Police warn of increase in house and car thefts in Harrogate

North Yorkshire Police has urged people in the Harrogate area to be vigilant after an increase in house and car thefts.

The constabulary issued the alert this morning, saying the number of incidents had risen “over the last few weeks”.

No further details were released.

In a post on social media, the police added:

“Please ensure you keep your homes and vehicles secure.”

Over the last few weeks there has been an increase of theft from insecure vehicles and homes across the Harrogate area. Please ensure you keep your homes and vehicles secure. If you have any information on these crimes call NYP on 101 or crime stoppers anonymously on 0800555111

— North Yorkshire Police – Harrogate (@NYP_Harrogate) July 29, 2022

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Report a Crime and make Harrogate a better place

This story is sponsored by Harrogate BID.

It may seem strange that an organisation dedicated to promoting Harrogate town centre is campaigning to increase its crime levels. 

However, Harrogate BID knows what it is doing and there is method behind its madness. 

BID manager Matthew Chapman said: 

“The statistics showed that the number of crimes is very low in the town centre. 

“While on the face of it this seems like good news, the stats just didn’t match up with what we were hearing from BID members. 

“Shop owners and staff were telling us they were regularly seeing relatively minor crime, but the police figures just didn’t reflect this.” 

Mr Chapman and the team at the BID decided to investigate further.  

The kind of crimes being seen by retailers included anti-social behaviour, often linked to drinking, and what’s termed ‘professional begging’ – people who are not truly homeless and who often don’t live in Harrogate coming into town to take advantage of what they see as a lucrative opportunity to collect money from the public. 

Often, said Mr Chapman, those people went on to use the money to buy drinks and, later in the day, they would commit crimes such as shoplifting. 

Yet the BID investigation found town centre workers often didn’t report the problems they witnessed. 

“People told us they were calling 101 to tell the police and were waiting on hold for half an hour or longer, before they eventually gave up. 

“After a few occasions like that, many said they no longer bothered to report the low-level cases because they just didn’t have the time.  

“Some of the bigger chain shops also let shoplifting go – they have instructions from head office that they don’t need to report every instance. 

“The police statistics aren’t reflecting the reality of the town centre because the control room just isn’t getting to hear about it.” 

As a result, the BID has launched a campaign to encourage people to report every instance of crime they see across the town centre. 

Recognising employees’ time is valuable, the BID has highlighted the fact that crime can be reported via the 101 page on the North Yorkshire Police website. 

It takes just five minutes, said Mr Chapman, and will generate a crime number and add the incident to the official police log. 

He said: 

“We’ve been told the best way to get the police to respond to things is to increase the numbers of crimes.  

“Officers say they can’t do anything if nobody has reported a problem. Every avenue we went down, it always came back to needing more reports. 

“They are an evidence-based organisation that works with data. The more crimes they see are being committed, the more resource they will put into an area. 

“So we’re asking everyone to report every crime they see, no matter how minor it may be. In six months’ time, we’ll go back to the police and see how the numbers are looking.” 

Mr Chapman said the BID hopes the result will be a significant increase in the crime statistics for the town centre – which in turn will encourage more police resources to be directed towards it. 

He added: 

“We recognise Harrogate is far from one of the worst places in the world, but it’s not immune from the problems every other town and city centre has.

“We want to make sure we stay on top of these relatively minor issues so they don’t become worse and they don’t detract from all the things that make Harrogate a great place to live, work and visit.”

To report a crime to North Yorkshire Police, visit the dedicated reporting section of its website.

Three teens in court on Harrogate robbery charge

Three teenagers have appeared before York Magistrates Court charged with a robbery and possessing offensive weapons in Harrogate.

Dillan Bahia, 18, and Jamie Richardson, 18, both of Leeds, indicated a guilty plea to carrying a zombie knife on The Ginnel, off Parliament Street, on Saturday, July 23.

Mr Bahia, of Mexborough Avenue, Chapeltown, also indicated a guilty plea to being found carrying a homemade cosh when arrested by police.

However, both entered no plea to the charge of robbing a man of a mobile phone, cash and cards near to the Stray on Knaresborough Road on the same day.

Mr Richardson lives at Grange View in Chapeltown.

A 17-year-old boy from Sheffield, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to robbing a man of a mobile phone, cash and cards on Knaresborough Road on July 23 and carrying a zombie knife on The Ginnel.

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But, he denied assaulting a police officer on The Ginnel on the same day.

Both Mr Bahia and Mr Richardson will appear before York Crown Court for sentencing for carrying weapons in a public place on August 22, 2022.

They will also appear for trial on the robbery charge on the same date.

The 17-year-old boy will appear before youth court in Harrogate on August 5 to determine a “suitable method of determining the case”.

BID launches campaign to increase reporting of crime in Harrogate town centre

A campaign has been launched to help a business organisation get a better picture of how crime affects Harrogate town centre.

Harrogate BID‘s Report a Crime campaign is calling on businesses, residents and visitors to report all crimes and anti-social behaviour via North Yorkshire Police’s website.

The organisation’s manager, Matthew Chapman, said:

“First and foremost I want to say Harrogate is a safe, welcoming and clean town. However, we hear regular stories from town centre traders of anti-social activity, including shoplifting, vandalism and drug abuse.

“In order to get a true picture, we are asking those who are either victims of a crime, or witness incidents, to report it online.

“Unlike calling 101 and then hanging up after several minutes, this means every incident is logged. This way, we can get a true picture of what is happening in the town.”

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe with Harrogate BID manager Matthew ChapmanPolice, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe with Harrogate BID manager Matthew Chapman

The new campaign is being backed by Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, whose chief executive David Simister said:

“Harrogate is a fantastic town to live and work, but when it comes to crime it’s not immune.

“However, the fear of crime is often worse than perception, but it’s important we get a proper understanding of what is happening – or not happening – in our town centre, hence us giving our backing to this campaign.

“In the past I’ve called 101 and after waiting many minutes I’ve simply put the phone down. And by doing this, an incident has gone unreported. In future, report it online and that way it is logged and recorded.”

It follows a meeting between Mr Chapman and North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe, when he raised BID members’ concerns about a lack of visible policing.

Mr Chapman said the commissioner told him police chiefs rely on statistics in order to prioritise resources and, if crimes go unreported, police are unable to give the right resources to the affected areas.

She urged him to encourage all BID levy payers and others to use online reporting to ensure all incidents were being passed to police.

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Among the levy payers backing the campaign is Justin Sutter, business manager at John Atherton’s, which trades at McDonalds on Cambridge Street, who said:

“We are backing the report a crime campaign because the safety and security of our people and customers is of the utmost importance to us. We hope that we can continue to support North Yorkshire Police with this campaign and be a part of creating safer communities.”

The campaign not only runs during daytime hours, but extends to evening and night-time trading. Alan Huddart, secretary of Harrogate Pubwatch, said:

“Thanks to the BID’s support of Pubwatch and the introduction of the app, we are able to alert those in the scheme immediately to any issues.

“At the same time, I would also ask not just our members, but all licensed premises, to register any incident online, ensuring the police have a proper record of it.

“Harrogate is a great night out, and we want to make sure it stays that way by having adequate policing.”

Former Harrogate headteacher ‘repeatedly accessed’ website with indecent images, court hears

A former Harrogate headteacher repeatedly visited a website which was “indicative” of alleged indecent images of children, a court heard today.

Matthew Shillito, 42, denies making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between December 3, 2012 and December 31, 2015.

Mr Shillito, of Gordon Avenue, Harrogate, was appointed headteacher of Western Primary School in 2019.

He was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools.

None of the alleged offences related to his employment.

Mr Shillito appeared for trial at Harrogate Magistrates Court today.

Philip Morris, prosecuting, told the court that the indecent images were found on the cache in Mr Shillito’s computer, which could have only have got there had he accessed sites with those images.

He said:

“It is the prosecution’s case that those images found as they were on the computer cache were present as a result of the user of the computer accessing indicative content on the internet.”

Police seize computers

Police arrested Mr Shillito and seized two computers at his address on January 4, 2020.

Officers recovered a Dell laptop and a MacBook Pro, which contained a back up from an iPad mini which was not found.

Giving evidence to the court, Zoe Warboys, a digital forensic investigation officer at North Yorkshire Police, said that while the defendant may not have been aware of the cache, he could have only got them by accessing the material.

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A Russian website named in court was frequently accessed on the Dell laptop, which Ms Warboys told the court was a site which contained indecent images of children.

The site is public and allows users to upload albums of images which others can view.

The court heard how the site was frequently visited on February 26, 2011.

Mr Morris told the court that Shillito visited some of the pages which were “indicative” of possibly including indecent images 30 times.

Meanwhile the defendant’s MacBook contained a backup from an iPad mini, which the court heard was not recovered by police during the raid.

Mr Morris said the backup included search terms which were “indicative” of indecent images of children.

A number of Google search terms were also presented to the court, which the prosecution argued demonstrated an intent from the defendant to access the alleged images.

Denies allegations

There was no evidence that Mr Shillito downloaded the alleged images onto his desktop, the court heard.

Mr Shillito repeatedly denied to the court that he had knowingly accessed indecent images of children.

Kevin Blount, defence, said that while the terms found on the computers may have been indicative, they were “not conclusive” as they could also bring up legitimate results.

The court heard how Mr Shillito had also repeatedly denied accessing the alleged images during police interview.

The trial continues.

Harrogate blogger blackmailed by scammers reclaims Instagram account

A Harrogate blogger who was blackmailed by scammers is relieved today after managing to get back into her Instagram account.

Lucy Playford has run the Harrogate Mama blog and social media channels for six years and provides updates on family life in the town and visits to local businesses.

But Turkey-based scammers tricked their way into her Instagram account, which has 6,000 followers, and demanded money to hand it back. She feared the account was lost forever.

However, there has been a twist in the tale — a day after a Stray Ferret article highlighted the blogger’s plight, she has managed to get back into her account.

Ms Playford described yesterday how it happened:

“The hackers posted on my account tonight at a little after 9pm, thankfully due to your reporting and so many people knowing I’d been hacked lots of people contacted me to let me know the hackers were posting.

“This quick alerting led me being able to see the hackers had changed the name of my account to HarrogetaMama (deliberately spelled wrong to trick people) – and they were trying to extort money from my followers asking for investment.”

The suspicious Instagram post posted last night.

Ms Playford added:

“This meant now I could see what the account had been re-named, I could go through the verification process with Instagram again. This time the selfie verification process worked and I received retrieval codes from Instagram, albeit in Turkish, so Google Translate came in handy!

“After over two hours’ work between my husband and myself we managed to get back into the account. We have now changed the username back to HarrogateMama, changed the email address and set up the two-factor authentication.

“The swift action of so many people alerting me to the hackers posting meant I could get my account back.

“Lessons learned and message to spread about ALWAYS setting up two-factor authentication.”

Bystanders smash car window to rescue four dogs in Harrogate

Bystanders in Harrogate had to smash a car window today to free four dogs who were trapped for 40 minutes without even a window open.

Ruth Watson and her partner had been shopping at Aldi on Oak Beck Road at around midday when they spotted the labradors who were visibly distressed and barking in the sweltering heat, which has topped 38 degrees today.

Dogs in hot cars can suffer from potentially fatal heat stroke in as little as 15 minutes.

Ms Watson told the Stray Ferret she went inside B&Q, which is next door to the supermarket, to ask staff to broadcast a message on the tannoy to try and find the owner but there was no response.

A group had congregated around the car with people bringing buckets of water ready to cool them down.

She said:

“It is upsetting. I got a little upset but I was more angry than anything else.”

Quick thinking staff at the DIY store used a hammer to smash open the window and set the animals free.

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Fortunately, there were vets working at the nearby Pets At Home who were able to give the animals immediate medical attention. However, one of the dogs had to be carried away and Ms Watson said it looked in poor health.

The owner eventually came out to the car but Ms Watson said “He seemed oblivious like he’d done nothing wrong.”

She added:

“He’s not a responsible dog owner. Questions should be asked if he’s competent enough to have animals”.

Abi Linden was also shopping at the time and spotted the incident take place. She said what she saw was “appalling” and called on the police to take action against the owner.

She said:

“The sheer stupidity in leaving the dogs in this heat without even windows open. It made me so angry”.

A North Yorkshire Police officer was believed to have attended the scene. The Stray Ferret has asked NYP for comment on the incident. We have also asked the vets for an update on the dogs.

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.

Man denies indecent exposure charge in Valley Gardens

A 67-year-old man has denied an allegation that he performed a lewd act near a children’s playground in Harrogate.

Kevin Payne, from Bradford, appeared at York Crown Court via video link today when he pleaded not guilty to outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner.

The alleged indecent act is said to have occurred at Valley Gardens on June 12.

Judge Simon Hickey set a trial date of November 23.

Payne, of Ling Park Avenue, Bingley, was remanded in custody.

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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.