A man who broke a policeman’s nose and cheekbone in a “disgraceful” attack at his home in Harrogate has narrowly avoided jail.

Joel Adam Rushton, 37, was resisting arrest when he struck one of the officers repeatedly, York Crown Court heard.

The officer received specialist hospital treatment for facial fractures and made a full physical recovery, but still suffered from the physical and mental effects of the incident on January 3, said prosecutor James Howard.

The policeman, who was named in court, had gone to Rushton’s address to arrest him for his behaviour towards his ex-partner, added Mr Howard. Six months after they broke up, she received a barrage of threatening phone calls from Rushton, who told her:

“I’m going to smash your head in; I’m going to kill you. I’m going to find you. I’m going to your mum’s to put my foot through the door. I want you dead.”

She hung up but he called back repeatedly, whereupon she called the police. Mr Howard added:

“She received a call from her mother who said that (Rushton) had been to (her) property and had been kicking the door and asking where (the victim) was.”

Turned violent

The victim – whose fraught relationship with Rushton ended in June last year – was so frightened of what he might do to her that she sought refuge at Harrogate Police Station.

When police turned up at Rushton’s home, he refused to be put in handcuffs and turned so violent that officers had to use pepper spray in an attempt to subdue him, amid screams from Rushton’s “highly agitated” new girlfriend, who was also sprayed accidentally.

Rushton “made a beeline” for one of the officers, whom he punched repeatedly in the face. The scuffle spilled out onto the street where Rushton grabbed one of the officer’s batons.

The injured officer had an X-ray six days later which showed he had fractures to his nose and cheekbone. He also suffered nasal bleeding.

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Rushton, of Grove Park Lane, Harrogate, appeared for sentence on Friday after pleading guilty to assaulting the officer occasioning actual bodily harm and making threatening phone calls to his ex-partner – an offence under the Malicious Communications Act.

In a victim impact statement, Rushton’s ex-girlfriend said she had been left feeling “anxious and distressed” which had resulted in her leaving the job she loved.

The officer who was seriously injured at Rushton’s home said he had suffered from depression, sleep problems and physical pain since the attack in January. He was put on restricted duties for weeks following the attack and was afraid to leave his house. Mr Howard said:

“He says the entire ordeal has left him (and his family) distressed and upset.”

Previous convictions

The court heard that Rushton, a father of four, had two previous convictions for three offences including public disorder.

Defence barrister Keith Allen said that Rushton, who worked as a fireplace installer, “lost emotional control” on the day in question while in a “primal state” born of “extreme anger”. He had behaved “completely out of character” when the officers came to arrest him and had since received cognitive therapy from a mental health nurse.

Recorder Margia Mostafa branded Rushton’s behaviour towards his ex-partner “disgraceful”, particularly his threats to kill her. She added:

“She must have believed what you were saying because she had to go to Harrogate Police Station as a place of safety.”

She noted, however, the “glowing” character references including one from Rushton’s employer, which “could not be further from the man that assaulted police and behaved in a dreadful fashion towards his former partner”, and others which described him as a “completely different man: a dedicated, loving father”.

Rushton’s 22-month jail sentence was suspended for two years but Ms Mostafa said he had “come close” to going straight to prison “because assaults against police officers are not acceptable”.

Rushton was also given a 12-month restraining order banning him from contacting or approaching his ex-partner. He was also placed on a nine-month, nightly curfew and ordered to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work.

In addition, Rushton was ordered to complete a 25-day rehabilitation programme and pay £1,500 compensation to the injured police officer.

Harrogate Borough Council wants to dip into its reserves to pay for an external consultant who would help develop three council-owned sites, including at Harlow Nurseries next to the Pinewoods where 40 homes are mooted.

A report is due to go before HBC’s cabinet on Wednesday that says the consultant would explore “quality place-making” on the sites and would assess options for how they could deliver the housing and employment needs of the district. The report does not say how much the external consultant would cost.

The three sites are at Harlow Nurseries, Dragon Road car park and land south of Almsford Bridge in Pannal. They have all been designated within the council’s Local Plan, which says where development will happen in the district over the next 14 years.

Harlow Nurseries sells council plants, pots and compost to the public, but would be relocated to another location if the housing went ahead.

Earlier this year, Harrogate Borough Council asked residents their views about Harlow Nurseries, with one respondent saying “it would be a very, very sad day if the site was sold off for housing.”

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At Harlow Nurseries, a condition of development is that it must provide “appropriate mitigation and compensation” to reduce any adverse environmental impacts on the Pinewoods, which is 96 acres of council-owned woodland adjacent to the site.

A spokesperson for the Pinewoods Conservation Group told the Stray Ferret:

“The development of the Nursery site adjacent to The Pinewoods was inevitable after its inclusion in the recently approved local plan. This will see further enclosure of The Pinewoods and the likely loss of many trees within the nursery site if the 40 houses are built. It is also a key access point for many residents and visitors that could be at risk as part of any major development.

“This is one the group will monitor over the next year and we can only hope that the council, and its appointed consultant, will look to engage with us on the site’s future.”

Teachers’ unions have said they are concerned about the safety of teachers with disabilities returning to school in the Harrogate district. Most schools re-open tomorrow morning.

Sharon Calvert, local representative for the NASUWT Teachers’ Union, said the union had received particular concern from those who work in secondary schools.

It comes as pupils are set to return to school this week with a number of “significant changes” in place at schools across the district in an effort to abide by social distancing guidelines.

But Ms Calvert said unions are still concerned over the safety of vulnerable teachers who may be at risk from the virus and what procedures are in place to protect staff.

She said:

“The top and bottom of it is that teachers had concerns about returning to school and we have got issues with teachers who have disabilities.

“There is a lot of concern because it is the most vulnerable who are at risk. It seems to be that people who are disabled are ignored.”

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Union bosses said they have offered their members advice and guidance on returning to school, including a feedback form on the safety of their workplace.

It comes as schools across the district have put in place measures ahead of the return of pupils for the new term.

Measures include wearing face masks and separating year groups.

Among those to have announced the adaptations is Harrogate Grammar School with a number of “significant changes” in place to ensure safety and limit coronavirus outbreaks.

The school has reorganised classrooms and the cafeteria, staggered lunch and finish times and put in place a contingency plan for those needing to self-isolate. Additional cleaning staff have also been hired.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire County Council has put on extra buses in the district in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus among pupils going back to school.

The Department for Education has said it is committed to ensuring that pupils and staff return safely to school.

A total of 166 drug arrests were made in the Harrogate district between January and July this year.  North Yorkshire police said it is committed to continue its drive to tackle the issues caused by county lines drugs.

The arrests include all drug offences, other than drug driving. Across the whole of North Yorkshire there were 808 arrests and the Harrogate district ranked the third highest area for arrests.

County lines is a serious issue for the police in Harrogate – which now has one of three dedicated teams in the county.

This form of organised crime sees drug dealers from more urban areas exploit vulnerable people, including children, and force them to deal drugs in smaller towns and cities.

Acting Superintendent Andrew Colbourne of Harrogate, said:

“The exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults, and the levels of violence associated with county lines makes it a foremost priority for North Yorkshire Police and its partners.

“Proactive policing also plays a big part in the number of drug arrests. We have dedicated teams across North Yorkshire Police – including Harrogate –  that target the supply of drugs and work alongside partners to protect vulnerable people on a daily basis. Information from members of the public is also vital.

The Stray Ferret has previously reported on police raids in an attempt to combat drug crime. In March we reported on parent’s concerns about how easy it was for their children to get access to drugs.  

Superintendent Colbourne, added:

“Enforcement activity has not stopped as a result of the coronavirus pandemic – indeed, over the last few months, we have executed a number of warrants to tackle suspected drugs offences.”

Read more:

• What is county lines and what are the warning signs for parents?
• Lockdown blamed for the increase in recreational drug use in Harrogate.

The police said the public can offer vital information that results in arrests. Any suspicions involving exploitation or drug dealing should be reported to the police or Crimestoppers.

Harrogate’s Citizens Advice Bureau says they are “bracing themselves” for a sharp rise in unemployment in the town when the furlough scheme winds down.

Ed Pickering, who runs the Harrogate branch of the charity, told the Stray Ferret that whilst the scheme has protected employees from losing their jobs, he expects the economic impact of coronavirus to eventually hit workers in the district.

Over 15,000 people in Harrogate and Knaresborough have had their jobs protected through the furlough scheme.  New claims for out-of-work benefits such as Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s allowance stabilised over the past few months.

Local MP Andrew Jones previously said concerns over a surge in unemployment at the end of the scheme were “alarmist”.

Mr Pickering called the last few months “the calm before the storm” but said the charity is already starting seeing to see people who are furloughed in Harrogate and concerned about losing their job.

He said:

“A lot of people are now coming to us with employment problems. The furlough scheme has protected them but now they may be discovering that they won’t have a job.

“We’re starting to see it already and we’re bracing ourselves for the impact. There are people who’ve never dealt with the benefits system and we’re pretty well geared up for that, but it’s a little bit like ‘calm before the storm’.”

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• Harrogate out-of-work benefits claims rise slightly

In 2019 the government announced that the Harrogate Job Centre would be the first place in the country to pilot the Universal Credit managed migration programme, which transfers people claiming other benefits such as income support and job seeker’s allowance onto Universal Credit — but the process was beset with delays.

The Harrogate pilot was announced with great fanfare, including a visit from then-Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd. Ms Rudd said 10,000 benefit claimants would eventually move over to Universal Credit at Harrogate, but figures released to the Stray Ferret by Harrogate Borough Council revealed that only 64 people had by the end of last year.

The pilot was suspended in March this year, Mr Pickering says news on the scheme has gone “very, very quiet”, with the charity in the dark on whether it will even continue.

But despite a challenging 2020 with charity staff now working from home and speaking to clients over the phone, Mr Pickering praised the dedication of its volunteers:

“We’ve been incredibly busy but our staff of volunteers have been amazing.”

LNER is to increase the number of trains on its London to Scotland services from tomorrow. The train operator said it would add more than 1,600 seats for customers each weekday compared with the current timetable.

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

We live in strange and disconcerting times.

Uber, the largest taxi company in the world owns no cars.  Airbnb, the largest ‘hotel’ company in the world owns no property.  Both are examples of what are known in the jargon as technology platform “disruptors,” companies that upend existing business models and established values and norms of behaviour in order to increase the risks borne by others (in this case by taxi drivers and homeowners) and, by so doing, derive greater profit for themselves.

At busy times, Uber’s algorithm (now where else have we heard that word recently…?) simultaneously proscribes “surge pricing” for customers – that’s you and me – and increases competition for jobs among the drivers who use the Uber platform.  In other words, Uber operates by price gouging its customers and forcing competition between its own drivers, none of whom it employs.  The model may be an unbridled capitalist’s wet dream, but it reflects an economy and society that increasingly values and celebrates the immediate gratification of individual customer convenience over collective fairness and decency.  I am not a fan.

The always sensible Matthew Parris has written in The Times this week of the dangers of bringing this desire to disrupt, to change and to remake, into the realm of government and public service provision.  Especially now.  Now when we remain gripped by the anxieties and uncertainties unleashed by a global pandemic.  When business is struggling to survive, when unemployment is a long way from cresting its inevitable wave and when the level of public sector borrowing makes inevitable a coming fiscal tightening of asphyxiating strength.

The curse of the social media age is that politicians seem to perceive that it is more important to be seen to do something interesting than it is for them actually to do something meaningful, however mundane.  Keeping your head down and getting on with the job of delivering the fundamentals of government has become distinctly unfashionable.  This affliction affects Harrogate Borough Council’s leadership in spades and, for you grammarians out there, I do mean affect, as in affectation.  Quietly getting on with delivering excellent and value-for-money public services is not this lot’s style, more’s the pity.

Let’s do a quick rollcall of examples to demonstrate what I mean.  I’ve written here before about the fact the council have announced a spin-out of our leisure services into a Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC), sacrificing people, place and wellbeing in the name of costs savings, efficiency and commercialisation.  They are spending a £1m on a design study to redevelop Harrogate’s unprofitable Convention Centre, a redevelopment that will, by the council’s own estimates, cost local taxpayers £46m.  They reside in glass-fronted splendour on Knapping Mount, built at vast expense on valuable land when they could have opted for a much cheaper, more modest and utilitarian building elsewhere.  It is rumoured too, that in the no doubt laudable interests of environmental protection, they intend to become a Carbon Negative council, with the pedestrianisation of James Street being a notable first step.

Which brings me to the subject of consultation, public engagement and “listening.”  The pedestrianisation of James Street is to be imposed against the wishes of local business owners and without authentic consultation.  Having asked for their opinion it transpired the council had already made up its mind and done a deal with North Yorkshire County Council.  This is arrogant, insulting and typical.  Harrogate business fears that at this time of deep uncertainty about their future prospects, the council is pursuing eye-catching environmental measures over the basic interests of economic viability and, let’s face it, the protection of local jobs.  The occupancy of retail outlets on Oxford and James Streets already offers the appearance of swiss-cheese; with holes everywhere.  Surely the council should zero in on what it will take to protect further atrophy of local business and make that its overriding priority during deeply uncertain times.

Devolution is also on the agenda.  This week North Yorkshire district councils held a video consultation to discuss their plans with local people.  It seems we couldn’t care less.  The video consultation attracted just 22 people.  A number reduced when taking into account the virtual attendance of several councillors.  Is this a sign of consultation fatigue?  A recognition evidenced by indifference that the councils’ motivation to Zoom is not to thoroughly understand the needs and wants of the people they purport to serve (actually to consult) but rather much more about being seen to consult, to box tick, while they get on with pushing what they alone want.

Matthew Parris makes the case that what we need now is “not disruption but protection, not upheaval but steadiness, not the sweeping aside but continuity; this should be the call; the call of the known, the tried, the familiar. Conservatives, of all people, should hear it.”  Harrogate Council’s wannabes take note.  Setting aside your bluster, bumble and bullying, unless you focus on your everyday knitting, unless you take the time and care to truly understand local people’s real needs now, for employment, housing and security, unless you work with local business to help them thrive and deliver jobs creation, you cannot in good conscience call yourselves Conservatives.  Announcing what you hope are grand and eye-catching schemes is no substitute for governing effectively, responsibly and sympathetically.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

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Harrogate Railway will offer one year of free football training to under 5s and under 6s, to try and spur on the next generation of footballers in Harrogate.

Richard Foster, youth development officer at Harrogate Railway, told the Stray Ferret that there’s been “no better time” to be involved in youth football in the town, thanks to the recent promotions of Harrogate Town and Leeds United.

At one stage in the 2000s, Harrogate Railway were synonymous with football in Harrogate, especially after their FA Cup second round tie against Bristol City, which was watched by 3,500 supporters and shown live on the BBC. However, the club, which is based in Starbeck, has struggled in recent years and in 2019 were relegated to the eighth tier of English of football.

Richard Foster, youth development officer at Harrogate Railway.

Richard said Railway is putting their hopes into youth football to try and inspire local youngsters and potentially provide new players for their first team.

He said with many children forced to stay indoors during lockdown for months, it’s meant they’ve been more used to playing FIFA 20 on an X-Box than kicking a ball around with friends, but he said some age groups at Railway have now started to return to regular football.

He said:

“We have seen some regression both socially and psychologically from players, this accounts for 50% of the player’s abilities so we have had to work hard to build these key areas back up.

“These issues are due to the lockdown, excessive playing of videos games, and a lack of a structured educational setting. This has hampered some age groups return, with some players and parents still not wanting to return, but on the whole, we are in a healthy position.”

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Grassroots football in England has declined sharply in recent years, with the FA reporting thousands of clubs folding over the past decade.

Richard said the club wants to offer a clear pathway from grassroots through to the first-team to give their young players something to aspire to. The club will also offer financial support to adults looking to get their UEFA coaching licenses.

Details of the free coaching programme will be announced over the next week weeks.

Richard added:

“This past six or seven months have been hard for the entire community and as a club we are here to support and serve them. The club has been here 85 years and is still going strong.”

Questions surround the future of Harrogate’s Jaeger store after it has remained closed after lockdown restrictions were eased.

While other retailers have implemented social distancing measures and reopened, Jaeger has yet to let any customers back into its Cambridge Crescent outlet.

The Stray Ferret contacted Jaeger to ask if it intended to reopen and if any date was set for the return of shoppers, but did not receive a response.

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Prior to the pandemic, Jaeger’s parent company, Edinburgh Woolen Mill Group, narrowed its losses at the clothing outlet to £1.1 million and expanded its stores in 2019.

EWM Group added seven further stores and four concession outlets to its portfolio.

The upmarket retailer fell into administration and was acquired by EWM Group in 2017. The year before, the retailer recorded losses of £7.1 million.

Harrogate Neighbours, which cares for the vulnerable, has maintained its ‘Customer Service Excellence’ accreditation and been praised for its response to the coronavirus pandemic.   

Harrogate Neighbours was formed by town residents about 50 years ago. The non-profit group provides accommodation for the elderly, supports private homes and delivers meals to the community. 

It is responsible for Heath Lodge on Pannal Ash Road and the Cuttings on Station View. 

An external body assessed Harrogate Neighbours in its customer insight, culture, information and access, delivery, timeliness and quality of service.  

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The housing association maintained its accreditation and was praised in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. It is one of the only care groups in the area to have reported no coronavirus cases.  

Commenting on the certification, Sue Cawthray, CEO at Harrogate Neighbours, said: 

“I am so proud of the hard work and dedication shown by everyone at Harrogate Neighbours – particularly in the face of the worst pandemic we have ever had to deal with.” 

The ‘Customer Service Excellence’ standard was introduced by the Cabinet Office in 2008. It welcomes all types of organisation and encourages a focus on customer needs.