Warning: this article contains details some people may find upsetting.

A sexual predator has been jailed for over two years for performing a lewd act near the children’s play area in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Kevin Payne, 67, was under a strict court order not to go anywhere near children’s play parks following previous convictions for child-sex offences.

But on June 12 he parked his car outside Valley Gardens and made his way to a wooded area near a children’s play area, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said a passer-by spotted Payne performing a lewd act in woods overlooking the play park.

Payne was “startled” by the passer-by, who spotted him through a gap in a hedge and shouted over to him as Payne ran away.

Ms Morrison added:

“The passer-by gave chase and (as) he followed Payne, he took a number of pictures of him before apprehending him and keeping him there until police arrived.”

Payne was arrested and admitted breaching a sexual-harm prevention order, which prohibited him from going within 100 metres of any recreational area where there may be children present.

However, he denied a separate charge of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner, namely performing a lewd act.

The play area in Valley Gardens.

Payne, from Bradford, was due to face trial today but admitted the offence at the last minute.

Ms Morrison said Payne committed the offences in Harrogate while under investigation for downloading indecent sexual imagery online.

He was arrested for those offences in December last year after police monitoring officers paid him a routine visit to check he was complying with the sexual-harm prevention order following a previous jail sentence for child-sex offences.

Payne handed over his mobile phone on which police found internet searches for sexual images of children and an indecent photo of a child rated Category A – the worst kind. They also found six images of extreme pornography, namely bestiality.

Payne admitted making an indecent image of a child and possessing six extreme-pornographic images following his arrest and was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of a six-month jail sentence imposed in June last year for making indecent images of children.

He was released from prison in January this year and went on to commit the offences at Valley Gardens in June.

40 years of crime

The Crown proceeded to sentence on all matters today as the prosecution outlined Payne’s 40-year criminal history, which comprised 51 previous offences including many for indecently exposing himself in front of young girls and making indecent images of children.

His rap sheet also included voyeurism, kerb-crawling, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, serious violence, harassment, public disorder, and breaching court orders.

He had been given extended prison sentences in the past for child-sex offences as various judges deemed him a dangerous offender.

Defence barrister Derek Duffy said Payne “did not intend to be seen by anybody” in Valley Gardens when he carried out the lewd act.

He said Payne had rented accommodation in Bradford before being remanded in custody, but he had since lost that and intended to live with a friend in Harrogate upon his release from jail.

He added that Payne — formerly of Ling Park Avenue, Bingley, but currently of no fixed address — was a retired man who had lost all contact with his family and was a “rather despondent” figure.

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Judge Simon Hickey described Payne’s latest offences in Valley Gardens as “quite revolting” and told him:

“You are, worryingly, 67, and you are still committing offences of this nature. Fortunately, the children were not to see what you did.”

Payne was given a 27-month jail sentence but will only spend half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and the judge ordered that the sexual-harm prevention order would remain in place.

Mr Hickey said the named witness who chased and detained Payne would be paid £150 from the public purse for his “very-public-spirited” actions.

Two men jailed for vicious attack in Ripon

Two middle-aged men were jailed today for a vicious attack on an innocent man who suffered a broken eye socket which required facial-reconstruction surgery.

Gavin Hewson, 45, and Charles Neate, 55, punched the victim repeatedly at a block of flats in Ripon which left him “covered in blood”, York Crown Court heard.

They were arrested and charged with causing grievous bodily harm but denied the offences. However, a jury found them guilty following a trial in November.

Prosecutor Nicola Hoskins said the two men went to the apartment block in St Marygate apparently looking to “sort out” another man but ended up attacking his neighbour, who was named in court.

The victim had been watching TV with his partner when they heard someone shouting the name of their neighbour who lived in the opposite flat.

When he went outside to ask them to be quiet and go away, he was attacked by the two men, resulting in a fractured eye socket, swollen eyes and a suspected broken nose.

His partner called police as other people outside flagged down a passing police car and alerted officers to the attack.

York Crown Court

Two officers followed a “trail of blood” from the apartment block’s communal door to the victim’s flat and advised him to seek medical attention.

He was treated at Harrogate District Hospital and kept in overnight due to the extent of his injuries. He later had facial-reconstruction surgery.

Hewson and Neate claimed they weren’t even at the apartment block but were found guilty as charged. They appeared for sentence today.

Ripon man had 13 previous convictions

Ms Hoskins described the attack, which occurred on August 2, 2020, as “prolonged and persistent”.

Hewson, of Maple Walk, Ripon, had 13 previous convictions for 20 offences including battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and disorderly behaviour.

Neate, of Aysgarth Walk, Richmond Hill, Leeds, had 110 offences on his record including many for serious violence and previous convictions for assault with intention to rob, public disorder, affray and carrying a blade.

David McGonigal, for Hewson, said the father-of-two had a well-paid job but accepted he had a problem with drink-related violence.

He said Hewson could lose his job and his home if he were jailed.

Robert Mochrie, for Neate, said his client had been struggling with his mental health for years following a family tragedy.

But judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the attack at the apartment block was “far too serious” for anything other than an immediate jail sentence.

He told the defendants:

“Both of you have had serious tragedies in your lives and they were deeply unpleasant…but think about all the unpleasantness, the upset, the fear, that you have caused in your lives to other people.

“And on this night, I’m quite satisfied that the pair of you were going to these flats in order to sort somebody out.

“You weren’t after this (victim)…but it turned nasty very quickly upon your unfortunate victim who had nothing to do with you and came out simply to ask you to be quiet…and both of you set about him.

“You beat up a purely innocent man just for the hell of it.”

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He told Neate:

“It is right to say that your offending was tailing off somewhat…but back it’s come with a vengeance.”

Jailing him for three years, the judge described Neate as a “very violent man indeed”.

Hewson was jailed for two-and-a-half years because his track record for violence wasn’t as bad as Neate’s.

Both men were also given a five-year restraining order, banning them from contacting the victim and his partner and going to St Marysgate in Ripon.

A Harrogate man has been jailed for three years for a “savage”, unprovoked attack on a neighbour who was left with a fractured eye socket, broken nose and cracked ribs.

Richard Banks, 45, sidled up to the victim in the street and asked him for a cigarette, York Crown Court heard.

The victim, a professional man who was out walking his dog, invited him into his flat in St Mary’s Avenue, Harrogate, but soon felt “uncomfortable” because Banks, whom he barely knew, was “overfamiliar” with him, said prosecutor Rachel Landin.

He asked Banks to leave which he did but returned later that day. When the victim opened the door, Banks, a long-time drug user, “barged in and began shouting”, said Ms Landin, adding:

“He attacked (the victim), knocking him to the floor and repeatedly kicking and punching him to the torso and head.”

Banks took hold of a knife in the kitchen and threatened to kill the named victim, who ran to the front of the house and shouted for help from a window. Ms Landin said:

“He wasn’t sure where (Banks) had gone, so he picked up a bread knife and went into the street.

“He encountered (Banks) again who renewed his attack, punching (the victim) repeatedly to the face.”

Fractured eye socket

Passers-by witnessed the horrific attack and called police who arrived to find Banks standing over the “confused” victim, who was lying helpless after being knocked to the ground and banging his head on the pavement.

The victim, who was concussed, still had the knife in his hand, but police said there was no threat posed by him and the blade was confiscated without a struggle.

York Crown Court

He was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he woke up “not knowing what was going on and in a lot of pain”.

He was transferred to York Hospital for surgery and specialist treatment to a fractured eye socket and broken ribs and nose, as well as cuts, bruises and scratches all over his body.

Banks, who bizarrely appeared “more focused” on the victim’s dog, was arrested in the street and charged with wounding.

He denied the offence, falsely claiming self-defence, but was found guilty following a trial at the Crown Court in July.

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He appeared for sentence yesterday after being remanded in custody.

Ms Landing said the victim had to have surgery to rebuild his shattered eye socket by inserting titanium plates.

He had continued to suffer from impaired and blurred vision since the attack on December 28, 2020, and been receiving optical treatment.

He had been working in IT but had had to change his job due to the computers exacerbating migraines brought on by the attack. His vision impairment would be permanent.

The victim described the attack as “random and unprovoked”. He had become “very paranoid (and) extremely nervous” when out in public.

He had been prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping tablets and didn’t feel safe at home, which was close to where Banks lived. He added:

“I find it really hard to leave my flat, even to walk the dog or go to the shop.

“I have uncontrollable panic attacks.”

The side of his face was “numb for the best part of a year, causing problems eating”.

11 previous convictions

Banks, of St Mary’s Avenue, had 11 previous convictions for 21 offences including public disorder, damaging property and drug-related offences including cultivating cannabis in 2013, possessing cocaine in 2014 and possession of crack and heroin in 2018. He recently received a suspended prison sentence for dealing heroin and cocaine.

His barrister Nick Cartmell said Banks was “hysterical, crying (and) wasn’t in his right mind” when he was arrested for the attack in St Mary’s Avenue.

But judge Simon Hickey said Banks had shown no remorse and described the attack as “savage, nasty and persistent”. He told Banks:

“The victim is…frightened to go out; he’s frightened to shop; he has to rely on people. (There is) permanent disruption to his sight and he’s very conscious about the (titanium) plate in his face.”

He said although Banks had mental-health issues, a three-year jail term was “the least” sentence he could impose for “this savage beating of this man in his own home and outside in the street”.

Banks will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

A man was caught wandering the streets of the Harrogate district with a bayonet after he went looking for spies he thought were bugging his home.

Christopher Graham, 58, from Harrogate, was found with the large, sheathed military-style blade in Kirk Hammerton after his daughter called police saying she was concerned for her father’s welfare, York Crown Court heard.

She told police her father’s mental state had “deteriorated in recent days, to the extent that he thought his [home] was being bugged”, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

Graham left his house “saying he was going to kill [the people he thought were wiretapping his home]”, she added.

Police went looking for him and eventually received reports of a man matching Graham’s description looking “disorientated and confused” at a local petrol station.

Officers found him on York Road, Kirk Hammerton, where he appeared “quite confused, had no shoes or socks on and was attempting to hitchhike”. Ms Morrison said:

“He was picked up by police and found to be carrying a bag which contained, among other items, a sheathed bayonet [blade].”

He was taken in for questioning and told officers he had become “more and more anxious in recent days”. The prosecuting barrister added:

“He said he had forgotten the knife was in his bag and didn’t realise he had it with him.”

Graham, of Butler Road, Harrogate, was arrested and charged with carrying a bladed article in public. He admitted the offence, which occurred on September 25, and appeared for sentence today.

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Ms Morrison said there was no evidence that Graham had taken the bayonet out of the bag while he was wandering the streets.

He hadn’t been taking his medication at the time and had been detained in hospital in the past for mental health issues. He was said to suffer from a chronic relapsing psychotic disorder.

The court heard he had 19 previous convictions for 42 offences, including burglaries and drug-related matters, most of which occurred in the 1980s.

His most recent conviction was in 2009 for an offence of false imprisonment for which he received an 18-month jail sentence.

Ms Morrison said Graham had a drug habit at the time of that offence.

‘No intention of harm’

Defence barrister Victoria Smithswain said Graham had been remanded in custody since his arrest and had therefore already served the equivalent of a four-month prison sentence.

Recorder Tahir Khan KC told Graham:

“It appears that you had not been taking your medication, as a result of which you became confused and were thinking negative thoughts.”

He said it was evident the bayonet blade was never brandished, adding:

“I am satisfied that you had no intention of harming anybody…

“I deal with you on the basis that this was an isolated lapse on your part because you had not been taking your medication.”

Graham was given a three-month jail sentence which triggered his immediate release from custody due to the amount of time he had already spent on remand.

A man who made thousands of indecent images of children told police he had downloaded the photos to try to “trap” another paedophile.

David Michael Rochford, 35, was arrested after police searched his home in Harrogate and seized several computer devices, York Crown Court heard.

Rochford told officers they would find indecent images on the devices but later claimed he had downloaded them to “lure” someone he believed to be a paedophile and that he had not viewed the illicit material, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

He maintained this pretence until he was sentenced yesterday for downloading more than 9,600 indecent images over a five-year period.

Some of the images, which included videos as well as photos, were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material involving the serious sexual abuse of children.

Ms Morrison said that Rochford, of Poplar Grove, told police he was “accessing (the images) because he wanted to trap somebody else who was a paedophile”.

Rochford told a probation officer the same thing after he admitted the offences, but the prosecution never accepted his claim due to the length of time he had been downloading the material and the sheer number of images involved.

When Rochford appeared for sentence, his barrister Daniel Ingham said his client was still “standing by” his dubious claim as to why the images were found on his computer.

But after Recorder Simon Jackson KC advised Rochford that he should reconsider his claim and confer with his counsel during a short adjournment, Mr Ingham said that Rochford now resiled from his far-fetched story and was prepared to be sentenced on the full facts as set out by the prosecution.

Rochford had already admitted three counts of making indecent images, including 147 rated Category A. In total, he downloaded 9,631 illicit images between 2014 and 2019.

The Crown moved straight to sentence and duly dismissed Rochford’s initial claim that he was engaging in a “scheme of entrapment”.

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Ms Morrison said that police raided Rochford’s home in June 2019. They seized a “large number” of devices including three laptops, a computer tower, hard drives and memory cards.

They found indecent images on seven of the devices, forensic analysis of which showed that Rochford had used “peer-to-peer” software as part of his online activities.

“He was interviewed and admitted having the material (but) said this was in order to lure a person he suspected of being a paedophile,” said Ms Morrison.

She said that Rochford had four previous convictions including for violence but nothing of a sexual nature.

Mr Ingham, for Rochford, said his client was a full-time carer for his mother, who was seriously ill and with whom he lived.

She said he had a past alcohol problem for which he was getting help and mental-health problems.

Recorder Mr Jackson KC said Rochford had initially admitted the offences “on the false premise that this was to trap another paedophile”.

He said the sheer number of images and the years-long period of offending showed there was “plainly a sustained pattern of downloading sexual images for your own sexual gratification”.

However, he said he had to bear in mind the delay in the case reaching court and Rochford’s caring responsibilities for his mother.

He said it was for those reasons that he could suspend the inevitable jail term.

Rochford was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also given a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities, and ordered to take part in a sex-offenders’ programme, complete a 20-day rehabilitation course and carry out  40 hours of unpaid work.

An Albanian drug conspirator involved in a half-a-million-pound cannabis racket in Harrogate has been made to pay back just £1 to the public purse and is apparently “nowhere to be found”.

Andi Kokaj, 23, was part of a London-based gang which conspired with former Harrogate guest-house owner Yoko Banks to set up three lucrative cannabis factories in affluent streets.

He was jailed for three years in August last year for being concerned in the production of cannabis.

At a financial confiscation hearing today at Leeds Crown Court, judge Tom Bayliss KC ruled that Kokaj would pay a nominal fee of £1 after the prosecution said he played a “minor” role in the criminal enterprise.

Prosecutor Michael Bosomworth said the gang had converted three of Banks’ properties on Alexandra Road, Woodlands Road and Somerset Road near Harrogate town centre into cannabis farms with potential yields of up to £456,000. The gang made an estimated £345,000 from the drug plot.

However, Kokaj, played a “lesser role” and was paid just £80 a day for his part in the conspiracy and so made a financial gain of £1,120, added Mr Bosomworth.

He said that Kokaj, from London but of no fixed address, had no assets.

Mr Bayliss KC duly made the nominal £1 order due to Kokaj’s limited financial means.

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Kokaj didn’t attend the confiscation hearing and the court heard he was “probably nowhere to be found”.

When he was sentenced last summer, he was told he would only have to serve half of the three-year sentence behind bars, less the time he had spent on remand, which means he is likely to have been released from jail.

Yoko Banks case adjourned again

Banks, 74, of Scargill Road, Harrogate, was also due to face financial confiscation today but her case was adjourned yet again for the service of financial documents setting out her complex web of assets and properties.

Earlier this year, the former B&B boss and property tycoon failed in her bid to have her conviction quashed after being convicted of three counts of being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Yoko Banks

The court heard the disgraced pensioner was the “facilitator” for the Albanian gang’s cannabis-cultivation enterprise.

Her six co-conspirators, Kokaj, Visar Sellaj, 33, Kujtim Brahaj, 50, Indrit Brahaj, 27, Bledar Elezaj, 36, and 31-year-old Erblin Elezaj, were jailed for a combined 22 years for various offences including drug supply and production of the highly potent skunk cannabis in August 2021.

Banks, who rented out her three properties to the gang to convert into cannabis farms, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and is due to be released from New Hall women’s prison in West Yorkshire on December 31, halfway through her sentence.

At a previous adjourned confiscation hearing, Mr Bosomworth said that Banks owned a string of “highly marketable” properties in some of Harrogate’s most desirable areas.

He added, however, that her “complicated accounts and property empire” were proving to be a major sticking point in the ongoing financial investigation.

On that occasion, Banks claimed she had no money because it had been frozen in her bank account. She said, however, that she had “a lot” of assets.

Ringleader made £438,000

Mr Bosomworth said that Sellaj, the gang’s ringleader, had made £438,000 from the cannabis-cultivation enterprise and that he had £76,000 in the bank which he could pay back into public coffers.

At a contested financial confiscation hearing in May, it was found that Indrit Brahaj had jointly benefited from the criminal enterprise to the tune of £133,328. In his case, a confiscation order of £24,082 was made.

Kujtim Brahaj was found to have benefited to the tune of £1,194. The judge made a nominal confiscation order of £1 in his case due to limited financial means.

The prosecution said that Banks rented out her properties to the “professional” drug gang for “industrial” cannabis production “in the expectation of significant profit”, though she had no part in the actual cultivation process.

Their mega-money plot finally unravelled when police were called to a five-bedroom villa owned by Banks in September 2020 after reports of a “disturbance” in the street involving what appeared to be two rival gangs vying for the cannabis farm.

Banks, who had previous convictions for health-and-safety offences through her work, was due to be paid at least £12,000 a month in rent for use of the three properties and was also receiving “high” deposits, said Mr Bosomworth.

Her final confiscation hearing was adjourned to January 6 next year to give her defence counsel time to provide evidence that some of the bank transfers to her account were “legitimate”.

Ringleader Sellaj’s financial confiscation proceedings were adjourned for a full-day hearing to determine the amount of cash available to him.

A father-of-three has been jailed for subjecting his partner to a vicious “punishment beating” in which she was dragged out of her home, thrown into his car and then driven to another address where she was yanked along the street.

Alan Bell, 47, erupted in a fit of drunken rage at the woman’s home in Knaresborough where he punched her repeatedly after discovering she had recently tried drugs, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Daniel Ingram said the couple, who had drunk three bottles of wine together, got into an argument on Christmas Day last year after the named victim told Bell she had recently taken cocaine because she had been feeling down.

Bell, who worked for Huttons Butchers in Castlegate, Knaresborough, reacted with fury and accused her of cheating on him with another man.

The victim started talking to this man on the phone, whereupon Bell “began hitting her, punched her on the head and dragged her off the settee onto the floor”.

He then threw a pair of Dr Martens boots at her, before dragging her outside to his van, telling her that if she wanted to see the man, he would drive her to his house. Mr Ingram said:

“She begged him to stop (but) he dragged her outside to the van and threw her into the passenger seat.

“He drove to the male’s address and dragged her out of the van. He (then) punched her to the face and pushed her over.”

Taken to hospital

The victim was dragged along the ground towards the unnamed man’s house and then “dragged back (again)”.

She said she “smashed her face on the floor” after being pushed to the ground and was then kicked to the body, but Bell denied this. Mr Ingram added:

“(Bell) then moved away, leaving her lying on the floor.

“She was helped by strangers who called police and she was taken to hospital.”

The victim, who had since separated from Bell, discharged herself from hospital before she could be seen by medical staff.

When she returned home, she found her plants pots, Christmas presents and a glass candle had been smashed, and drink had been “poured all over (the presents)”.

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Bell had gone into her house and damaged the items as part of a “revenge” attack which lasted into the early hours of Boxing Day.

The victim also alleged that in the first attack at her home, Bell had kicked her to the body and hit her over the head with a TV remote control and her own shoes.

Bell denied these allegations but admitted punching her in the face “four or five times” before throwing her Dr Martens at her and dragging her into his van.

Mr Ingram said the victim suffered “nasty” bruising to her arms, face and body, a black eye, cut forehead and an ear injury after her earring was ripped out. He added:

“She said she was sore all over and in pain for a long time afterwards.

“She said she felt the need to hide away from others as a result of the bruising and…that at the time she thought she might die.”

Bell, of Castle Yard, Knaresborough, was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and damaging property.

He admitted both offences on the basis that he didn’t kick the victim or hit her with the TV remote. He appeared for sentence today after the prosecution accepted his plea.

Never been violent before

Peter Minnikin, for Bell, said his client had led an otherwise “blameless” life.

He added that Bell, who divorced from his ex-wife in 2016, had never been violent in previous relationships.

A character reference from his employer at Huttons Butchers, where he earned a good living, described Bell as a “hard-working man”.

Mr Minnikin said Bell met the victim in 2019 but their relationship became “toxic” and they were both drinking heavily.

Judge Sean Morris branded the attacks a “disgraceful incident”. He told Bell:

“This was a prolonged incident of degradation. You dragged (the victim) out of the van and dragged her back again in the street and she’s ended up with all these injuries.

“While she is out without any shoes on, looking for help, you are ripping all (her) Christmas presents and spoiling them with drink.

“It was a cowardly offence and you were inflicting punishment which you are not allowed to do.”

Mr Morris said the violence was “just too prolonged and too serious” for anything other than an immediate jail sentence. He added:

“I know that this is going to have an effect both on your employer and your family, but these kinds of domestic assaults have to be deterred so that people know what happens if they subject their partners, wives, girlfriends, to prolonged, humiliating punishment beatings.”

Bell was jailed for 10 months and given a five-year restraining order, which bans him contacting the victim or going to her house in Knaresborough.

A violent “brute” and serial thief has been jailed for attacking nurses and police officers and running amok at Harrogate District Hospital.

Philip John Watson, 32, “kicked off” inside the hospital’s A&E department where he assaulted two nurses, threatened doctors, threw a blood-pressure machine to the floor and launched a fruit-and-veg crate at a receptionist, York Crown Court heard.

Watson was on bail at the time after being arrested for a series of violent offences and shop thefts, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

During the “disgraceful” incident at the hospital on February 26, he went into the A&E department where he was treated for an apparent drug overdose.

He was left to “sleep it off” but when nurses went to rouse him, he began shouting and swearing at them. He then ripped the cannula, a fluid tube, from the back of his hand and pushed one of the nurses in the chest before elbowing her colleague in the shoulder “to get (her) out of his way”.

He then threw a blood-pressure machine to the floor and flicked blood from the cannula around the room. Ms Morrison added:

“He (then) stormed through A&E, pushing trolleys and trying to flip over the equipment.”

When a doctor asked him to stop, Watson threatened him before marching into the hospital reception, “again dripping blood onto the floor”. Ms Morrison said:

“He sat in a wheelchair before going outside and returning to reception with a wooden fruit-and-veg crate.”

Watson threw the crate at the ceiling, causing cracks and holes in the plastering. He then went outside, grabbed another crate and threw it at the reception desk, causing the receptionist to duck out of the way.

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He was escorted out of reception by two staff members, but then started throwing pieces of meat at nurses in the ambulance bay and threatening the ambulance driver.

Police were called in but when officers tried to cuff him, Watson tried to run away, shouting, “You will not arrest me”.

Officers took him to ground and hauled him into the police van, but Watson started kicking the police cage and told a special constable he would “bite his face off”.

Claimed to have swallowed bags of heroin

On arrival at Harrogate Police Station, Watson claimed he had swallowed bags of heroin, forcing officers to take him back to hospital for checks. On the way there, he subjected the special constable to a torrent of “foul and racist” comments.

Watson, from Harrogate but of no fixed address, was on bail at the time following a string of offences including a previous incident at the hospital on May 20 last year, when he went into A&E – again in a drink and drug-induced state – and was placed in a cubicle “to sleep it off”.

When he woke, he tried to leave the hospital through the “wrong door” and went berserk, “grabbing and shaking” doors and walking into the resuscitation room.

A doctor called for assistance and two hospital porters escorted Watson back to the cubicle where he told the doctor he wanted to “put his hands around somebody’s neck and squeeze them until their heads pop”.

Such was Watson’s “aggressive and intimidatory” behaviour, hospital staff called police who arrived to arrest him.

That same month, Watson stole alcohol from Asda on Bower Road and after being arrested he headbutted a glass door at the police station, causing it to crack.

The following month, on bail again, he elbowed a police officer in the face, causing a small cut, after being stopped on suspicion of shoplifting in Bower Street. Two other officers tried to bring him under control him, but he ran away as they fired a Taser gun at him which missed.

He was finally arrested following a short chase, but it took three officers to restrain him.

Three months later, he was arrested again for handling stolen goods after he and another man stole about £150 of clothes from TK Max at the Victoria Shopping Centre.

In October, he stole from the Co-op and used a stolen bank card to buy cigarettes from Tesco.

In November, he stole razors worth £145 from Asda and was arrested again the following month after stealing hundreds of pounds’ worth of clothes from TK Max. On being arrested, he was found with heroin.

He was ultimately charged with a raft of offences including assaulting police officers and hospital staff, resisting a police constable, criminal damage, shop thefts, threatening behaviour, possessing a Class A drug and handling stolen goods.

He admitted all matters and appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

‘Enormous’ criminal record

The court heard that Watson had an “enormous” criminal record for offences including burglary, robbery, carrying knives, racially aggravated criminal damage, assaulting police officers and “beating people up”. All the offences were fuelled by drink and drugs.

His solicitor advocate Graham Parkin said Watson was “completely out of control” at the time of his latest series of offences.

Judge Sean Morris said Watson had behaved “like a brute” towards the doctors and nurses who were “trying to save people’s lives”.

He described his behaviour as “disgracefully violent”.

Watson was handed a 21-month jail sentence, but he won’t be spending too long in prison as he will only have to serve half of that behind bars and he had already served the equivalent of a 14-month sentence on remand.

A burglar raided a couple’s home while they slept and drove off with the husband’s Land Rover, but was later caught due to a tracking device the victim had connected to his vehicle.

Michael Balog, 21, was on prison licence and wore an immigration tag at the time of the burglary at the semi-detached home on Eleanor Road, Harrogate, in the early hours of August 31.

He broke in while the couple were asleep upstairs and stole a purse, wallet and the keys to the husband’s Land Rover Discovery, said prosecutor Neil Coxon at York Crown Court today.

He said that Balog was on an electronic tag at the time due to “matters concerned with immigration”.

The named victim, who had parked his 17-plate Land Rover outside, woke up the following morning to find that the front door of the house was ajar and his car keys and wallet had disappeared. His wife’s purse or handbag, containing bank cards, had also gone, as had his Land Rover, worth “many thousands of pounds”.

Mr Coxon told the court:

“Fortunately, he had both the car and his wallet fitted with a tracker device and that was connected to an app on his mobile [phone], and therefore he was able to track the vehicle to the location where he and police were able to recover it.

“He even had his keys attached to the tracker device.”

The tracking app enabled police to find the car keys, which had been hidden behind a loose brick in a wall at Balog’s home.

Balog, originally from the Czech Republic, had removed the mortar from around the brick and slipped the car keys into the cavity “like a spy’s ‘dead letter drop’”, before “carefully” putting the brick back in place.

Balog was brought in for questioning but initially denied all allegations. He was charged with burglary and theft of the Land Rover and ultimately admitted both offences.

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Balog, of Kennion Road, Harrogate, was charged with a third allegation of attempted burglary at a property on nearby Wetherby Road on the same night but denied this and the charge was allowed to lie on court file.

He appeared for sentence via video link today after being recalled to prison to serve the remainder of a previous jail sentence.

Mr Coxon said Balog had five previous convictions for eight offences including burglary, vehicle theft, handling stolen goods and drug dealing.

In August 2019, he was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders’ institution for burglary.

In December 2020, he was jailed for over two years for dealing crack cocaine. He was released from jail in January this year when he was fitted with a tag to enable police to monitor his movements.

He was still subject to the tagging order and on prison licence when he targeted the family home on Eleanor Road.

Defence barrister Jeremy Barton said Balog had stolen to fund a drug habit and pay off drug debts.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, slammed Balog for “invading somebody’s house while [he] was asleep with his wife upstairs”.

“You took the keys and you took a vehicle that would have been worth many thousands of pounds.

“It is just good fortune that the [victim] had put a tracking device on the keys [which] were secreted in a ‘dead-letter drop’.

“Were it not for the tracker on the key fob, those keys would not have been found. There was good police work in this case.”

Jailing Balog for 22 months, the judge told him:

“You are yet again back before the courts (and) you only have yourself to blame.”

Balog will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

A Harrogate police officer has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a property in North Yorkshire.

Joseph McCabe, 27, “stroked” the woman on her arm then badgered her for sex, prosecutor Richard Blackburn told York Magistrates’ Court.

When the alleged victim rejected his advances, Mr McCabe, who had been drinking, grabbed her hair and pulled her off a bed, before demanding she had sex with him, added Mr Blackburn.

He said that Mr McCabe, a devout Roman Catholic, 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.

“He took hold of her arm and began to stroke it,” said Mr Blackburn.

When the woman – who was not in a relationship with Mr McCabe – asked him what he was doing, he made no reply, it was alleged.

Mr McCabe, a police constable who had recently got married, apologised to the woman but about half an hour later he grabbed her by the hair and tried to pull her off a bed.

Mr Blackburn said the woman was scared and again asked Mr McCabe what he was doing, and made it clear she didn’t want to have sex.

About 30 minutes later, Mr McCabe started shouting, “Get into…bed now”, added Mr Blackburn.

She again spurned his advances, said the prosecutor.

Mr McCabe 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. However, he denies his actions were sexual in nature.

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

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Mr McCabe, of Kingsley Park Road, Harrogate, was brought in for questioning and gave police a prepared statement claiming he was drunk at the time. He admitted lifting the woman and putting her down on a bed but denied that his behaviour was sexual.

He said it appeared that “matters were developing” between them during the incident in the early hours of the morning, and that he had “stupidly” tried to kiss the woman.

“He said she made it clear that was not what she wanted and he then apologised,” added Mr Blackburn.

He denied pulling the woman’s hair and demanding that she get into bed with him, and said he fell asleep after she made it clear she didn’t want sex.

The alleged victim gave evidence via video link on the first day of the trial today.

She said she only had a little to drink and was sober on the night in question and claimed that Mr McCabe “didn’t seem overly drunk”.

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

“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 added.

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

“At first I was a bit shocked and couldn’t work out what he was doing,” she said.

“I said, ‘What do you think are you doing?’ I perceived that he was trying to have sex with me.”

She said she pointed to the Crucifix that Mr McCabe was wearing and said: “Aren’t you meant to be religious? What are you doing?”

“I turned away from him at that point because I didn’t want him to think I was interested in him,” she added.

However, 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.”

“I remember shaking a lot and I didn’t know what to do,” she added.

“I just froze in fear.”

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

Mr McCabe’s barrister Kevin Baumber questioned the veracity of the woman’s claims that she’d only had a small amount to drink and suggested she had drunk more than she had claimed on the night in question.

Mr Baumber claimed there were no sexual motives in Mr McCabe picking her up and placing her on the bed.

Mr McCabe, who was suspended by North Yorkshire Police pending the outcome of the trial, denies one count of sexual assault. The incident occurred last year.

The trial resumes on December 5 at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court when the defence will set out its case.