Police have appealed for information after a car was damaged in Hollins Road in Harrogate.

Officers said the incident happened at 2am on Tuesday (July 25) when a driver’s side rear window of a Peugeot 207 was smashed.

In a statement, North Yorkshire Police said two men dressed in dark clothing were seen running away from the scene towards Hampsthwaite Road.

Police added:

“Anyone with information that could assist officers with their investigation should email Sam.Clarke2@northyorkshire.police.uk.

“You can also call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC Sam Clarke.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230138046 when passing on information.”

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A man has been jailed for two years for causing the death of his friend by dangerous driving near Ripon.

Harry Elliott, 25, was driving his high-performance Audi RS3 at “excessive speeds” in the run-up to the fatal crash on the B6265 at Risplith near the city.

The Audi, which was carrying four passengers including 20-year-old Naomi Buckle from Catterick Garrison, crashed into a tree after Elliott lost control on a blind, sharp bend, York Crown Court heard.

The mother-of-one from, whose seat belt was under her arm and around her stomach, was shunted forward by the impact and suffered a haemorrhage.

An ambulance was called but Naomi, described as a “beautiful, perfect” daughter, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutor Eleanor Fry said that Elliott had been driving his friends, including Naomi and three young men, from the Richmond area to Brimham Rocks in Summerbridge when the horror crash occurred in the early hours of December 19, 2019.

She said the atmosphere inside the car had been “somewhat hyper” and loud music was blaring. Elliott had been warned by his friends “on at least one occasion” to slow down.

Naomi and her boyfriend, who was also a passenger, had been picked up by Elliott after they finished their work shifts.

She was sat in the back seat with her seat belt on, but evidence suggested she had moved the upper part of her seat belt under her arm.

Naomi Buckle, who died in the crash near Grantley Hall on December 6, 2019. Picture: North Yorkshire Police.

Ms Fry said that Elliott’s mobile phone was on the dashboard, blaring loud music, and video footage from another phone showed that the passengers were “shouting and cheering”. 

The Audi was initially travelling down the A1(M) at an average speed of 94mph but at some points “significantly faster”.

It then moved onto the A6005 where it continued to drive at over the speed limit in wet conditions. 

The Audi then turned onto the B6265 which had no street lighting and along which were warning signs about bends in the road and the need for careful driving.

Ms Fry said:

“It was about 2am and dark.

“It was raining. The ground was wet and the car was laden with five people.”

The Audi was travelling at “high speeds”, thought to be 69mph, as it approached a sharp, blind bend and veered out of control. Elliott slammed on the brakes, but the car struck a tree.

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Naomi, who had a three-year-old daughter, was shunted forward and suffered a haemorrhage. A road-accident expert later concluded that if the seat belt had been fitted properly, it might have saved her life.

An ambulance was called and Elliott and his friend tried to resuscitate Naomi, but her condition deteriorated by the time the emergency services arrived and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The three other passengers, who were named in court, all suffered serious injuries. One suffered broken ribs and a fractured hand, breastbone and coccyx. Another passenger suffered a fractured wrist and breastbone and broken ribs. 

Naomi’s boyfriend, with whom she had been living, suffered two spinal fractures, suspected broken ribs and whiplash.

Elliott, who suffered minor injuries, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. He was also initially charged with three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He ultimately admitted causing Naomi’s death by dangerous driving on the first day of his trial in June after initially denying the offence. The three remaining charges relating to the three male passengers were allowed to lie on court file.

Elliott, from Richmond, appeared for sentence today – two-and-a-half years after the fatal crash which the prosecution described as “truly tragic”.

Ms Fry said that Elliott – who had drunk “two pints” some time before getting behind the wheel but was not over the limit – had driven “over-confidently, at speed”, on roads he knew very well, “no doubt encouraged (by the atmosphere in the car) and the music”.

‘Beautiful, perfect daughter’

In a statement read out in court, Naomi’s father Gary Buckle said that Naomi was a “beautiful, perfect” daughter.

He said that when Naomi’s late mother Elaine received the call on December 19 “it was the start of what can only be described as hell for our family for over three years”.

He said his wife’s heart was “broken” after they got the “dreadful knock on the door” to be told their beloved daughter had died. 

He added:

“It completely broke me. She had so much to live for.”

He said his wife’s already-fragile health deteriorated after Naomi’s death and she too passed away in 2021.

Mr Buckle added:

“She never saw justice for Naomi and died with so many unanswered questions.”

Defence barrister Dan Cordey said that Elliott was “genuinely remorseful” for causing the death of his close friend. 

Judge Sean Morris told Elliott he had caused the death of a “much-loved and dear young woman”. 

He added:

“This has devastated the lives of Naomi’s family and nothing I can do in this case will help heal or…fill the chasm of loss that they must feel and will continue to feel for the rest of their lives.

“Young men in fast cars must understand that they drive lethal weapons.”

Elliott, of Anteforth View, Gilling West, received a two-year jail sentence but will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was banned from driving for three years. 

Investigations are ongoing into an attempted arson at a petrol station in Pateley Bridge, police have said.

The incident happened between 1.45am and 2.45am on Sunday, May 14, at the Dales Market Corner petrol station in the town.

According to North Yorkshire Police, two men walked onto the forecourt, placed a backpack in the area and set it alight. The backpack then self-extinguished.

Two men were arrested in connection with the attempted arson following the incident.

A 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson, while a 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson and criminal damage.

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Both have since been released on conditional bail and no charges have been issued.

A police spokesperson said today that an investigation into the attempted arson is ongoing.

Jill Cowling, detective inspector from Harrogate CID, said previously:

“We’re treating this incident as deliberate, and enquiries are continuing.  Thankfully no one was injured, but we will be increasing police activity in the area to provide additional reassurance to the public.

“As part of the ongoing police investigation I’m now appealing for people to come forward about any suspicious activity at the location on the night of Saturday 13 and in the early hours of Sunday 14 May 2023.”

Police arrested two people in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate today on suspicion of supplying class A drugs.

A North Yorkshire Police statement this afternoon said officers attended a property on Norwich Drive after receiving reports of suspicious activity.

A man and a woman were arrested and a suspected weapon, drugs and mobile devices were seized.

The pair remain in custody.

No other details were released.

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WARNING: This story contains details of sexual offences that some people may find upsetting.

A former deputy head of boarding and charity boss at a private school in the Harrogate district has been found guilty of more than 40 sexual offences against female pupils.

Alexander Charles Ralls, 47, was also a deputy child protection officer at Queen Ethelburga’s School at the time of the offences.

He was accused of sexually abusing 20 girls over a three-year period and charged with 48 separate offences including 37 sexual assaults and 10 counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He denied all the allegations. 

Yesterday, a jury found him guilty of all but four of the offences following a four-week trial at Bradford Crown Court. 

Mr Hampton said:

“The defendant had a sexual interest in pre-pubescent and adolescent children and teenagers.

“He had the opportunity to pursue that interest and commit the offences because of who he was and the job he held.

“Alexander Charles Ralls was a fraud. He would deceive the girls into believing that his touching of them, or other activity, was a necessary and legitimate medical procedure. In fact, it was not. 

“His actions were driven… by his own sexual motivation and interest. He is a fraud not only in the manner in which he committed the offences; he is a fraud in the way in which he presented himself to the outside world.”

Mr Hampton said that before the offences came to light, Ralls, who ran his own charity, was regarded as a “man of unquestionable good, if not impeccable, character”.

He was deputy head of boarding for four years and, up until his dismissal in December 2015, was the school’s deputy designated safeguarding officer. 

Ralls, who lived in a flat in a female boarding house on the school premises, was also a qualified first aider at Queen Ethelburga’s, known colloquially as ‘QE’. 

He ran his own charity called Affecting Real Change (ARC) which “advanced the education and training of children, young people and adults”. 

Complaints over Ralls’s behaviour

In November 2015, one of the victims made a complaint to the school about Ralls’s behaviour.

Ralls was suspended pending an investigation which found he had allowed pupils into his private quarters at Ethelburga’s which was against school policy. He was ultimately dismissed for “gross misconduct and inappropriate behaviour”.

The girl’s mother was told by the school that the matter would be passed on to the “relevant authorities”, but “nothing more seemed to come of matters” until a separate complaint was made to police by another child.

Police launched an investigation when more girls, now adults, spoke to officers about Ralls’s predatory and “weird” behaviour.

One of the abused girls said that “everyone loved Mr Ralls at that time” and that was the reason they didn’t initially make a complaint.

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The jury found Ralls guilty of 43 of the 47 charges involving almost all the 20 girls who made complaints. He will be sentenced on July 28. 

The conviction comes after the school’s former owner and ex-chairman of governors Brian Martin was jailed for more than three years in 2021 for sexually abusing two pupils. 

The “predatory paedophile”, who was 71 years old at the time of his trial at Leeds Crown Court, was convicted of indecently assaulting one pupil and sexually assaulting another.

Martin, of Ferrensby, Knaresborough, who had bought Queen Ethelburga’s and moved it from Harrogate to Thorpe Underwood, was cleared of six other child-sexual-abuse allegations at a previous trial in 2018.

A millionaire Harrogate businessman has been given a suspended jail sentence for stalking and assaulting his ex-partner.

Jason Ronald Shaw, 54, told the named victim he hired a private detective to keep track of her movements and even installed a hidden camera on her phone charger.

Shaw – the owner of Pineheath, the historic Harrogate mansion which has been the subject of much intrigue in the town recently after it was put up for auction at a reduced asking price of £3 million – was charged with stalking, common assault and damaging the victim’s property but initially denied the offences. 

He ultimately admitted all three matters a week after being remanded in custody.   

He appeared for sentence via video link at York Magistrates’ Court today knowing his liberty was in the balance. 

‘Looking dangerous’

Prosecutor Kathryn Walters said Shaw and the named victim had been in a “toxic, on-off” relationship between November 2020 and May this year after meeting at the David Lloyd gym in Harrogate where they were both members. 

Matters came to a head late at night on May 20 when her niece called police to her home in Harrogate after spotting Shaw “snooping around in the garden” and “looking dangerous”.

She told the call operator that Shaw had “turned up looking for (the named victim)” and that he had attacked her following a “tussle over a mobile phone” which caused bruising to her arm.

Shaw had then headed to her home nearby and removed the ring doorbell from the front of the house, before returning to her niece’s property where he rang the doorbell and started shouting.

The two women, who were at the niece’s home, then spotted Shaw in the back of the garden where the named victim’s car was parked. 

They believed he had been “fiddling” with the car’s wheels. They later discovered that valve caps had been removed and the tyres were deflated.

Police arrived and found Shaw hiding in the property wearing only shorts and flip flops. He was duly arrested.

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The named victim told police that she had been stalked by Shaw for over a year during which time he had followed her around in public places, monitored her movements and loitered around her house. 

She said that Shaw had isolated her from friends and family and would take her phone from her “to check what she had been doing”.

Pineheath in Harrogate

She said he tried to control her and make her financially dependent on him. He would turn up at her workplace and follow her around when she was out shopping.

She said he would constantly make video calls to check “where she was and who she was with”.

Hidden camera

In the moments before the attack on May 20, Shaw had been looking through her phone and asked her who one of her male contacts was. When she told him it was a friend, he grabbed her arm, causing injury.

She said Shaw would “buy her things and then take them from her”. He once gave her a phone charger on which he had installed a hidden camera.

He would turn up unexpectedly when she was out with friends, at the gym or the cinema, and once told her he had hired a private investigator to carry out surveillance on her.

Shaw’s behaviour had had a “huge” impact on her mental wellbeing and self-worth. She had since hired a life coach to help with problems such as sleeplessness. 

The stress she had suffered had affected her work as a beautician and the relationship with her family had deteriorated.

She said she had “absolutely no escape” from Shaw and had lost her bubbly personality. She was left feeling “constantly down, tired and miserable”. 

In 2020, Shaw was given a jail sentence at the crown court for stalking and assaulting another partner. He had also uploaded sexual photos of her onto the internet.

His solicitor advocate Peter Minnikin said that Shaw realised his behaviour was “disgusting”. 

He added:

“He accepts that it is now over and accepts that he needs to improve himself.”

A probation report concluded that Shaw presented a “high risk” to future partners.

‘Cause for concern’

Magistrates’ chairman Mr R Childerhouse said there were “quite a few high risks here that give us cause for concern”.

He said the offences were so serious that they warranted a jail sentence, but that this could be suspended because Shaw had ultimately admitted the offences and there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

Shaw was given a 20-week suspended prison sentence with 150 hours of unpaid work and a 30-day rehabilitation programme. He was ordered to pay £125 costs and £500 compensation to the named victim. 

He was also slapped with a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and entering her street in Killinghall.

Pineheath, the former home of Indian shipping magnate Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji, was put up for auction last month at a much reduced asking price after failing to find a buyer. 

The derelict, 40-room mansion on Cornwall Road, near Shaw’s home in Rutland Drive, is part of the Duchy estate and in its heyday as a family home it was fully staffed and had gold-plated taps and a centrally heated garage of Rolls-Royces. 

Following the death of Sir Dhunjibhoy’s daughter in 2012, Pineheath was sold for £2 million to Mr Shaw in 2013.

A notorious Ripon man tried to stab a Wetherspoon’s bar worker with a table knife after warning police that he was “going to kill somebody”.

John Flannagan, 38, was causing trouble at The Unicorn pub in Ripon Market Place and when a brave bar stewardess tried to calm him down, he lunged at her with a knife, York Crown Court heard. 

Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said the named bar worker had been trying to reason with Flannagan, but he responded by picking up two pint glasses and smashing one of them on the bar.

Ms Clark added:

“She stepped back and he picked up a knife and fork from a table in front of her.

“He turned back to face the bar and started shouting at staff and members of the public and walked along the bar and threw the pint glass, causing it to smash on top of the bar.”

Flannagan, knife in hand, then lunged at the bar worker and made a “haymaker-style” swipe at her with the blade, which missed. 

Ms Clarke said:

“This was an attempt, say the prosecution, to stab [the named bar stewardess].”

‘If you don’t come and get me, I’m going to kill somebody’

In the run-up to the incident, police received a call from Flannagan who said he was in Ripon city centre being followed in the street by “a man with a dog” and that he was scared.

After making the call, Flannagan went into the Wetherspoon’s bar at the Unicorn Hotel and began shouting at people inside the pub, telling them to “leave me alone”.

Ms Clarke said:

“Staff were concerned and contacted police.”

Flannagan left the pub and tried to get in a taxi, but he was turned away by the driver due to his bizarre behaviour. Having been rebuffed by the cabbie, Flannagan called police again. 

Ms Clarke said:

“He could be heard shouting incoherently [during the call] and [there were] periods of silence.”

Flannagan told the operator: 

“You need to come and get me. I’m already on bail and going to jail. If you don’t come and get me, I’m going to kill somebody.”

York Crown Court.

He then went back inside The Unicorn and pushed past a man at the bar who didn’t react and walked away. The confrontation with the bar stewardess then followed.

The terrifying incident was brought to an end by an off-duty police officer who ran to the bar and tackled Flannagan to the ground. 

The officer, who was with his wife and family, restrained Flannagan until uniformed police arrived to arrest him.

Wetherspoon’s staff members said they were “extremely frightened that things would escalate” and feared that someone was going to be seriously injured “or worse”. One staff member said it was the worst piece of violence they had ever seen at a pub. 

Flannagan, of Gallows Hill, was charged with affray and threatening a person with a blade in a public place. He admitted the offences which happened at about 10.15pm on June 17. 

He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

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Ms Clarke said Flannagan had 59 previous offences on his record including violence, public disorder and carrying offensive weapons, namely a knife and a metal bar.

At the time of the incident in Ripon, he was on an 18-month community order imposed in December last year for battery.

Defence barrister Susannah Proctor said Flannagan had a psychotic disorder and was bipolar. His mental health conditions had been exacerbated by drug and alcohol abuse.

She said that at the time of his latest offences he was “acutely unwell” but acknowledged the “anxiety and fear” he caused to members of the public.

Judge Stephen Ashurst told Flannagan his “bizarre and psychotic” behaviour could have resulted in tragedy inside the pub.

He added:

“You are someone with a long history of mental health problems… but your behaviour and your criminal offending appears to have become worse over the last five or six years.

“The brandishing of, and threatening with, weapons is something that calls for an immediate prison sentence.”

Flannagan was handed a 16-month jail sentence but will only spend half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence. 

The owner of a luxury car dealership has denied defrauding and stealing from customers in an alleged scam worth over £1 million.

Andrew Mearns, 54, who owned Gmund Cars in Knaresborough, appeared at York Crown Court today when he pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud and three theft allegations.

All the allegations relate to his car dealership at the Nidd Valley Trading Estate and involve 16 alleged victims.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred between September 2015 and December 2020.

One of the allegations is that Mr Mearns stole a £130,000 Porsche from a named man in January 2019.

Mr Mearns, now living in Conwy, Wales, is also alleged to have stolen a £60,000 Porsche Turbo from another named man in October 2018 and a £65,000 Porsche 911 Carrera in November of that year. 

Judge Simon Hickey adjourned the case for a trial on a date to be fixed. The trial is due to last between two and three weeks and may be held in a different court. 

Mr Mearns, of Colwyn Place, Llandudno, was granted bail until his next appearance. 

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A 14-year-old girl from Harrogate has been charged with causing £1,366 worth of damage to the Grand Hotel in Scarborough.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before a youth court held at Harrogate Magistrates Court on June 23.

She was charged with causing damage to multiple rooms across multiple floors, including the reception area, of the Grand Hotel on December 30 last year.

The court listed the cost of the damage at £1,366.

She was also charged with damaging five towels at a cost of £75 belonging to the Royal Hotel in Scarborough on March 26.

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The girl was also accused of maliciously wounding with intent to do him grievous bodily harm on April 29 and stealing from a Co-op on Newlands Park Drive in Scarborough on the same day.

The 14-year-old pleaded guilty to all the offences.

The court remanded her on bail until July 14 when she will appear for another hearing.

She was also banned from entering any hotel in Scarborough as part of her bail conditions.

A teenager has died after a car crash on the edge of the Harrogate district at the weekend.

The collision happened at 2.15pm on Saturday on the B6265 at the crossroads between Whixley and Thorpe Underwood, south of Boroughbridge.

It involved a blue Ford Focus and a silver Volkswagen Touran.

An 18-year-old man, who was a passenger in the Ford, died as a result of the collision. He has not been named.

Six other occupants of both vehicles were taken to hospital with injuries.

North Yorkshire Police have urged witnesses to come forward.

A force statement today said:

“Police are urging anyone who saw the collision or either car involved prior to it to get in touch. They would also like to hear from anyone who may have relevant dashcam footage.

“Anyone with information is asked to email PC Julie Brown. Julie.Brown@northyorkshire.police.uk or phone North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Julie Brown. Please quote reference number 12230116638 when passing information.”

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