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Two arrested in Jennyfields after police drugs raid

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.

Former deputy head of boarding at Harrogate district private school guilty of 43 sex offences against pupils

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.

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.

Harrogate businessman given suspended sentence for stalking ex-partner

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.

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”.

Photo taken from the rear of Pineheath, the derelict mansion on Cornwall Road in Harrogate that is currently up for sale. The Rutland Drive building plot is shown in the foreground.

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.

Ripon man jailed after attempting to stab Wetherspoon’s bar worker

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.

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.

Knaresborough luxury car dealer denies fraud and theft charges

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.

Harrogate girl, 14, charged with causing £1,300 damage to Grand Hotel in Scarborough

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.

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.

Teenager dies after crash at crossroads

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.”

Ripon cafe owner retains humour despite break-in

It was business as usual this morning for one of Ripon’s most popular cafe bistros following a break-in in the early hours.

The entrance door to Oliver’s Pantry was extensively damaged by criminals when they forced their way in.

Tim Grant, who jointly owns Oliver’s Pantry with his wife Lou, told the Stray Ferret:

“Words fail me, we could have done with this like a hole in the head.

“Things are hard enough for the hospitality sector, but we’ve just had to get on with sorting things out.

“We’ve been in contact with the police and our insurers, have carried out a clean up and we are open.”

The couple managed to retain their sense of humour by putting up a sign telling people they were still open — and had cake.

The Grants have run the business on North Street for 12 years and Mr Grant added:

“Fortunately whoever did this didn’t steal anything, but they smashed the door in and caused a mess.”

Burglars jailed for stealing £6,000 worth of goods from Starbeck Co-op

Two prolific burglars have been jailed for stealing over £6,000 of tobacco from a Co-op store in Starbeck.

Brazen duo John Barnes, 34, and Ryan Mulvaney, 48, hauled a duvet down the street to help them break into the shop on the High Street.

They forced their way in by smashing rear fire doors and reportedly used the duvet to avoid treading on broken glass, York Crown Court heard.

They then bagged £6,220 of cigarettes and tobacco and £627 cash, carrying the loot in two large boxes but leaving the duvet behind.

Prosecutor Lydia Pearce said police were alerted to the store’s burglar alarm going off at about 4.30am on May 23.

They retrieved CCTV from the area around the shop which showed two men walking towards the store with a duvet about five minutes before the break-in.

The same two men are then seen leaving the store carrying two large boxes and returning to a nearby flat.

The video footage then shows them leaving the flat with an unnamed woman and getting into a taxi which took them to Tewit Well Road.

At 9am on the same day, police were alerted to “suspicious activity” in Victoria Avenue by a member of the public who heard “somebody talking about getting rid of some gear”.

A police constable stopped Mulvaney and Barnes, who gave a false name but was identified by his fingerprints. Both men were identified on CCTV.

During a subsequent search, officers seized the cigarette boxes and other items such as scratch cards stolen in the burglary.

They also found a man bag at a flat in Spa Lane which Mulvaney had been wearing at the time of the raid. He was also found in possession of heroin and police seized cannabis from Barnes.

Officers also seized £627 cash from the property, said Ms Pearce.

Both men were arrested and charged with burglary which they admitted. Mulvaney also admitted possessing heroin and Barnes admitted possessing cannabis and obstructing a police officer by giving a false name.

111 previous offences

The two career criminals appeared for sentence today after being remanded in custody.

Barnes, from Harrogate but of no fixed address, had 33 previous convictions for 64 offences including 25 thefts. He was most recently convicted of two burglaries in March 2022 for which he received a five-month prison sentence.

Mulvaney, also from Harrogate but of no fixed abode, had a criminal record comprising 111 previous offences including 55 thefts. His most recent burglary conviction was in October 2020 when he was jailed for three years and four months.

In that incident, Mulvaney broke into the Harrogate home of a poorly man who was resting in bed. He climbed through an open window at the house in Stonefall Avenue and stole an envelope containing £1,000 from the living room.

Mulvaney was still on prison licence for that offence when he burgled the Co-op which resulted in him being recalled to jail.

Defence barrister David Ward, for Barnes, said his client was a homeless crack-cocaine and cannabis addict and spent his time “just wandering, aimless”.

Kevin Blount, for Mulvaney, said his client had been recalled to prison until February next year and knew he would be given further jail time for the Co-op burglary.

Recorder Ian Mullarkey said it was clear that the duvet had been used to “facilitate” the break-in, probably to protect the burglars from broken glass.

He said that both men had “extensive records” and there was “significant loss” to the Co-op.

Mulvaney and Barnes were each jailed for eight months.

Two men appear in court charged with wounding man in Harrogate

Two men have appeared in court charged with wounding a man in Harrogate.

Adam Fogarty-Walker, 18, of Ash Grove, Bradford, and Joshua Dane Rider, 18, of Fairfield Terrace, Leeds, appeared at York Magistrates Court yesterday.

Both were charged with maliciously wounding a man in Dragon Road car park on Thursday, June 8.

A third man was initially charged by police in connection with the incident, but charges were later dropped.

Fogarty-Walker and Rider were also charged with carrying a kitchen knife in a public place without good reason or lawful authority.

Meanwhile, Rider also faced two charges of having in his possession two wraps of diamorphine and 28 wraps of cocaine with intent to supply.

The cases were referred to York Crown Court where the three men were ordered to appear on July 10, 2023.

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‘Looking dangerous’

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Hidden camera

‘Cause for concern’

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

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111 previous offences

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