girl said she “froze” but such was her young age she didn’t think anything wrong had occurred at the time. She didn’t report the matters at the time and Jennings “got on with life as normal”.

Mr Penman added:

“It took her until 2019 until she felt able to [tell] her partner about these offences and, through that, felt able to report this to police.”

Jennings, who was living in Harrogate before he was given the 15-year sentence at Teesside Crown Court in 2017, was questioned about the offences at Moorlands Prison in Doncaster in May last year when he was coming to the end of his existing jail term.

He initially denied the allegations but ultimately admitted two counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13 years of age. A third allegation was dropped by the prosecution and allowed to lie on court file.

He appeared for sentence today knowing a consecutive jail sentence was all but inevitable.

‘Lost all innocence’

In a statement read out in court, the victim said Jennings’s “cruel” offences had affected her “mentally, physically and emotionally for years”.

She said her self-esteem and mental health were so badly affected that by her mid-teens she was “ready to die”.

She said she used to “cry myself to sleep every night” following the abuse and that she had “lost all innocence”.

Jennings was jailed in October 2017 for the offences against the two other girls, which occurred between about 2008 and 2011. 

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The sentence was imposed after Jennings admitting rape and sexual activity with a child in relation to one of the victims, and one count of indecent assault against the other girl. 

The victims were two pre-teenage girls, who were abused by Jennings when he was in his mid-to-late 30s.

He sexually assaulted one of the girls outdoors while he was in a relationship with a woman, said Mr Penman.

Jennings plied the other victim with alcopops and played games “like truth or dare” with her. He ultimately raped the girl, who was too young to consent to sex, on “numerous occasions”.

Defence barrister Hussain Rukhshanda said Jennings was remorseful for his actions.

Judge Simon Hickey said the sexual abuse of the new victim had had a “horrendous” effect on her and that her impact statement made for “sobering reading”.

He told Jennings: 

“She said that’s a burden she carried from a young age due to your selfish actions.”

Jennings was jailed for two years and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for a further 10 years. 

He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which will run for an indefinite period, to limit his contact with under-age girls. It also bans him from contacting any of the three victims. 

Beckwithshaw attempted murder accused ‘strung bow and arrow’ before attack

A Beckwithshaw man accused of trying to kill two young children had strung a bow-and-arrow in the hours leading up to the attacks, a court heard.

The weapon was discovered at his home, along with several knives, following the horrific incident on June 20 last year.

The accused, who is in his 40s, appeared at Leeds Crown Court today for the second week of his trial. He is accused of attempting to murder both children, one of whom had his throat slit.

In her closing speech this afternoon, defence barrister Kama Louise Melly said the discovery of the weapons was indicative of the accused’s paranoia and deteriorating mental health.

Ms Melly said it was clear that her client’s “thought processes” were “completely consumed” by a delusional belief that he was under threat and that people were “out to get him”.

She said he was “genuinely paranoid about a significant, far-ranging risk to his life”.

Me Melly added that in the past, her client had sought help from his doctor about his paranoia, although there was no diagnosis of paranoid psychosis.

She said the defendant had once asked for a brain scan because he was “concerned his brain was not working right”. He was convinced his house and car had been bugged and that his phone had been hacked. 

Ms Melly said the accused had long-standing “paranoid beliefs” including that people were following him in his car. 

She said the fact that her client had strung a bow-and-arrow and left it lying around his house, along with several knives, suggested he was “utterly preoccupied” with his delusional beliefs that people were out to get him and were conspiring against him. 

Ms Melly said the evidence suggested it was “absolutely plain” that the defendant had no intention to kill the children.

‘Like a horror film’

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard harrowing evidence about how one of the children had his throat cut by the accused who also allegedly tried to kill a young girl. 

The accused is alleged to have told them “this needs to happen”, before attacking them.

Two workmen went to the aid of the children, one of whom was holding his neck to stem the bleeding and the other who had blood on her shirt and was described as “hysterical”.

They said the scene resembled a “horror film” and that at first they thought it was a Halloween prank.

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They described the boy’s injuries as “horrific, like (in) a horror film”.

One of the named witnesses said:

“He had his throat cut open and I could see inside the cut.

“He had his hands across his throat. There was blood everywhere. He seemed in shock and really distraught.”

They called the emergency services and an ambulance took the children to hospital, where the boy, who suffered life-threatening injuries, was taken straight to an emergency operating theatre.

He suffered a “large neck laceration”, severed jugular veins and nerve and muscle damage, as well as damage to his Adam’s Apple. His neck wound was closed with deep sutures. 

He was expected to make a good recovery, but doctors said it was very likely he would continue to suffer from complications including scarring and nerve damage. 

‘Paranoia and drinking’

A female witness for the prosecution who knew the accused man said he had mental-health problems including bouts of paranoia and that his drinking made this worse. 

The accused is alleged to have slit the boy’s throat with a 10-inch serrated knife.

Prosecutor Laura Addy said police found numerous knives at the defendant’s home, as well as a home-made petrol incendiary device and a bottle of morphine on the kitchen table.  

Two psychiatrists who assessed him following his arrest deemed him fit to stand trial and said he was not insane.

The defendant admitted wounding the boy with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and attempting to cause the girl serious harm but denies two counts of attempted murder. 

The trial continues.

Harrogate police officer given suspended sentence for sex assault

A Harrogate police officer has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for sexually assaulting a woman at a property in North Yorkshire. 

Joseph McCabe, 27, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault following a trial in February and today appeared for sentence at York Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that McCabe had only been married six weeks when the incident occurred in 2021.

Prosecutor Richard Blackburn said that McCabe had picked the victim up and placed her on a bed as a “prelude to something else”.

The victim, who was not in a relationship with the policeman, “froze in fear” after the strapping officer “stroked” her on the arm and badgered her for sex.

Mr Blackburn said that when the victim rejected McCabe’s advances, he grabbed or “yanked” her hair and dragged her off the bed, before demanding she had sex with him.

He said that McCabe, a devout Roman Catholic who had drunk about seven pints that night, placed his hand on the woman’s inner thigh and on her back and then lifted her onto a bed, before lying next to her and staring at her. 

Mr Blackburn said:

“He took hold of her arm and began to stroke it.”

When the woman asked him what he was doing, McCabe, a police constable who likes to work out at the gym, made no reply.

Mr Blackburn said the woman was scared and made it clear she didn’t want to have sex.

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About 30 minutes later, McCabe started shouting, “Get into…bed now”, but she again spurned his advances. 

McCabe, who had been in his policing job since early 2020, later apologised for his behaviour, telling the woman he had “reverted back to being my teenage self” and had made an “ill-judged, romantic” advance. 

The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, later reported the incident to police.

McCabe, of Kingsley Park Road, Harrogate, denied that his behaviour was sexual despite “stupidly” trying to kiss the woman.

He was suspended by North Yorkshire Police pending the outcome of the trial and his policing career now lies in tatters following the guilty verdict.

The victim said McCabe picked her up and placed her on a bed and that “nothing was said, which I found quite creepy”.

She added:

“He laid on the bed next to me and then he took hold of my hand and (his hand) went up my arm in a stroking motion.”

She said McCabe was moving his hand towards an intimate part of her body, but no contact was made.

She pointed to the Crucifix that McCabe was wearing and said:

“Aren’t you meant to be religious? What are you doing?”

She then “felt my (hair) bun get pulled and I was ragged to the floor”.

She said she was “shouting and swearing” and telling him: “Don’t touch me.”

She added:

“I remember shaking a lot and I didn’t know what to do.

“I just froze in fear. I was in shock.”

She said that during the “horrible” incident, McCabe had “terrified” her and at one stage she feared she might be raped.

McCabe’s barrister Kevin Baumber read out character testimonies during the trial in which friends described him as a “hard-working, kind-natured individual” who took “great pride” in his work. 

His sports coach and best friend said McCabe was a “fun guy but has always been serious and sensible, someone I would go to in a crisis”.

‘No credible explanation’

District judge Tan Ikram said McCabe had given “no credible explanation as to why (the victim) would make up such a serious allegation”. 

Mr Ikram added:

“She was telling the truth about what happened that night, I’m sure of that.

“On the other hand, (you) were cautious in your answers (having had) plenty of time to think about it. You have elaborated to try to make innocent sense of what you did. I’m sure that your intentions throughout were sexual.”

He told McCabe: 

“She never consented (to sex) and you knew she didn’t.”

He said McCabe had shown “no remorse” for his behaviour.

The six-month jail sentence was suspended for two years and McCabe was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for seven years.

As part of the order, he must complete a 100-day alcohol-abstinence programme and up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

He must also take part in a 43-day sex-offending group-work programme and was made subject to a three-year restraining order which prohibits him contacting the victim. He was made to pay £620 prosecution costs and a £128 victim surcharge.