Elderly Summerbridge woman tricked by bank card thieves

Thieves tricked their way into an elderly woman’s house in Summerbridge, stealing bank cards which were later used for transactions in Ripon and Darlington.

The pair – a man and a woman – told the occupant they were from a disability service and were allowed into her home.

While there, on Wednesday, October 14 between 4.30pm and 5pm, they took three bank cards which were later used to make fraudulent transactions. A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“We are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

“In particular, we are appealing for information about the identity of the people in the CCTV images as officers would like to speak to them in connection with the incident.”

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Anyone with information should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option two, and ask for Katie Bell, or email katarina.bell@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

To report information anonymously, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200181553.

Domestic abuse rises in North Yorkshire

Domestic abuse has risen sharply in North Yorkshire — but police say this is mainly due to changes in methods of reporting.

Incidents of domestic abuse increased by 26 per cent in 2018/19 and by three per cent in 2019/20, according to latest crime statistics published by the Office for National Statistics yesterday.

But Detective Superintendent Allan Harder, of North Yorkshire Police, said this was largely down to the requirement to record multiple crimes where stalking and/or harassment has occurred, rather than simply one crime per incident. He said:

“Whilst we were hearing of this increased demand from our partners and in the national media, the number of domestic abuse incidents reported to North Yorkshire Police has remained level.

“Although victims have been seeking additional support, this is not associated with a significant rise in reported incidents.”

Fraud, which is one of North Yorkshire Police’s key priorities, has risen by 700 per cent since January 2019 but the force attributed this to people now reporting incidents directly to it rather than the agency Action Fraud.

A police spokesman said:

“Numbers of fraud incidents we are seeing each month since that time are staying fairly consistent.”

Just six murders occurred in North Yorkshire in the year ending June 2020. Only Bedfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and North Wales had fewer.

Burglary, theft, vehicle crime and criminal damage showed marked decreases, mainly due to the impact of the national lockdown on March 23.

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