Man jailed for 12 months after theft from Harrogate shop

A man has been jailed for a year after being found guilty of theft from a shop in Harrogate town centre.

Jason Mark Johnson, 24, of no fixed address, was charged with trespassing at VPZ vape shop on Beulah Street and stealing property worth £685 on November 11 last year.

He denied the charge but was found guilty at Harrogate Magistrates Court last week and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Court documents said Johnson was given a custodial sentence because of the seriousness of the crime and also because the offence was aggravated by his previous record of offending.

He was also ordered to pay £685 compensation.

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Man jailed for two-month fraud spree at Harrogate and York hotels

A man has been jailed for embarking on a two-month fraud spree at hotels in Harrogate and York at the end of last year.

Parmpareet Singh-Pooni, of no fixed address, admitted two offences at the Crowne Plaza on King’s Road in Harrogate when he appeared before magistrates in York on Monday.

He pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining accommodation, food and drinks by claiming he was called Nikko Singh and not paying for them between November 3 and 6.

Singh-Pooni also admitted trying the same ruse at the Crowne Plaza on either November 23 and 24.

He pleaded guilty to stealing £140 cash from behind the reception at the Dean Court hotel in York on December 17 and defrauding Malmaison in York by giving another false name and not paying for food and drink between December 27 and 31.

He was jailed for 10 weeks, with court documents saying he was jailed because of the number of offences, his record and due to the fact he was on recall.

Singh-Pooni was also ordered to pay compensation totalling £1,083 to the Crowne Plaza, £140 to the Dean Court Hotel and £452 to Malmaison.

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Man jailed for lewd act near children’s play area in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

Warning: this article contains details some people may find upsetting.

A sexual predator has been jailed for over two years for performing a lewd act near the children’s play area in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Kevin Payne, 67, was under a strict court order not to go anywhere near children’s play parks following previous convictions for child-sex offences.

But on June 12 he parked his car outside Valley Gardens and made his way to a wooded area near a children’s play area, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said a passer-by spotted Payne performing a lewd act in woods overlooking the play park.

Payne was “startled” by the passer-by, who spotted him through a gap in a hedge and shouted over to him as Payne ran away.

Ms Morrison added:

“The passer-by gave chase and (as) he followed Payne, he took a number of pictures of him before apprehending him and keeping him there until police arrived.”

Payne was arrested and admitted breaching a sexual-harm prevention order, which prohibited him from going within 100 metres of any recreational area where there may be children present.

However, he denied a separate charge of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner, namely performing a lewd act.

The play area in Valley Gardens.

Payne, from Bradford, was due to face trial today but admitted the offence at the last minute.

Ms Morrison said Payne committed the offences in Harrogate while under investigation for downloading indecent sexual imagery online.

He was arrested for those offences in December last year after police monitoring officers paid him a routine visit to check he was complying with the sexual-harm prevention order following a previous jail sentence for child-sex offences.

Payne handed over his mobile phone on which police found internet searches for sexual images of children and an indecent photo of a child rated Category A – the worst kind. They also found six images of extreme pornography, namely bestiality.

Payne admitted making an indecent image of a child and possessing six extreme-pornographic images following his arrest and was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of a six-month jail sentence imposed in June last year for making indecent images of children.

He was released from prison in January this year and went on to commit the offences at Valley Gardens in June.

40 years of crime

The Crown proceeded to sentence on all matters today as the prosecution outlined Payne’s 40-year criminal history, which comprised 51 previous offences including many for indecently exposing himself in front of young girls and making indecent images of children.

His rap sheet also included voyeurism, kerb-crawling, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, serious violence, harassment, public disorder, and breaching court orders.

He had been given extended prison sentences in the past for child-sex offences as various judges deemed him a dangerous offender.

Defence barrister Derek Duffy said Payne “did not intend to be seen by anybody” in Valley Gardens when he carried out the lewd act.

He said Payne had rented accommodation in Bradford before being remanded in custody, but he had since lost that and intended to live with a friend in Harrogate upon his release from jail.

He added that Payne — formerly of Ling Park Avenue, Bingley, but currently of no fixed address — was a retired man who had lost all contact with his family and was a “rather despondent” figure.

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Judge Simon Hickey described Payne’s latest offences in Valley Gardens as “quite revolting” and told him:

“You are, worryingly, 67, and you are still committing offences of this nature. Fortunately, the children were not to see what you did.”

Payne was given a 27-month jail sentence but will only spend half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and the judge ordered that the sexual-harm prevention order would remain in place.

Mr Hickey said the named witness who chased and detained Payne would be paid £150 from the public purse for his “very-public-spirited” actions.

Two men jailed for vicious attack in Ripon

Two middle-aged men were jailed today for a vicious attack on an innocent man who suffered a broken eye socket which required facial-reconstruction surgery.

Gavin Hewson, 45, and Charles Neate, 55, punched the victim repeatedly at a block of flats in Ripon which left him “covered in blood”, York Crown Court heard.

They were arrested and charged with causing grievous bodily harm but denied the offences. However, a jury found them guilty following a trial in November.

Prosecutor Nicola Hoskins said the two men went to the apartment block in St Marygate apparently looking to “sort out” another man but ended up attacking his neighbour, who was named in court.

The victim had been watching TV with his partner when they heard someone shouting the name of their neighbour who lived in the opposite flat.

When he went outside to ask them to be quiet and go away, he was attacked by the two men, resulting in a fractured eye socket, swollen eyes and a suspected broken nose.

His partner called police as other people outside flagged down a passing police car and alerted officers to the attack.

York Crown Court

York Crown Court

Two officers followed a “trail of blood” from the apartment block’s communal door to the victim’s flat and advised him to seek medical attention.

He was treated at Harrogate District Hospital and kept in overnight due to the extent of his injuries. He later had facial-reconstruction surgery.

Hewson and Neate claimed they weren’t even at the apartment block but were found guilty as charged. They appeared for sentence today.

Ripon man had 13 previous convictions

Ms Hoskins described the attack, which occurred on August 2, 2020, as “prolonged and persistent”.

Hewson, of Maple Walk, Ripon, had 13 previous convictions for 20 offences including battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and disorderly behaviour.

Neate, of Aysgarth Walk, Richmond Hill, Leeds, had 110 offences on his record including many for serious violence and previous convictions for assault with intention to rob, public disorder, affray and carrying a blade.

David McGonigal, for Hewson, said the father-of-two had a well-paid job but accepted he had a problem with drink-related violence.

He said Hewson could lose his job and his home if he were jailed.

Robert Mochrie, for Neate, said his client had been struggling with his mental health for years following a family tragedy.

But judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the attack at the apartment block was “far too serious” for anything other than an immediate jail sentence.

He told the defendants:

“Both of you have had serious tragedies in your lives and they were deeply unpleasant…but think about all the unpleasantness, the upset, the fear, that you have caused in your lives to other people.

“And on this night, I’m quite satisfied that the pair of you were going to these flats in order to sort somebody out.

“You weren’t after this (victim)…but it turned nasty very quickly upon your unfortunate victim who had nothing to do with you and came out simply to ask you to be quiet…and both of you set about him.

“You beat up a purely innocent man just for the hell of it.”

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He told Neate:

“It is right to say that your offending was tailing off somewhat…but back it’s come with a vengeance.”

Jailing him for three years, the judge described Neate as a “very violent man indeed”.

Hewson was jailed for two-and-a-half years because his track record for violence wasn’t as bad as Neate’s.

Both men were also given a five-year restraining order, banning them from contacting the victim and his partner and going to St Marysgate in Ripon.

Harrogate man jailed for three years for ‘savage’ attack

A Harrogate man has been jailed for three years for a “savage”, unprovoked attack on a neighbour who was left with a fractured eye socket, broken nose and cracked ribs.

Richard Banks, 45, sidled up to the victim in the street and asked him for a cigarette, York Crown Court heard.

The victim, a professional man who was out walking his dog, invited him into his flat in St Mary’s Avenue, Harrogate, but soon felt “uncomfortable” because Banks, whom he barely knew, was “overfamiliar” with him, said prosecutor Rachel Landin.

He asked Banks to leave which he did but returned later that day. When the victim opened the door, Banks, a long-time drug user, “barged in and began shouting”, said Ms Landin, adding:

“He attacked (the victim), knocking him to the floor and repeatedly kicking and punching him to the torso and head.”

Banks took hold of a knife in the kitchen and threatened to kill the named victim, who ran to the front of the house and shouted for help from a window. Ms Landin said:

“He wasn’t sure where (Banks) had gone, so he picked up a bread knife and went into the street.

“He encountered (Banks) again who renewed his attack, punching (the victim) repeatedly to the face.”

Fractured eye socket

Passers-by witnessed the horrific attack and called police who arrived to find Banks standing over the “confused” victim, who was lying helpless after being knocked to the ground and banging his head on the pavement.

The victim, who was concussed, still had the knife in his hand, but police said there was no threat posed by him and the blade was confiscated without a struggle.

York Crown Court

York Crown Court

He was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he woke up “not knowing what was going on and in a lot of pain”.

He was transferred to York Hospital for surgery and specialist treatment to a fractured eye socket and broken ribs and nose, as well as cuts, bruises and scratches all over his body.

Banks, who bizarrely appeared “more focused” on the victim’s dog, was arrested in the street and charged with wounding.

He denied the offence, falsely claiming self-defence, but was found guilty following a trial at the Crown Court in July.

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He appeared for sentence yesterday after being remanded in custody.

Ms Landing said the victim had to have surgery to rebuild his shattered eye socket by inserting titanium plates.

He had continued to suffer from impaired and blurred vision since the attack on December 28, 2020, and been receiving optical treatment.

He had been working in IT but had had to change his job due to the computers exacerbating migraines brought on by the attack. His vision impairment would be permanent.

The victim described the attack as “random and unprovoked”. He had become “very paranoid (and) extremely nervous” when out in public.

He had been prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping tablets and didn’t feel safe at home, which was close to where Banks lived. He added:

“I find it really hard to leave my flat, even to walk the dog or go to the shop.

“I have uncontrollable panic attacks.”

The side of his face was “numb for the best part of a year, causing problems eating”.

11 previous convictions

Banks, of St Mary’s Avenue, had 11 previous convictions for 21 offences including public disorder, damaging property and drug-related offences including cultivating cannabis in 2013, possessing cocaine in 2014 and possession of crack and heroin in 2018. He recently received a suspended prison sentence for dealing heroin and cocaine.

His barrister Nick Cartmell said Banks was “hysterical, crying (and) wasn’t in his right mind” when he was arrested for the attack in St Mary’s Avenue.

But judge Simon Hickey said Banks had shown no remorse and described the attack as “savage, nasty and persistent”. He told Banks:

“The victim is…frightened to go out; he’s frightened to shop; he has to rely on people. (There is) permanent disruption to his sight and he’s very conscious about the (titanium) plate in his face.”

He said although Banks had mental-health issues, a three-year jail term was “the least” sentence he could impose for “this savage beating of this man in his own home and outside in the street”.

Banks will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Boy, 16, caught with 110 wraps of heroin and cocaine in Harrogate’s Library Gardens

A man from Bradford has been jailed for 30 months after pleading guilty to supplying Class A drugs in Harrogate’s Library Gardens.

Shaoib Shafiq, 20, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, were stopped on September 26, 2020, after reports of drug dealing.

The 16-year-old had 110 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine hidden in his underwear and Shafiq had a Nokia burner-style mobile phone with a pre-pay SIM card that was used as the drugs line.

The pair were sentenced at York Crown Court on Wednesday.

Shafiq was jailed for 30 months and the boy was handed a community order, unpaid work and a rehabilitation requirement.

Shafiq and the teenager travelled to Harrogate from Bradford together and were in regular contact several days before their arrest.

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PC Chris Dyson said:

“Drug dealing has a hugely damaging effect on communities and destroys lives.

“These two individuals thought they could come into North Yorkshire and deal Class A drugs, but we showed them different.

“We work hard to target those who insist on bringing misery to communities and we will not stop making sure those who commit this type of crime are brought to the courts.”

Knaresborough man jailed for ‘punishment beating’ of ex-partner

A father-of-three has been jailed for subjecting his partner to a vicious “punishment beating” in which she was dragged out of her home, thrown into his car and then driven to another address where she was yanked along the street.

Alan Bell, 47, erupted in a fit of drunken rage at the woman’s home in Knaresborough where he punched her repeatedly after discovering she had recently tried drugs, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Daniel Ingram said the couple, who had drunk three bottles of wine together, got into an argument on Christmas Day last year after the named victim told Bell she had recently taken cocaine because she had been feeling down.

Bell, who worked for Huttons Butchers in Castlegate, Knaresborough, reacted with fury and accused her of cheating on him with another man.

The victim started talking to this man on the phone, whereupon Bell “began hitting her, punched her on the head and dragged her off the settee onto the floor”.

He then threw a pair of Dr Martens boots at her, before dragging her outside to his van, telling her that if she wanted to see the man, he would drive her to his house. Mr Ingram said:

“She begged him to stop (but) he dragged her outside to the van and threw her into the passenger seat.

“He drove to the male’s address and dragged her out of the van. He (then) punched her to the face and pushed her over.”

Taken to hospital

The victim was dragged along the ground towards the unnamed man’s house and then “dragged back (again)”.

She said she “smashed her face on the floor” after being pushed to the ground and was then kicked to the body, but Bell denied this. Mr Ingram added:

“(Bell) then moved away, leaving her lying on the floor.

“She was helped by strangers who called police and she was taken to hospital.”

The victim, who had since separated from Bell, discharged herself from hospital before she could be seen by medical staff.

When she returned home, she found her plants pots, Christmas presents and a glass candle had been smashed, and drink had been “poured all over (the presents)”.

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Bell had gone into her house and damaged the items as part of a “revenge” attack which lasted into the early hours of Boxing Day.

The victim also alleged that in the first attack at her home, Bell had kicked her to the body and hit her over the head with a TV remote control and her own shoes.

Bell denied these allegations but admitted punching her in the face “four or five times” before throwing her Dr Martens at her and dragging her into his van.

Mr Ingram said the victim suffered “nasty” bruising to her arms, face and body, a black eye, cut forehead and an ear injury after her earring was ripped out. He added:

“She said she was sore all over and in pain for a long time afterwards.

“She said she felt the need to hide away from others as a result of the bruising and…that at the time she thought she might die.”

Bell, of Castle Yard, Knaresborough, was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and damaging property.

He admitted both offences on the basis that he didn’t kick the victim or hit her with the TV remote. He appeared for sentence today after the prosecution accepted his plea.

Never been violent before

Peter Minnikin, for Bell, said his client had led an otherwise “blameless” life.

He added that Bell, who divorced from his ex-wife in 2016, had never been violent in previous relationships.

A character reference from his employer at Huttons Butchers, where he earned a good living, described Bell as a “hard-working man”.

Mr Minnikin said Bell met the victim in 2019 but their relationship became “toxic” and they were both drinking heavily.

Judge Sean Morris branded the attacks a “disgraceful incident”. He told Bell:

“This was a prolonged incident of degradation. You dragged (the victim) out of the van and dragged her back again in the street and she’s ended up with all these injuries.

“While she is out without any shoes on, looking for help, you are ripping all (her) Christmas presents and spoiling them with drink.

“It was a cowardly offence and you were inflicting punishment which you are not allowed to do.”

Mr Morris said the violence was “just too prolonged and too serious” for anything other than an immediate jail sentence. He added:

“I know that this is going to have an effect both on your employer and your family, but these kinds of domestic assaults have to be deterred so that people know what happens if they subject their partners, wives, girlfriends, to prolonged, humiliating punishment beatings.”

Bell was jailed for 10 months and given a five-year restraining order, which bans him contacting the victim or going to her house in Knaresborough.

Prolific Harrogate criminal jailed after hospital rampage

A violent “brute” and serial thief has been jailed for attacking nurses and police officers and running amok at Harrogate District Hospital.

Philip John Watson, 32, “kicked off” inside the hospital’s A&E department where he assaulted two nurses, threatened doctors, threw a blood-pressure machine to the floor and launched a fruit-and-veg crate at a receptionist, York Crown Court heard.

Watson was on bail at the time after being arrested for a series of violent offences and shop thefts, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

During the “disgraceful” incident at the hospital on February 26, he went into the A&E department where he was treated for an apparent drug overdose.

He was left to “sleep it off” but when nurses went to rouse him, he began shouting and swearing at them. He then ripped the cannula, a fluid tube, from the back of his hand and pushed one of the nurses in the chest before elbowing her colleague in the shoulder “to get (her) out of his way”.

He then threw a blood-pressure machine to the floor and flicked blood from the cannula around the room. Ms Morrison added:

“He (then) stormed through A&E, pushing trolleys and trying to flip over the equipment.”

When a doctor asked him to stop, Watson threatened him before marching into the hospital reception, “again dripping blood onto the floor”. Ms Morrison said:

“He sat in a wheelchair before going outside and returning to reception with a wooden fruit-and-veg crate.”

Watson threw the crate at the ceiling, causing cracks and holes in the plastering. He then went outside, grabbed another crate and threw it at the reception desk, causing the receptionist to duck out of the way.

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He was escorted out of reception by two staff members, but then started throwing pieces of meat at nurses in the ambulance bay and threatening the ambulance driver.

Police were called in but when officers tried to cuff him, Watson tried to run away, shouting, “You will not arrest me”.

Officers took him to ground and hauled him into the police van, but Watson started kicking the police cage and told a special constable he would “bite his face off”.

Claimed to have swallowed bags of heroin

On arrival at Harrogate Police Station, Watson claimed he had swallowed bags of heroin, forcing officers to take him back to hospital for checks. On the way there, he subjected the special constable to a torrent of “foul and racist” comments.

Watson, from Harrogate but of no fixed address, was on bail at the time following a string of offences including a previous incident at the hospital on May 20 last year, when he went into A&E – again in a drink and drug-induced state – and was placed in a cubicle “to sleep it off”.

When he woke, he tried to leave the hospital through the “wrong door” and went berserk, “grabbing and shaking” doors and walking into the resuscitation room.

A doctor called for assistance and two hospital porters escorted Watson back to the cubicle where he told the doctor he wanted to “put his hands around somebody’s neck and squeeze them until their heads pop”.

Such was Watson’s “aggressive and intimidatory” behaviour, hospital staff called police who arrived to arrest him.

That same month, Watson stole alcohol from Asda on Bower Road and after being arrested he headbutted a glass door at the police station, causing it to crack.

The following month, on bail again, he elbowed a police officer in the face, causing a small cut, after being stopped on suspicion of shoplifting in Bower Street. Two other officers tried to bring him under control him, but he ran away as they fired a Taser gun at him which missed.

He was finally arrested following a short chase, but it took three officers to restrain him.

Three months later, he was arrested again for handling stolen goods after he and another man stole about £150 of clothes from TK Max at the Victoria Shopping Centre.

In October, he stole from the Co-op and used a stolen bank card to buy cigarettes from Tesco.

In November, he stole razors worth £145 from Asda and was arrested again the following month after stealing hundreds of pounds’ worth of clothes from TK Max. On being arrested, he was found with heroin.

He was ultimately charged with a raft of offences including assaulting police officers and hospital staff, resisting a police constable, criminal damage, shop thefts, threatening behaviour, possessing a Class A drug and handling stolen goods.

He admitted all matters and appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

‘Enormous’ criminal record

The court heard that Watson had an “enormous” criminal record for offences including burglary, robbery, carrying knives, racially aggravated criminal damage, assaulting police officers and “beating people up”. All the offences were fuelled by drink and drugs.

His solicitor advocate Graham Parkin said Watson was “completely out of control” at the time of his latest series of offences.

Judge Sean Morris said Watson had behaved “like a brute” towards the doctors and nurses who were “trying to save people’s lives”.

He described his behaviour as “disgracefully violent”.

Watson was handed a 21-month jail sentence, but he won’t be spending too long in prison as he will only have to serve half of that behind bars and he had already served the equivalent of a 14-month sentence on remand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knaresborough paedophile jailed for three years

A serial sex offender has been jailed for over three years for sexually assaulting an infant girl after “luring” her into an enclosed space.

Kenneth Stephen Fowler, 64, a drifter and heavily convicted paedophile from Knaresborough, assaulted and then performed a lewd act in front of the youngster, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Herrmann said that Fowler had over 100 previous criminal convictions, of which 18 were child-sex offences.

Fowler’s last such conviction was almost 30 years ago, but on August 6 this year, when heavily drunk, he lured the young girl into a public enclosed space, put his arms around her and began touching her “excessively”.

He then tried to remove her clothing before taking off his own clothes to reveal an intimate part of his body. He then performed a lewd act in front of her.

Mr Herrmann said:

“(The victim) said he didn’t say anything (and that) she felt scared and she froze.”

She then moved “very quickly” away from the enclosed area, after which an adult witness saw Fowler buckling up his trousers.

Fowler told the witness, in an “aggressive manner”, that he was “about to set fire to the place”.

Matters were ultimately reported to police who searched Fowler’s flat in Knaresborough and found among his clothes a pair of girl’s knickers.

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Homeless drifter

Fowler, a homeless drifter, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, sexual assault of a child under 13 and sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He initially denied the offences but ultimately admitted the latter two charges. The Crown ultimately quashed the exposure charge.

He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

Mr Herrmann said Fowler’s wicked behaviour had caused “great distress” to the girl and her family.

The girl’s mother said her daughter had since had nightmares about Fowler and her horrifying experience:

“She has been very quiet since it happened (and) doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Fowler, originally from Scotland, had 104 previous convictions for 223 offences dating back over 50 years. Eighteen of those were sexual offences, including many for indecently exposing himself in front of children.

In the 1980s, he was jailed on multiple occasions for indecent exposure with intent to sexually assault a female, and another offence of unlawful intercourse with an under-age girl. In one incident in 1988, he exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl and performed a lewd act in front of two young boys.

His last exposure offence was in 1994 but he continued to regularly appear before the courts for offences such as shoplifting and being drunk and disorderly.

Set Harrogate charity store on fire

In October 2019, he received a 16-month jail sentence at York Crown Court for arson and damaging property.

That offence, described as a “revenge” attack, occurred in August 2018 when he torched a charity clothes store for the homeless at the Wesley Centre in Harrogate run by Harrogate Homeless Project, which had helped him get back on his feet after years of living rough.

Fowler, who was again drunk and had some kind of “grudge” against the charity, also smashed a window with a hammer, causing nearly £1,500 damage.

The charity relied completely on donations such as clothes and the damage had resulted in severe disruption to the organisation.

Defence barrister Brian Russell said that after a 30-year gap in his sexual offending, Fowler had “for an inexplicable reason…suddenly reverted to entrenched behaviour which he had managed to avoid for almost (three decades)”.

‘Unhealthy interest in young girls’

Judge Simon Hickey told Fowler:

“At the age of 64, you are still interfering with children…and were touching again an extremely young child.

“While heavily intoxicated, you were to lure this child into the public (enclosed space). She was scared; she froze.”

He said the child was clearly “in very great distress” and told Fowler:

“I find you a worrying and dangerous individual.

“This has changed the little girl’s life and she even…stuffs toys under her bed (for fear of) someone like yourself being under (there).”

The judge said Fowler clearly had an “unhealthy interest in young girls”.

Fowler was jailed for three years and four months. He was told he must serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars and would only be released when the Parole Board deemed it safe to do so.

Due to the judge’s finding of dangerousness, Fowler was told he would have to serve an extended three years on prison licence once he was released from jail, for the protection of young girls.

 

 

 

 

Ex-Harrogate guest house owner Yoko Banks given court ultimatum

Former Harrogate guest house owner Yoko Banks was told today she would not be allowed to change solicitors again after the latest attempt to recover any gains from her crime was adjourned.

Banks, 74, of Scargill Road, was jailed for three-and-a-half years in August 2021 for renting out her properties to an Albanian drug gang for “industrial” cannabis production “in the expectation of significant profit”.

She appeared at Leeds Crown Court today via a link from New Hall Prison in West Yorkshire for a confiscation hearing.

It was the latest in a series of attempts to recover any financial gain under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

A previous hearing in May was postponed when the court heard Banks intended to appeal her conviction and wanted to leave her legal team in favour of another firm of solicitors.

At the hearing before that in January, the Crown said it was not yet in a position to make a financial confiscation ruling because Banks’ defence team needed more time to delve into her “complicated” accounts and extensive “property empire”.

The court heard today she intended to change solicitors again but Judge Christopher Batty told her there was “absolutely no way” he would permit this.

He told her she either had to stick with current solicitor Sian Barber or “deal with it by yourself”.

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Ms Barber said she had spoken with Banks, who has been granted legal aid, for the first time this morning and had 600 pages of notes to go through.

She added she was due to meet Banks again next month and therefore requested an adjournment.

In adjourning the case until November 4, Judge Batty said it had been a “wretched hearing”.

Michael Bosomworth, prosecuting, said:

“Her case has been dreadfully complicated. Frankly, she has messed everyone around for months.”

London gang

Banks was sentenced in August 2021, after the court heard that a London gang had invested tens of thousands of pounds into three cannabis factories at Banks’ properties on Alexandra Road, Woodlands Road and Somerset Road near Harrogate town centre.

The criminals had even dug a trench outside the three-storey Edwardian villa on Alexandra Road through which they fed electricity cables to the house to power the “highly sophisticated” cultivation system and bypass the electricity grid.

Their plot unravelled when police were called to the five-bedroom villa on September 26, 2020, after reports of a “disturbance” in the street involving what appeared to be two rival gangs vying for the cannabis farm.