A driver in Harrogate has tested positive for drug driving twice in 48 hours.

North Yorkshire Police stopped the vehicle after information showed they had been arrested two days ago.

They had initially been arrested for drug driving and a further test was confirmed as positive for cannabis.

The driver was released under investigation.

Make that twice in 48 hours after the driver tested positive again for #Cannabis on a @DrugWipeUK An evidential sample has been obtained & will be sent to @RSSS_DianeFair for analysis. Driver has been released under investigation pending the result of this #Fatal5 #DrugDriving pic.twitter.com/xrFKYFp5Hd

— Sgt Paul Cording BEM (@OscarRomeo1268) August 25, 2022

Read more:

• Don’t call 999 to report hosepipe ban breaches, say police
• Cocaine dealer jailed for ‘peddling misery’ in Harrogate

A cocaine dealer who “peddled misery” in Harrogate has been jailed for nearly three years after being snared by an undercover cop posing as a drug addict.

Jack Milner, 25, bragged to the officer that he was “making a good wage” from his trade but he was being played from the outset, York Crown Court heard.

Milner supplied cocaine to the plain-clothed officer on three separate occasions in December 2019, said prosecutor David Povall.

Mr Povall added:

“The officer was part of a wider operation focusing on county lines (drug networks) and it appears the defendant has crossed their sights.”

He said although Milner wasn’t involved “in that level of criminality”, he was working with others to supply the Class A drug.

The undercover officer, who used a pseudonym, was introduced to Milner on December 9 when he was supplied with cocaine. 

The following day, the officer called Milner to arrange another deal and he was “again supplied with (cocaine)”.

On the third day, the officer rang the same number and spoke to a different man who supplied him some wraps of heroin and cocaine.

Read more:

• Harrogate boy, 15, sentenced for stealing car and carrying knife
• Man jailed for stealing MBE medal in Harrogate burglary
• Harrogate man jailed for knife and heroin offences

The court heard that Milner only supplied cocaine and was not involved in the dealing of heroin. However, the officer later saw Milner with this “second man…giving him permission to supply the officer with a further wrap”.

Milner, of Harehills Lane, Leeds, was duly arrested and found with a “burner” phone – a cheap, pre-paid mobile which criminals often use to evade detection.

He initially denied any involvement in Class A drug-dealing and maintained his innocence until the day of trial in June, when he finally admitted supplying cocaine.

Living on the streets

Nick Cartmell, mitigating, said Milner was living on the streets with his girlfriend at the time and had pneumonia. 

He said although Milner clearly made a “quite significant” financial gain, it was simply to buy his “next McDonald’s (meal)…and not going hungry”.

Mr Cartmell added:

“He was a fool and he has a penalty to pay.

“The defendant appears to have been operating a telephone number for the supply of drugs with others and been directly involved in handing them over to addicts.”

He said that Milner stood to make a “significant financial gain” although the amount was unknown.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Milner: 

“You were peddling misery on the streets and…that is very serious.

“You said to the undercover officer that you were being paid a good wage for what you were doing. In my book, peddling Class A drugs is so serious that there has to be an immediate prison sentence because there has to be a recognition of deterrence for others. 

“You were out and about distributing this filth on the streets. Who know how many lives you wrecked?”

Milner was jailed for two years and nine months. He will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. 

A Harrogate man has been jailed for carrying a kitchen knife in public and possessing heroin.

Nigel Green, of Fairfax Avenue, appeared before York Magistrates Court this week charged with both offences.

Green, 42, pleaded guilty to the charges.

He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for carrying a kitchen knife on Fairfax Avenue after the court found it was his second conviction of the same charge.

The magistrates also jailed Green for four weeks for carrying a wrap of heroin on Roche Avenue. The time will be served concurrently with the first sentence.

He was also ordered to pay a victim’s surcharge of £128.

Read more:

• Harrogate boy, 15, sentenced for stealing car and carrying knife
• Man jailed for stealing MBE medal in Harrogate burglary

A man has been jailed for over three years after he admitted stealing an MBE medal, jewellery and cash during a burglary at a woman’s home in Harrogate.

Shane Bainbridge, 31, broke into Patrycia Scott’s home in Wayside Avenue, Harrogate, and stole a “considerable quantity of personal items” including her MBE medal, prosecutor Brooke Morrison told York Crown Court.

Bainbridge, of King Edward Road, Ripon, was arrested nearby with a “couple of sacks containing (the victim’s) property”, she added.

He was charged with stealing jewellery, cash and the MBE medal during the burglary, which occurred on March 8.

Bainbridge denied the offence right up until the day of trial today (Monday, August 22) when he entered a last-minute guilty plea.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, jailed Bainbridge for three years and three months.

Read more:

• CCTV appeal after man’s eye socket fractured in Harrogate
• Calls to grit more Harrogate district roads set to be rejected

North Yorkshire Police issued a plea to parents tonight to keep an eye on their children after receiving complaints of anti-social behaviour in Ripon.

In a statement on social media, the force asked parents if they knew where their children were and what they were doing.

It added:

“We are getting calls of anti-social behaviour in Ripon city centre.

“This is in the form of large groups being disrespectful to members of the public.

“Ripon police are out and about but as you can imagine we cannot be everywhere at once.”

The post then urged parents to “get in touch with your children and help us by knowing where they are and what they are doing”.

Read more:

• Fears up to 3 million litres of water wasted during lengthy Ripon leak
• Older half of Ripon Leisure Centre ‘would have to close for good’ without £3.5m groundworks

A 35-year-old man appeared in court this week charged with assaulting a staff member at Sainsbury’s in Harrogate.

Skyler Zienlinski, of Fern House, Spa Lane, pleaded not guilty to assault by beating at the store on Cambridge Street on August 1, 2022.

Mr Zienlinski, who appeared before Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday, also denied carrying a dismantled scissor blade in a public place without reasonable excuse.

He admitted stealing £40 worth of bottles of wine and Desperados from Sainsbury’s and causing criminal damage to property belonging to the store on the same day.

The court set a trial date of November 21 in Harrogate for the alleged assault and carrying an offensive weapon.

Mr Zienlinski was released on bail under the condition that he does not enter the Cambridge Street store.

Read more:

• Four men arrested after BT cable theft in Harrogate district
• Man guilty of indecent exposure at Harrogate library

A woman who headbutted a nightclub manager, busting her nose open, has been spared jail.

Jodie Milburn, 19, butted the victim with such force that blood “soaked” the wall outside the Viper Rooms in Harrogate town centre, prosecutor Eleanor Durdy told York Crown Court.

CCTV captured the moment Milburn repeatedly slapped the named woman, who was assistant manager at the popular nightclub, situated in the Grade II-listed Royal Baths building in Parliament Street.

With her arms restrained, Milburn, of Mayfield Grove, Harrogate, then head-butted the victim who was bleeding profusely.

Ms Durdy described the drunken attack, on August 15 last year, as “prolonged and persistent”.

A witness said there was “lots of blood, so much so that the blue wall was soaked in it”.

The victim’s clothes were also covered in blood and she was said to be “stunned”.

Read more:

• Chef jailed after shooting teenage employee in the eye at Harrogate pub
• Teen arrested after 500 cannabis plants seized in Harrogate house

Milburn set upon the manager after what she claimed was an incident inside the club involving a man and one of her family members, but this “wasn’t supported by the evidence”, the court heard. 

It was initially suspected that the victim’s nose was broken but this didn’t prove to be the case. 

Milburn was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but denied the offence. 

A jury found her guilty following a trial earlier this month.

She appeared for sentence yesterday when her barrister Andrew Stranex said that an immediate jail sentence would scupper her hopes of working abroad.

He said she had a troubled upbringing but had done well at college, had good references from her employer and had a new job lined up overseas.

‘Disgraceful piece of behaviour’

Judge Simon Hickey described the attack as a “disgraceful piece of behaviour”.

He told Milburn: 

“What you did…was throw your head back when (the victim) was simply doing her public duty…and head-butted her on her nose. 

“She reeled backwards and blood poured out of her nose and onto her clothing. A witness said (the victim) was stunned and remained stunned for quite some time. It was a nasty injury (and) you were clearly in drink.”

However, Mr Hickey said the incident was “clearly out of character” and Milburn had “strong personal mitigation” including good character reports.

The judge said that for those reasons, he would not be locking her up and preventing her taking up her new job abroad.

Instead, Milburn was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay the victim £1,000 compensation “for the hurt and the pain” caused to her.

North Yorkshire Police will be tweeting about every incident handled by its control room in 12 hours from this afternoon.

The “tweetathon” is designed to give the public a taste of the calls that come in to the force and will begin at 2pm today, running through to the early hours of tomorrow.

It is designed to show the public the number and variety of calls made to police via 999 and the non-emergency 101 number.

Posting about the tweetathon, the force said:

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.

Read more:

• Are petrol prices being pumped up for Ripon motorists?
• Tributes to former Ripon Hornblower George Pickles

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.

North Yorkshire Police has released CCTV images of two men they want to speak to after an unprovoked assault in Ripon.

The incident happened near Booths supermarket, Marshall Way, between 4am and 4.30am on Sunday, July 3.

A man in his 30s suffered serious facial injuries and required hospital treatment following the assault.

Officers said the two men pictured in the CCTV are believed to have been part of a larger group which was present when the assault happened.

A police statement added:

“Officers are asking members of the public to get in touch if they recognise either man.

“Anyone with any information is urged to email Sam.Clarke2@northyorkshire.police.uk or 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 reference number 12220116042 when passing on information.”

Read more:

• Teen pleads guilty to Stray robbery and possessing zombie knife
• Ex-Harrogate headteacher found guilty of making indecent images of children