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Jobs lost as Harrogate firm restructures

An IT firm has laid off 16 staff in Harrogate.

Techbuyer, which refurbishes IT equipment, said in a statement today the job losses were part of a restructuring.

The company, which was founded by Kevin Towers in Harrogate in 2005, is based on Hornbeam Park and operates sites in the United States, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand.

Chief executive Mr Towers said:

“These decisions have been really hard to make, they have not been taken lightly and have come in the face of market pressures since January. Many other IT businesses, large and small, UK based and global, have had to restructure since then.

“Myself and the management team have explored every angle to avoid this unfortunate situation, but have been left with no alternative but to restructure, including these staff reductions, in order to protect the business moving forwards.”

The Stray Ferret was alerted to the news by a whistleblower, who criticised the way the company handled the news last week.

Mr Towers said the company had focused heavily on rewarding staff over 18 years, adding:

“As we’ve grown, we have shared our success with very generous companywide bonuses, cost of living crisis bonuses, consistent pay increases, community and charitable donations and more. Unfortunately, during this challenging time, we have had to make some very difficult choices as well.

“I thank everyone for all their hard work at Techbuyer, it is appreciated. To stress the point, decisions like this would not be taken unless absolutely necessary and I wish all those affected all the best for the future.”

Techbuyer, which employs 203 of its 297 global workforce in Harrogate, works with partners, including manufacturers such as HPE, Dell and Lenovo, to promote the environmental, cost and performance benefits of refurbished enterprise IT hardware.

According to its website, it configures over 5,000 servers every year and erases data from more than 12,000 hard drives every month in the UK.

Harrogate man jailed for ‘sexualised’ online chats with young girls

A Harrogate man has been jailed for over three years after his debauched online chats with young girls led him into a trap set by police.

Benjamin Shutt, 30, “cruised” the internet in search of easy targets and found them on social media apps installed on his phone, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor David Hewitt said police forensic officers downloaded no less than 816 pages of chats which “began innocently and soon became sexualised”.

Shutt, who told one girl she “needed a sugar daddy”, used the KIK messenger app to contact the first under-age child, who told him she was 14 years old.

Mr Hewitt said there were about 220 messages sent between Shutt, of Grove Park View, and the teenager between April 20 and May 16, 2020.

Shutt sent her a picture of his private parts, which he followed up with a request for her to “send me more please, baby”.

Mr Hewitt added:

“He asked for some photos of her body in the bath.”

He told the girl he wanted to have sex with her “so badly” and then they talked about meeting up.

The girl agreed to meet, but Shutt told her they “probably couldn’t” because he was twice her age.

There were further sexual conversations in which Shutt talked about “the various things he would like to do to her”.

After the girl sent him a very intimate picture of herself upon request, Shutt asked her if she had photos of herself when she was younger.

He then sent her a link via the KIK app to videos of him performing a sexual act on himself and urged her to watch them.

Shutt targeted another young girl on the Whisper app in December 2020. He asked how old she was and when she initially told him she was 12, the messages continued regardless.

He asked her if she “enjoyed” the conversations and urged her to send him an intimate photo.

The girl later told him that her real age was 14, to which Shutt replied: “That’s fine with me.”

He said he wanted to have sex with her and “advised” her on how to perform a sexual act on herself. He then sent the girl an image of himself performing a lewd act.

Police trap

On Valentine’s Day 2021, Shutt ran out of luck when the 12-year-old ‘girl’ with whom he thought he was chatting turned out to be an undercover police officer posing as a teenager who posted a message on Whisper asking: “Why are boys so rubbish?”

Mr Hewitt said:

“The defendant replied and invited her to engage in private chat.”

The chats moved to another online platform and lasted about five weeks to the end of March 2021.

Mr Hewitt said:

“He told her that she needed a sugar daddy and explained what this was.”

Shutt asked the ‘girl’ if she had ever performed a sexual act on herself and offered her an “instruction” on how to do so. He then urged her to carry out the act.

Police raided on his home in Harrogate in April 2021 and found him in his bedroom. They seized his mobile phone.

Forensic analysis showed there were seven category C indecent images of children on Shutt’s phone. Mr Hewitt said there was also evidence to suggest Shutt had been chatting with other children, although this didn’t lead to further charges.

Shutt was charged with two counts of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, one count of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and one count of possessing indecent images of children.

He admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence today.

‘Corrupting young girls’

Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said Shutt had endured a traumatic childhood and had been chatting with the girls during the coronavirus lockdown.

He added that Shutt was an “isolated and marginalised” figure with few friends and that his offending had had a “massive” impact on his family.

Judge Sean Morris told Shutt:

“You pleaded guilty to a whole series of offences which involved you cruising the internet looking for young girls to corrupt.

“There were two real victims before you were caught by an undercover officer patrolling the internet.

“As far as you were aware, that was (an underage) girl. You were obviously sexually aroused by young teenage girls.”

Shutt was jailed for three years and five months and placed on the sex offenders register for life.

He was also given an eight-year sexual-harm prevention order mainly to curb his internet activities.

Police sack Harrogate officer convicted of sexual assault

A Harrogate police officer convicted of sexual assault has been sacked.

Joseph McCabe, 27, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault and given a suspended sentence in March this year.

McCabe was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also placed on the sex-offenders register for seven years, fined £808 and given a three-year restraining order.

Following a misconduct hearing on Friday (April 28), North Yorkshire Police has now dismissed the 27-year-old without notice.

A decision notice published after the hearing, which was conducted by chief constable Lisa Winward, said:

“Having assessed the misconduct here as serious misconduct, which caused both direct harm to a victim that amounts to violence against women and girls, it is also an aggravating factor in respect of the seriousness of the allegations.

“It also has the potential to cause serious damage to the public confidence in the police and bearing in mind that the misconduct was so serious that it also amounted to an offence of sexual assault, in my judgment the only appropriate outcome is one of dismissal without notice.”

McCabe was sentenced on March 31 at York Magistrates Court for sexually assaulting a woman at a Travelodge at Scotch Corner, where he was attending a wedding with a number of colleagues.

At the time, district judge Tan Ikram told McCabe he had given “no credible explanation as to why (the victim) would make up such a serious allegation”.

Following the outcome of the hearing, deputy chief constable Mabs Hussain commended the victim for coming forward.

He described the 27-year-old’s actions as “disgraceful”.

Mr Hussain said:

“Our communities need to know that they can have complete trust in their police, and that we demand the highest level of integrity from our officers and staff.

“McCabe’s disgraceful actions fell far below that standard. I commend the victim for her courage in coming forward so we could take action. I also hope the case sends a clear message that there is no place for this behaviour in policing – and that we will secure justice against perpetrators, no matter who they are.”

New terrace and kiosk at Harrogate Town approved

Plans for a new terrace and merchandise kiosk at Harrogate Town’s EnviroVent Stadium have been approved.

The club submitted the proposal for a 100-person terrace near to the north stand turnstiles, to Harrogate Borough Council before the authority was abolished.

It will also see a kiosk installed to serve fans refreshments and Harrogate Town merchandise.

North Yorkshire Council has now approved the proposals.

The club said the new terrace was required because the English Football League will no longer accept perimeter standing at stadiums.

In planning documents, it said:

“The proposed terrace will accommodate spectators which use the existing perimeter standing areas and will therefore not increase the overall ground capacity.

“The small kiosk building will be used for the club shop selling on site merchandising on match days, as well as a replacement (non-alcoholic) drinks servery to replace a kiosk within the AON Terrace that was recently converted to WCs.”

It comes as the club recently saw its proposal to upgrade its Envirovent Stadium approved.

It will see almost 1,000 seats installed to bring the ground up to EFL standards.

To the south of the ground, the Myrings terrace will see 264 seats installed and the 1919 bar will be demolished and replaced with a new standing terrace.

A total of 603 seats have been installed in the Black Sheep Brewery stand.

The changes will not increase the overall capacity of 5,071 but will see the number of fans that can be seated rise from 1,193 to 2,060.

A strong end to the season has seen Simon Weaver’s team secure their status in Division Two of the EFL. They are currently 19th with one match remaining.

Historic Harrogate house to be auctioned next month

One of the most historic homes in Harrogate is to be auctioned next month.

Pineheath, which was built on Cornwall Road in the 1890s, was formerly the home of Indian shipping magnate Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji and Lady Frainy Bomanji.

But the house, which has a guide price of £3.5 million, has been derelict for many years and is not fit for viewing.

The property, which has planning permission to be converted into 12 flats, will go under the hammer in an online auction on June 8 at 3pm.

The lot includes the adjoining former chauffeur’s cottage, which has been refurbished into a pair of semi-detached coach houses that yield rent of £51,000 a year.

Pineheath. Pic: FSS

A 0.5 acre parcel of land next to the site, believed to be the last undeveloped parcel on the Duchy estate, is being auctioned as a separate lot with a guide price of £1.85 million.

Estate agent FSS, which began advertising the properties and land today, described Pineheath as ‘a truly unique opportunity’.

FSS partner Simon Croft said Pineheath’s private owner was keen for someone to redevelop the site. He added:

“It’s one of the most historic properties in prime Harrogate and it’s a shame that it’s become an eyesore on the street.

“The current owner has had a go with Harrogate planning department and has taken a pragmatic view that he’s probably not going to get anywhere and so he will let someone else take up the baton.

“The main house is derelict and unsafe. There are holes in the roof and the floors have rotted through. Any buyer would have to understand they would have some serious refurbishment work to take on or chance their arm by putting in a fresh planning application.”

Business Breakfast: Harrogate businesses invited to free ‘growth networking’ sessions

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

Businesses in the Harrogate district are being invited to free growth events this month.

York St John University, York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and the Made Smarter programme have partnered together to deliver a programme of free ‘Innovate to Grow’ events for companies.

Designed to appeal to medium and larger sized businesses based in York and North Yorkshire, the event programme starts on May 9 at Eden Camp in Malton and will be running until May 23.

One event will be held at Co-Lab on Kings Road in Harrogate on May 16 from 11.30am until 2.30pm.

Funded by Innovate UK, the events will provide opportunities for networking to collaborate and share ideas for innovation and growth with other local businesses.

Speaking of the events series, Michael Wilson, knowledge transfer manager at York St John University said:

“We are delighted to be running this series of free events for businesses across York & North Yorkshire.

“Working in partnership with York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and Made Smarter, we look forward to seeing businesses form connections and to giving them useful information about the business support and funding that is available, whilst they enjoy some of the region’s most interesting venues.”

For more information and to register for the events, visit the York St John University EventBrite page here.

Harrogate manufacturing company hosts engineers day

A Harrogate manufacturing company hosted an engineers careers day.

Belzona, which s based on Claro Road, hosted nine engineering scholars from the Arkwright Engineering Scholarships programme at its facility.

As part of the event last month, the company devised an agenda designed to provide the scholars with an insight into the career opportunities within maintenance engineering.

Ian Wade, Belzona’s technical service manager, said:

“It was great to host the Arkwright Industry Connect Day here in Harrogate, investing time and offering developing engineers an insight to the roles available within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

“We hope that the scholars found it beneficial to learn about how Belzona is used across many industries.”

The Arkwright Engineering Scholarships programme is run by the Smallpeice Trust which aims to identify, inspire and nurture future leaders in engineering.

Pictured above: Andrew Raby, Growth Hub Manager, York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub, Mike Pennington, Business Relationship Manager, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Michael Wilson, Knowledge Transfer Manager at York St John University and Emma Rollason-Taylor, Business Relationship Manager, York St John University Enterprise Centre.

Bank holiday gathering leaves mess in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

The boating lake in Valley Gardens had to be drained of rubbish this morning after a bank holiday gathering last night.

Gardeners were on site early this morning to clean-up after revellers left so much mess.

Numerous bin bags were filled and removed before the lake was refilled.

Jon Clubb, acting head of parks and environmental services at North Yorkshire Council, said:

“Last night we experienced some antisocial behaviour in Valley Gardens. This morning the gardeners removed rubbish, drained the boating lake and gave the surrounding area a clean. It is now refilled with water.

“This was due to take place tomorrow in anticipation of the three-day event to mark the King’s coronation at the weekend when we hope thousands of people will visit the beautiful gardens.”

Some of the rubbish

Jane Blayney, former chair of the Friends of Valley Gardens, noticed the clean-up operation this morning. She said:

“It was a dreadful mess. Sacks and sacks of rubbish were taken.

“I felt sorry for the gardeners, who are busy enough and were diverted from their preparations for the coronation weekend.”

Police issue CCTV images after man left unconscious in Harrogate

Police are appealing for help to trace two men in connection with an incident in Harrogate that left a man unconscious.

It happened at the Foundry Project in The Ginnel on March 11. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment before being discharged.

North Yorkshire Police has today issued three CCTV images of the two men officers would like to speak to, saying one had a “distinctive white hat”.

A spokesperson for the force said:

“Officers are appealing to anyone who can help identify the men in the image, including one who was wearing a distinctive white hat, as they believe they will have information that could assist the investigation.”

Anyone who can provide information should email stephen.mangham@northyorkshire.police.uk, or call 101, select option two and ask for PC 1604 Mangham.

To report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, quoting reference 12230044921.

Harrogate dominatrix who ran international sex trafficking racket to be deported

A Portuguese dominatrix who ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution racket is to be deported from the UK.

Fabiana De Souza, 43, and her English husband Gareth Derby, 55, were jailed for a combined 10 years in February last year after they were caught running a sex den in Harrogate, where many of the sex workers were based after being flown in from abroad.

Today they appeared at Leeds Crown Court for a financial-confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act. These proceedings will determine how much the former couple has to pay back for their mega-money trafficking scheme, which involved sex workers from Portugal and Brazil.

Defence barrister Michael Fullerton said full analysis of the defendants’ assets and finances had not yet been completed and De Souza had yet to provide her own statements.

He said the defence would be contesting the undisclosed sum being sought by the prosecution.

Mr Fullerton asked for an adjournment in the proceedings to allow time for De Souza to serve the statement but asked for a postponed date no later than August 21 when she would be deported from the country.

He said Derby’s defence team also needed more time to ascertain the value of a car belonging to him which appeared to have ended up in Portugal.

He claimed some of De Souza’s financial gains during the offending period were from her work as a beautician and in the fitness industry.

He said this money was “not…earned by her as a dominatrix with her own website during that period”.

Mr Fullerton claimed that De Souza’s involvement in trafficking six sex workers from abroad was for a “limited period” only.

He claimed Derby had transferred some of the money into De Souza’s account and she had received some legitimately from a family member.

‘Flying in’ sex workers

During their trial at the same court in December 2021, the jury heard that De Souza and Derby, from Norfolk, had been “flying in” sex workers from Europe and South America.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said the couple treated the women like “commodities” as they made massive sums from their illicit trade.

De Souza, who provided dominatrix and discipline services to punters in Harrogate, was said to be the ringleader of the “large-scale commercial operation” in which she and Derby, a high-earning engineer and machine specialist, flew in sex workers from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to sex dens where men paid for “massages” and “full (sex) services”.

They had exploited the “vulnerable” women for “significant” financial gain by “controlling (their) finances (and) choice of clients”.

The sex workers were put at a “significant financial disadvantage” and forced to lie to police to avoid detection.

De Souza and Derby, who ran the lucrative business from their home in East Anglia, were arrested in August 2018 and charged with controlling prostitution for financial gain and human trafficking. They each denied the charges, but the jury found them guilty on both counts following a 10-day trial.

The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den and two properties in Norfolk between April 2017 and August 2018.

Bower Road brothel

Mr Lumley said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”. He added:

“There was another (rented) flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers.

“As soon as the (prostitutes) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from airport around the country and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road in Harrogate. The adverts were placed on the classified escort websites Viva Street and Adult Work.

Bower Street in Harrogate

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay.

The money usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax, Bank of Scotland and NatWest bank accounts, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Between May 2017 and August 2018, some £38,000 cash was deposited into De Souza’s bank accounts at branches in Harrogate and Norfolk. About £9,000 of bank transfers were then made to accounts in Brazil and Portugal using a money-services bureau.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in on an EasyJet flight from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

They would arrange for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved the women around the country “or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Undercover officer

Following her arrest, De Souza, who is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Peterborough, told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She had rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

Derby said only that he had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

In a text sent to a friend in January 2018, he boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone.

An undercover officer posed as a client to make appointments for the sex den on Bower Road. De Souza would answer the calls in “broken English” and arrange the appointment.

The officer was offered a “range of services”. On his first visit, dressed in civilian clothes, he was met by a sex worker named ‘Lisa’ who buzzed him into the flats above shops.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a “Hot Brazilian, full service”. She was about 57 years old but was advertised as 33.

De Souza and Derby, of Town Street, Upwell, in south-west Norfolk, were each jailed for five years in February 2022. They are still serving those sentences in different parts of the country and had to be transported to Leeds for the confiscation hearing.

Judge Mr Stubbs KC adjourned for a further hearing on June 27 when the case might be resolved but is likely to go to a contested, half-day hearing on July 28, when the prosecution and defence will set out their cases for a greater or lesser financial settlement based on the defendants’ assets and finances.

Former homeless hostel could be converted to social housing in Harrogate

Plans have been submitted to convert a Harrogate former homeless hostel into social housing.

Last summer, Harrogate Borough Council unveiled plans to build a modest number of social homes at seven sites it owns across the district.

The plans included converting Cavendish House on Robert Street which was operated by the council from 1983 until November 2021 when it closed.

In 2021, the council opened a new homeless centre called Fern House in Starbeck.

The former Robert Street hostel had nine bedsits, which in plans registered last week would be converted into six self-contained apartments.

Average house prices are around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in Harrogate and it has made the area one of the most unaffordable places to live in England.

In planning documents published before it was abolished at the end of March, Harrogate Borough Council said converting Cavendish House would make a small dent in its social housing waiting list, which now features over 2,100 households.

In 1974, the council owned 7,000 council houses across the Harrogate district but this has fallen to 3,800 since the Conservative government introduced the Right to Buy scheme in the 1980s.

Planning documents state:

“The building was utilised previously as temporary accommodation for single homeless households, however it is no longer fit for purpose and does not meet the needs of this client group (Fern House, a new facility for the same client group, has recently been completed at Spa Lane).

“The building has been empty since November 2021. As such, it has a negative impact on residential amenity and increasingly risks attracting anti-social behaviour.

“The development proposals will deliver much needed affordable accommodation in a redundant building and a highly sustainable location, complying full with national and local planning policy guidance.”

In March, plans were approved to build one two-bedroom social home at a council-owned plot of land in Huby.

The council also hopes to develop a site on Halfpenny Lane in Knaresborough into 14 homes for market sale, social rent and shared ownership.

North Yorkshire Council, which succeeded Harrogate Borough Council, will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

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Police trap

‘Corrupting young girls’

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Harrogate manufacturing company hosts engineers day

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‘Flying in’ sex workers

Bower Road brothel

Undercover officer

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