A Harrogate man has been jailed for insulting magistrates and kicking court furniture.
Samuel Hughes, 46, of Swarcliffe Road, appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Friday, November 17.
Hughes had previously been found guilty of assaulting a named woman in October 2021 — a charge he denied.
He received an 18-week suspended prison sentence in May last year, and was required to attend a building better relationships appointment in July this year.
But he failed to do so and when he returned to court last week, he was charged with “wilfully insulting the magistrates”, according to court records.
The records added he used “foul and abusive language to the bench upon sentence being pronounced”.
He also kicked court furniture and attempted to resist handcuffs being put on and was committed to jail for four weeks.
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Man jailed for dealing cocaine and ecstasy in Harrogate
A man caught dealing cocaine and ecstasy in Harrogate has been jailed for 22 months.
Christopher David Corrigan, also known as Purser, 38, of Lingfield Drive, Moortown, Leeds, was sentenced at York Crown Court on Thursday.
Corrigan was intercepted by police on Yew Tree Lane where his then girlfriend was found to have 72 wraps of cocaine in her bra.
He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine and ecstasy at a previous hearing.
His girlfriend at the time, Jordan Wood, 27, from Northallerton, stood trial for the same offences and was found not guilty.
Stopped on Yew Tree Lane
Officers from Harrogate’s specialist drugs unit Operation Expedite stopped a grey Peugeot 208 on Yew Tree Lane on April 30, 2021.
According to police, they had “concerns that the driver was involved in the supply of cocaine in the area”.
They detained Corrigan and Ms Wood, who was the front seat passenger.
A search of the couple and the vehicle found 72 wraps of drugs in Ms Wood’s bra.
Both were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
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During police interview, Ms Wood answered “no comment” to all questions and Corrigan said he was £8,000 in debt.
Tests showed 60 cocaine wraps were 89% pure and 10 wraps were 29% pure.
Two further bags were found to be 95% pure ecstasy, which is also a Class A drug.
The total amount of cocaine was just over 30 grams and the total amount of ecstasy was 1.23 grams.
The total street value of all the drugs seized was £3,480.
‘He can reflect on his behaviour in prison’
Police discovered Corrigan’s mobile phone contained numerous messages in which a ‘line holder’ arranged drug deals and Corrigan was sent to conduct the deals.
Corrigan pleaded guilty to the offence in April this year and was remanded in custody awaiting the outcome of Ms Wood’s trial.
PC Michael Haydock, of Operation Expedite, said:
“Corrigan was the main protagonist which was clear to see from the evidence presented by the officer in the case. Corrigan was left with no option but to admit his guilt.
“He can now reflect on his criminal behaviour whilst serving his custodial sentence. Anyone else who tries their hand at drug dealing can expect to end up where he is too.
“There is no place for drug dealers. They inflict misery and suffering on people, their families and communities, all for their own greed.”
Ripon man jailed for two crazy police chases
A man high on cocaine rammed his car into a police vehicle, ripping off its registration plate, during a death-defying chase through Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.
Craig Harper, 34, reversed his Vauxhall Astra into the police car, causing the two vehicles to become “wedged” together, York Crown Court heard.
He then stepped on the accelerator, moving the car back and forth, which caused the front of the police vehicle to lift up and its registration plate to fly off.
Prosecutor Beatrice Allsop said that Harper — who was 16 times over the specified limit for cocaine — was on bail at the time and banned from driving, having been arrested and charged with dangerous and drug-driving following a previous police chase on New Year’s Eve 2022.
That first chase occurred in the early hours of December 31 when two traffic officers on the A59 Harrogate Road in Knaresborough were radioed by a colleague telling them that a man in a VW Golf had failed to stop for officers in Harrogate.
They drove to the location in Bogs Lane and saw the Volkswagen driving towards them with its light off. Three males were inside the car which sped towards the A59 towards Knaresborough.
Harper went along Bogs Lane.
Harper took a roundabout on the A61 the wrong way then headed towards Ripley, South Stainley and Ripon.
Ms Allsop said the conditions were so wet there were “large areas of standing water” on the road. Harper lost control on one of these pools of water and veered across the centre white lines before careering off the road and “rebounding” back into the carriageway.
Undeterred, he stepped on the gas again, heading towards Ripon at speeds of up to 75mph while cutting corners, driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding round blind bends and at one stage narrowly avoiding an oncoming vehicle.
He then revved up to about 80mph in a restricted speed zone and overtook a line of cars near a bend as he bombed down the A61 and into Ripon.
He sped down Harrogate Road, a 30mph zone, at double the speed limit and into Ripon town centre, shooting through red lights and going the wrong way around a roundabout. He then sped down a one-way street near Ripon Cathedral, shot through red lights again and went down another one-way street in the wrong direction.
He then turned into North Street and sped out of the town and through a village where police tried to box him in.
Harper’s vehicle was brought to a stop next to a grass verge. Officers ran over to the vehicle, but Harper put up a struggle as they tried to restrain him.
He was arrested and taken into custody where a drug-drive test revealed he had a “shockingly high” 800mcg of cocaine per litre of blood, the specified limit being 50mcg.
Ms Allsop said the chase, through towns and villages including Masham, lasted over 20 minutes.
Back causing ‘mayhem’
Harper admitted dangerous and drug driving and was bailed and given an interim motoring ban, but on May 2 he was back out on the roads in a different car but causing the same “mayhem”.
Ms Allsop said two patrol officers in an unmarked police car in Leeds spotted him driving a Vauxhall Astra.
They followed the vehicle after Harper, who had a male passenger, turned onto Lady Pit Lane and then into St Francis Close, where he stopped the car and reversed “at speed” towards the police vehicle. The Astra collided with the front offside of the police car, causing it to “jolt and shake”.
Ms Allsop added:
“The Astra became wedged onto the front of the police vehicle.
“Officers shouted at him, telling him to turn the engine off. They could tell he was under the influence of (substances) as his eyes were glazed and vacant.
“He was trying to free the (Astra) from the police vehicle by going forward and into reverse. At one point, (the Astra) lifted the front end of the police vehicle.
“He managed to free the car by driving forward at speed, causing the wheels to spin. Part of the police registration plate flew off.”
Once free from the police vehicle, Harper turned right into a cul-de-sac and came to a dead end. He put the car into reverse again as officers caught up with him and rammed the Astra into the police vehicle.
The Astra again collided with the front offside of the police car. The officer got out of the vehicle and ran to the driver’s side of the Astra.
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Harper tried to escape but police smashed the driver’s window with a baton, opened the door and tried to drag him out, but the engine was still running and he was still trying to drive away.
They finally took him to ground after using reasonable force and cuffed Harper who refused a roadside breath test. He was taken into custody at a police station in Leeds and again refused to have a toxicology test.
Harper, of Holbeck Close, was charged with dangerous driving, causing over £1,600 of damage to the police vehicle, driving while disqualified and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. He admitted this second set of offences and appeared for sentence via video link yesterday after being remanded in custody.
61 previous convictions
The court heard he had 61 previous convictions for over 100 offences including driving while over the limit for drink and drugs, driving while disqualified and aggravated vehicle-taking. At the time of his latest offences, he was on a community order for assaulting an emergency worker.
Defence barrister Matthew Stewart said the father-of-three started abusing drugs after losing his job and was now on benefits.
Judge Simon Hickey told Harper he had caused “mayhem” on the county’s roads and described his criminal record as “shocking”.
Harper was jailed for two years and two months and slapped with a five-year driving ban.
Man with ‘flagrant disregard for people’ jailed for crimes in Harrogate
A man has been jailed for a year for a string of offences in Harrogate, including threatening to kill a policeman.
Christopher Layton, 36, admitted carrying out the threat at Harrogate police station on June 7 this year.
He was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for that offence when he appeared in front of magistrates in York on Tuesday.
Layton, of no fixed abode, received other consecutive custodial sentences for further crimes.
They included assaulting the same police officer and assaulting a man on Parliament Street in Harrogate on June 18. He also threatened police and paramedics.
Layton, who was subject to supervision requirements imposed after a previous jail sentence, also pleaded guilty to threatening a man on Queens Road in Harrogate on June 7, which court documents said “was motivated by hostility towards persons who are of a particular sexual orientation”.
The documents also said the offences were so serious because “the defendant has a flagrant disregard for people and their property” and involved attacks on emergency workers.
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Men jailed for £143,000 burglaries at new housing sites in Harrogate district
Two men have been jailed for their part in stealing newly-installed boilers and other equipment worth £143,000 from housing developments in the Harrogate district.
Shaun Andrew Finley, 34, of Goldthorpe, Barnsley, and Stephen William Case, 43, of Dunscroft, Doncaster, targeted boilers, furniture and other equipment belonging to building companies and contractors.
They struck at homes in Harrogate, Knaresborough, Killinghall, Kirk Hammerton and Dishforth.
Finley was jailed for five years and Case for four years and two months when they were sentenced at York Crown Court on Friday.
The court heard that between June 1 and December 15 in 2020 they targeted prestigious new build developments 22 times.
According to a North Yorkshire Police press release today, officers identified a pattern in the burglaries which involved the same method of breaking into the properties and removing the items.
The press release added:
“They specifically targeted houses that were ready for occupation. This caused considerable disruption and upset to the homebuyers and added cost and inconvenience to the developers.
“Through detailed analysis of CCTV and automatic number plater recognition data, the investigation team were able to place the vans and cars they were using – often driving in convoy – in and around the new build locations that they burgled.
“They also uncovered that Finley and Case were actively avoiding detection by registering, and insuring, their vehicles in the names of innocent members of the public. They also used cloned registration plates. This resulted in the arrest of two men who had nothing to do with the crimes, as well as numerous speeding tickets.”
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At the sentencing, Judge Sean Morris commended the work of detective sergeant Steve Peachman, the now retired detective sergeant Marcus Dawson, and analyst Libby Edison for the effective investigation which secured the convictions.
The Judge said they were “a credit to North Yorkshire Police and the people of North Yorkshire”.
DS Steve Peachman, from the force’s operation expedite unit, said:
“The outcome of our investigation shows that if you choose to embark on conspiracies with organised crime groups, you can expect lengthy custodial sentences.
“We proved that Finley and Case were principal participants in committing crime in North Yorkshire.
“They used a high degree of sophistication, but it was not enough to escape justice.”
25 years for drugs gang that targeted Harrogate
The leaders of an organised crime gang that flooded Harrogate with heroin and crack cocaine have been jailed for over 25 years.
The Bradford gang operated a county line drug dealing set-up known as the Pat Line through which they targeted vulnerable drug users in Harrogate.
They recruited Harrogate drug dealers Natalie Hullah, 33, previously of Harrogate, but now of St Edmund’s Street, Manchester, and Melissa Nicole Barnwell, 49, of Skipton Road, Harrogate, to sell the drugs locally in return for payment in heroin or crack cocaine.
The Pat Line was one of three lines shut down by North Yorkshire Police through a Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Order in 2020.
Qasib Hussain, 25, of HMP Wetherby, previously of Idle Road, Bradford, dictated the movement of large quantities of class A drugs from West Yorkshire into North Yorkshire.
Qasib Hussain
This was done through the use of couriers who travelled from Bradford to Harrogate where the drugs were sold following a bulk text message sent from Qasib Hussain to users in Harrogate.
The Pat Line predominantly remained with Qasib Hussain in Bradford where he conducted his operation but on occasion it was passed to others to manage such as his brother, Aqib Ali Hussain, 24, of Killinghall Road in Bradford.
Aqib Ali Hussain
Aqib’s role included topping up the county line handsets and travelling to and from Harrogate to oversee the smooth selling of the drugs belonging to Qasib.
Hussain Khan, 25, of Greenway Road, Bradford, would step into Aqib’s role if Qasib was elsewhere.
The investigation was able to show that Aqib Ali Hussain had made multiple journeys to Harrogate, including 16 separate journeys over three consecutive days, each one lasting around half an hour before he returned to Bradford.
It showed the top trio were linked to the two phone numbers of the Pat Line through analysis of phone data messages, CCTV of them topping up the phones at local shops, and text messages between the group and their local dealers talking about how much they had made.
Hussain Khan
All five were charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs and pleaded guilty in 2021. They were jailed for:
Qasib Hussain – nine years and nine months
Aqib Ali Hussain – six years and nine months. He was also sentenced for an additional two years and three months in relation to another investigation in West Yorkshire that targeted York, bringing the total term of imprisonment to nine years and two months (consecutive).
Hussain Khan – six years and three months
Melissa Barnwell – 16 months suspended for two years, six months’ drug rehabilitation requirement and complete 25 days of rehabilitation activity
Natalie Hullah – 21 months suspended for two years, and must complete 21 days of rehabilitation activity
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‘They flooded Harrogate with drugs’
Detective Chief Inspector Fionna McEwan of North Yorkshire Police, said:
“Today’s outcome is a result of a lengthy and painstaking investigation. We are pleased to finally see the results at court.
“They flooded Harrogate with drugs, making money at the expense of local users, the majority of whom were vulnerable due to their socioeconomic background and mental health conditions. They have no conscience and no concern whatsoever for the people they are putting at risk of serious harm. They now have ample time to reflect on their life-choices and the damage it causes.
“Drug dealing and the violence and exploitation that accompanies county lines remains a foremost priority for North Yorkshire Police. We are committed to disrupting the offenders and taking those responsible off the streets.
“We urge anyone with information to continue to report information about drug dealing in their area. It’s vital in helping us piece together the bigger picture.
“No matter how insignificant you think the information is, please call us. And if you don’t want to speak to us, you can pass information anonymously to Crimestoppers.”
County lines
‘County lines’ is the term given to a form of organised crime in which drug dealers, usually from urban areas, such as West Yorkshire or Manchester, target smaller towns and cities. It takes its name from the mobile phone lines used by dealers to advertise drugs for sale. Violence and intimidation is prevalent within county lines.
A major concern for North Yorkshire Police is a practice known as cuckooing, which is where drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person and use it to store and sell drugs. They often use violence and intimidation to achieve this.
Members of the public provide invaluable information that helps shape our operational activity and we urge residents to look out for the signs of cuckooing in their neighbourhood and report any concerns they have.
Signs of “cuckooing” to look out for include:
Increased callers at a property
• Increase in cars pulling up for short periods of time
• Different accents at a property
• Increased antisocial behaviour at a property
• Not seeing the resident for long periods of time
• Unfamiliar vehicles at the property
• Windows covered or curtains closed for long periods
• Communal doors propped open
Ex-Harrogate Lib Dem candidate jailed for abusing girl
Former Harrogate Liberal Democrat candidate Anthony Medri has been jailed for over two years for sexually abusing a teenage girl and paying her to send him intimate photos of herself.
Medri, 64, from Knaresborough, sexually assaulted the girl on several occasions and sent her a picture of an intimate part of his body, York Crown Court heard.
The Harrogate Borough Council candidate in 2015 also urged her to send him indecent pictures of herself, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds.
He said that Medri, who is married, had sexually assaulted the youngster by touching her on intimate parts of her body and kissing her on the lips.
Medri asked the girl on social media if she had “ever seen a grown man’s (private parts)”. He then sent her an intimate picture of himself and told her to delete the messages.
Mr Dodds said that in 2017, Medri started transferring money into the girl’s bank account and asking her what she was wearing.
This was followed by a request for a picture of her in her underwear and a promise to pay her £50 if she sent it. Mr Dodds said:
“She sent an image of herself wearing a bra.
“He had previously bought her some underwear…and asked her for photos wearing that underwear.”
The prosecutor said that between 2017 and 2019, £580 of payments were made into the victim’s account for intimate photos of her. Mr Dodds added:
“Sometimes she would also get payments in cash as well.”
Grooming process
Medri – who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Lib Dems in the 2015 local elections when he contested the Stray ward – initially gave the girl money so she could treat herself, which the prosecution said was part of the grooming process.
He would tell the girl “to get yourself something nice”, said Mr Dodds.
The victim “wasn’t in a good place” at the time and she felt that Medri used this to take advantage of her difficult circumstances.
He bought her treats such as perfume, clothes, tobacco and vodka – along with a sex toy and told her to “try it out”. The victim put the item in a bin.
Mr Dodds said that on the occasions Medri tried to kiss the girl, she would pull away, but he would kiss her again. He once drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.
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Medri was ultimately brought in for questioning and accepted having asked for pictures of the girl in her underwear and that he had given her money, but initially denied sexually assaulting her.
A trial was due to be held but Medri ultimately admitted one count of intentionally causing a child to look at an image of a person engaging in a sexual act, three counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child to become a prostitute or be involved in pornography, namely asking the girl for photos of herself in her underwear.
Mr Medri, of Forest Moor Road, appeared for sentence today when the court heard a harrowing statement from the young victim.
She said she had been left with the “overwhelming” feeling that she was somehow at fault for the abuse.
This and the fact that Medri had protested his innocence for so long had caused her “extreme anxiety”. She added:
“I don’t think I will ever get over what has happened. I think about it every single day.”
Carer for disabled wife
Defence barrister Jeremy Barton said there had been a “plethora” of character references provided by friends and family of Medri.
He conceded, however, that Medri’s offences, which occurred over a period of about a year, were “disturbing and worrying”.
He said that Medri, who had worked all his life and was now a carer for his disabled wife, had shown a “degree of remorse”.
Judge Sean Morris told Medri he should have owned up to his offences “a long time ago” and described his protestations of innocence until his belated guilty pleas as “gutless”.
He told Medri:
“For heaven’s sake man, why did you put this girl through all those months of anguish waiting for (what was expected to be) a trial. It’s gutless.”
He said that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate for inciting a young girl “in a vulnerable position to sell pictures of (herself) for Medri’s “sexual pleasure”.
The judge said that Medri had taken advantage of the girl when she was in a “desperate state” because of her life circumstances.
Medri was jailed for two years and two months, but he will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.
Medri was also given a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to protect children and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.
Harrogate man jailed for ‘flagrant disregard for people and their property’
Harrogate man Cieran Bamford has been jailed for 16 weeks.
Bamford, 31, of Knaresborough Road, pleaded guilty to making threats to a named woman who feared violence would be used against her when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Court documents state the offence was “so serious because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for people and their property”.
Bamford was given a restraining order prohibiting contact with the victim until April 2028.
Magistrates in York also ordered him to pay £154 to victim services.
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Ripon man jailed for attacking police in Harrogate
A Ripon man has been jailed for attacking three police officers at Harrogate Police Station.
Benjamin Donnelly, 36, admitted the offences when he appeared before magistrates in York yesterday.
He was jailed for 16 weeks because of the seriousness of the offences and his previous record.
Donnelly, of Somerset Row, pleaded guilty to assaulting the officers on Friday last week.
He also admitted assaulting a custody worker at the police station on Beckwith Head Road and was fined £300.
Following the case, a spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said:
“Assaults against police officers, staff and other emergency services will never be tolerated. We have a robust process in place for investigating offences and bringing those responsible to justice.
“If you assault an emergency services worker, you will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law, which will frequently end in a prison sentence. That’s how serious this offence is.”
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Harrogate man jailed for assaulting three police officers in Ripon
A man from a village near Harrogate has been jailed for six months for assaulting police officers.
James Ashley Gibb, 34, initially denied attacking three police officers in Ripon Market Place on October 28 last year.
But Gibb, of Ripon Road, Killinghall, changed his plea and was sentenced at Harrogate Magistrates Court last week.
Court documents say he was jailed due to the seriousness of the offence and also “because of different kinds of assaults including biting, kicking and threat of spitting and committed whilst on post-sentence supervision”.
The offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending, the documents added.
The incident in Ripon Market Place last year
Gibb also pleaded guilty to using racially aggravated threatening or abusive words.
He was also given a concurrent four-month prison sentence for threatening a person on Station Parade in Harrogate on January 14 this year.
Besides being jailed, he was fined £275.