Amazon driver found guilty of causing death of Ripon biker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snapchat activated

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

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

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

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

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

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

Motorbike enthusiast

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chef shot his baker at Harrogate gastro pub

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

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

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

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

Mr Shaw said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Safety catch

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

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

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

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Mr Shaw added:

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

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

Admits GBH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The trial continues.

Ripon man jailed for stealing two bikes in Harrogate

A Ripon man has been jailed for 26 weeks for stealing two bikes in Harrogate.

Dwain Carl Layton, 31, of King Edward Road, appeared before York Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with stealing the bikes from a garage on Kingsley Road on June 28.

The bikes were estimated to be worth £1,000.

Layton pleaded guilty to the charge and was jailed.

The magistrates said the sentence was handed down after Layton had failed to comply with requirements of post custodial sentence supervision.

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It added that the offence was aggravated by “the defendant’s record of previous offending”.

Layton was also ordered to pay compensation of £100 and a victim surcharge of £154.

Ex-Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott escapes driving ban

Former Leeds Rhinos head coach and Harrogate resident Brian McDermott has escaped a driving ban after arguing he needs his car to scout players.

McDermott, 52, of Knox Mill Close, was in York Magistrates Court yesterday after being caught driving his BMW above the 60mph speed limit on the A59 close to Bolton Abbey last year.

The coach, who also represented England and Great Britain during his playing career, pleaded guilty but asked the court to waive the three points as it would take him to 12 points and an automatic ban.

In a submission to the court, Mr McDermott said he unexpectedly found himself out of work for 18 months after his previous club Toronto Wolfpack went out of business due to covid in March 2020.

During this time he had been living from savings, which were now close to running out.

In October 2021, he took a job as head coach at Featherstone Rovers who play in the second-tier of the sport.

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McDermott said he drives over 40,000 miles a year for the role, which involves work in the community, travelling to amateur clubs and scouting players.

He said he was the only person at Featherstone able to watch players from other clubs.

Without the car, he said he could potentially lose his job, which would mean he’d struggle to pay child support and rent.

Special reasons

Magistrates said they were satisfied that Mr McDermott had ‘special reasons’ for contesting the penalty points. 

However, they said the reasons given were not appropriate “in all of the circumstances” so they issued the three penalty points, taking him to 12 overall, but allowed him to continue driving.

He was also fined £307 and asked to pay a victim’s surcharge of £34 and costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Harrogate murder trial adjourned until next week

The murder trial of Vitalijus Koreiva and Jaroslaw Rutowicz has been adjourned until Monday due to problems finding a Lithuanian translator.

Mr Koreiva, 36, and Mr Rutowicz, 39, are accused of murdering Gracijus Balciauskas at a flat on Mayfield Grove in Harrogate on December 20 last year.

The trial began on Monday last week at Leeds Crown Court and was set to continue until at least the end of this week.

Mr Koreiva, who is Lithuanian, was due to take the stand this week but his translator is unavailable until Friday and the court has been unable to find another one.

One of the 12 jurors has also caught covid, so Judge Rodney Jameson QC today adjourned the trial until Monday morning.

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The trial began last week with the prosecution giving evidence.

The court heard how Mr Balciauskas’ body was found wrapped in a rug and CCTV footage was shown of the three men buying alcohol in the hours leading up to his death.

This week, the defence began with Mr Rutowicz claiming Mr Koreiva violently killed Mr Balciauskas after a drunken game of chess turned ugly — and then threatened to do the same to him if he dialled 999 for help.

Harrogate ‘crackhouse’ shut down following cuckooing claims

A court has closed down a Harrogate council house for three months following claims a drug-dependent woman was being exploited by drug dealers.

Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the property on Cawthorne Avenue, applied to Harrogate Magistrates Court for a closure order on the property under Section 80 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2014.

A notice was served this week at the one-bedroom property, which has been occupied by a 27-year-old female tenant, who was named in court, since June 2021.

Harrogate Borough Council solicitor Lynne Ashton told the court yesterday the “draconian order” was necessary due to the tenant’s spiralling addiction to class A drugs and the fact that known dealers and users were regularly seen visiting when she was not there.

The court heard how council housing staff have made repeated attempts to visit the tenant due to ongoing problems at the house, which have included threats of violence towards neighbours.

Ms Ashton said there was intelligence that the house was being used as a crackhouse and the tenant “appeared to be the victim of cuckooing”.

Cuckooing is when drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person in order to use it as a base for drug dealing.

The tenant did not attend court to offer a defence.

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Squalid conditions

Ms Ashton read out a witness statement from a North Yorkshire Police officer who visited the property in April and found over 200 used needles in a bag.

The statement described the squalid conditions at the property, including a double mattress on a concrete living room floor with needles and other drug paraphernalia scattered around.

The officer’s statement said:

“I was disgusted. It was one of the worst houses I’ve ever been in my career as a police officer”.

Ms Ashton also told the court that the house was near Willow Tree Primary School and there were concerns about used needles being left outside when children walk to school.

The court agreed to close the property for three months, effective immediately.

Ms Ashton said the tenant will be offered a place at Fern House, a specialist hostel for homeless people in Starbeck operated by Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate man charged with supplying cocaine and assaulting police

Harrogate man Ermal Biba has been charged with supplying cocaine and cannabis and assaulting two police officers.

Mr Biba, 37, of Trafalgar Court, is accused of supplying cocaine and cannabis in Harrogate and supplying cannabis in Rochdale, Greater Manchester on or before May 5.

He is also accused of assaulting a female police officer at Ashfield Road, Harrogate on Thursday last week and of assaulting a male police officer at Nydd Vale Road on the same date.

On Saturday, North Yorkshire magistrates sent Mr Biba for trial at York Crown Court on June 6. He was remanded in custody.

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Harrogate online predator caught by vigilantes

A Harrogate man asked a 13-year-old ‘girl’ for nude photos during online chats, a court heard.

Thomas Fryer, 36, contacted the ‘girl’ on a messenger app, not realising he was in fact chatting with an adult decoy who was working undercover to trap online predators.

Prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe told York Crown Court that a vigilante group called Keeping Kids Safe was behind the sting, which ended with a “confrontation” at Fryer’s home that was live-streamed on social media.

She said the volunteer decoy – a man who was named in court – set up a fake profile purporting to be a teenage girl.

Fryer made contact under the username ‘Tom Fryer 1’. On the ‘girl’s’ profile it said she was 19 years of age, but when he contacted her, she told him she was 13 years old.

Thus began a series of debauched chats on the Oasis and KIK apps, culminating in the “confrontation” at Fryer’s home where the vigilantes called in police.

Officers arrived on the scene and seized Fryer’s iPhone, which showed messages between him and the ‘girl’, including one in which he asked her if she “goes nude” and encouraged her to take naked photos of herself. Ms Metcalfe said:

‘She’ sent him two photos, whereupon Fryer called her a ‘cute girl’.”

He then asked ‘her’ if she had any photos of her young friend and if this girl was sexually active.

He then asked ‘her’:

“Why don’t you kiss your ‘bestie’ for the experience?”

In subsequent chats, he asked for more pictures from the ‘girl’ and told ‘her’:

“It’s probably better to keep this between you and me. Don’t tell anyone about the (pictures) LOL.”

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Ms Metcalfe said the chats occurred over a five-day period between May 28 and June 1, 2020.

Never been in trouble before

Fryer, of Dragon Parade, was quizzed by police but remained largely silent. However, he ultimately admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

They were charged as ‘attempts’ because the ‘girl’ was in fact an adult decoy.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said Fryer had never been in trouble before.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was better for Fryer to get the help he needed in the community rather than any custodial sentence.

Fryer was given an 18-month community order with a 40-day rehabilitation programme. He was also ordered to carry out 80 hours’ unpaid work.

He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities.

Harrogate brothers wanted by police

Two Harrogate brothers who failed to turn up in court are wanted by North Yorkshire Police.

Robbie Nelson, 23, failed to appear in court after being charged with animal cruelty.

His older brother Charlie Nelson, 27, failed to appear in court for sentencing after being convicted of animal cruelty.

Warrants have been issued for their arrests by York Magistrates’ Court.

Police said in a statement today that they believed the men are in the Harrogate area and “enquiries have been ongoing to locate them”.

They added that if you have seen either of them or have any info about where they could be, call 101, quoting reference number 12210262539

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Girls aged 13, 14 and 15 bailed after McDonald’s police attack

Three teenage girls arrested after two police officers suffered serious injuries at McDonald’s in Harrogate on Friday night have been released on bail pending further enquires.

The police community support officers from Harrogate’s neighbourhood policing team were called to the McDonald’s on Cambridge Road following reports that the girls, aged 13,14 and 15, had entered despite being banned due to anti-social behaviour earlier in the evening.

The group refused to leave when asked by officers and trouble flared at around 7pm.

One of the PCSOs suffered a suspected broken nose and the other sustained tissue damage to the cheek. Both received hospital treatment.

Detective Constable Amy Sharrad, who is leading on the investigation, today thanked people who had given information. She added:

“We are aware of some footage circulating on social media of the incident, and would ask that those who have posted footage to contact us as soon as possible with any information.”

Anyone who has any information that can assist the investigation can email Detective Constable Amy Sharrad at amy.sharrad@northyorkshire.police.uk or call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

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