Ripon paedophile jailed a second time

A registered sex offender from Ripon has been jailed for possessing videos showing girls as young as six being raped.

Andrew Burt, a former maintenance worker at Newby Hall, was on a strict court order which banned him from possessing any internet-enabled device without informing police, York Crown Court heard.

But when his monitoring officers turned up at his home in Skelton-on-Ure, which is between Ripon and Boroughbridge, they found two new devices which he hadn’t disclosed to police.

Police seized the devices, one of which was an LG mobile phone on which they found five video clips featuring the rape of young girls.

Burt was charged with possessing indecent images of children and two breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order which had been imposed in November 2017 for inciting an under-age ‘girl’ to engage in sexual activity.  He appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting all three charges.

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Prosecutor Ms Hajba-Ward said Burt was a registered sex offender and still subject to the 10-year order when police called at his home earlier this month.

They found two unregistered devices including the mobile and a tablet of which police had not been notified.

The videos found on the phone were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material depicting the rape of pre-pubescent children.

Burt told police he had downloaded the images at a guest house “while drinking a lot of Strongbow (cider)”.

Caught by a vigilante

In 2017, Burt was jailed for 20 months after being caught by an online vigilante posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The adult decoy told police she had been chatting to a man on the internet who had used a false name and said he worked at Newby Hall.

Burt had sent her naked pictures of himself and a video of himself performing a lewd act.

He was ultimately identified by photos which showed that he was indeed a maintenance worker on the country estate.

The sexual-harm prevention order was imposed to prevent Burt cruising chatrooms and refusing a polygraph test.

Richard Reed, for Burt, said his client accepted he had a sexual interest in children and wanted help for his problem.

Judge Sean Morris jailed Burt for 32 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Mr Morris made a new sexual-harm prevention order for life. Burt will remain on the sex-offenders’ register, also for an indefinite period.

Vicious control freak jailed for military-like control of ex-partner

A vicious control freak has been jailed after preventing his pregnant partner from getting pain relief during labour and assuming military-like command of her day-to-day life, which included having to text him for permission to use the toilet.

During a 17-month period, the Harrogate woman was told when she could go out and with whom, was banned from speaking to family members and forced to make a daily list of “promises” to “obey his instructions”, York Crown Court heard.

The woman, who was 17 at the time, was also made to seek permission to use the toilet or have a drink and forced to record herself inside the lavatory to prove “that was what she was doing”, said prosecutor Matthew Collins.

Her partner’s cruelty came to a head when she became pregnant and he denied her midwifery care and pain relief for the birth of their baby daughter.

The tyrannical military man, who is in his 20s, even assaulted her during her labour at Harrogate District Hospital, added Mr Collins.

On other occasions, he forced her to hit herself and threatened to harm or kill her and the baby if she went to the police.

He was ultimately arrested and charged with assault and coercive or controlling behaviour. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence yesterday.

Mr Collins told the court:

“During the course of that relationship she was subject to a number of degrading, offensive, aggressive and even physically violent behaviour.

“She was forced to write lists of promises to the defendant on a regular basis – promises which included…how she would behave towards him, obey his instructions and treat him in a manner to which he felt he deserved.

“She was forced to buy him clothing, car parts and spend her money on him in other ways. She could not use the toilet without texting him for permission and then recording herself going to the toilet…to prove that that was what she was doing.

“During the course of their relationship, they had a child. During her labour, the defendant refused, or attempted to refuse, the victim from having pain relief, including gas and air. He also refused to allow her to have (intimate) examinations by midwives.

“He also cut the victim off from her family, including her mother, brother and sister. When…she managed to escape from his presence, he would constantly phone the victim so as to monitor her movements and what she was saying and doing.”

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Grabbed her throat during labour

In December last year, he assaulted her while she was in labour by grabbing her by the throat.

Mr Collins added:

“The statements collected in the course of the investigation against this defendant, in particular statements from the midwives, make frankly for shocking reading.”

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was “always on edge (around her now ex-partner), scared I would do the wrong thing”. She added:

“I felt controlled in the relationship and didn’t know how to stop it,

“I felt I couldn’t be a mother properly and he wouldn’t let me. It really started to affect my mental health. I wasn’t sleeping and when I did, I was sleeping too much, and my mother would have to take care of (my) daughter.

“My anxiety got worse. I was scared of seeing him and feel like I’m suffering depression because of his behaviour. I’ve lost confidence in myself and others; I feel I can’t trust people.”

She said she was now in the habit of asking people “for things I shouldn’t have to ask for because I’ve always had to ask (her ex-partner) to do simple things, like, ‘Can I go to the toilet?’, or ‘Can I have a drink?’”.

Intended to humiliate and degrade

Just before his arrest while he was under investigation, she even bought herself a self-defence kit in case he came looking for her.

Mr Collins said:

“His conduct was intended to humiliate and degrade the victim, in particular those orders that she needed to ask permission to use the toilet and then record herself actively using the toilet.”

He said the woman had had to endure the “fear and trauma” of her child potentially being removed from her care due to her ex-partner’s behaviour and social services becoming involved. The child is still under the woman’s care. He added:

“This is a victim who is frankly scarred and it is a mean and disgraceful case.”

Her ex-partner had a previous conviction for domestic violence and abuse from 2013.

Disgraced soldier

Kevin Blount, for the defendant, whose name cannot be revealed to protect the victim, said his client was an enlisted soldier and was remorseful for his “intimidatory” behaviour. He added:

“That (military) career is (now) at an end.

“Dismissal proceedings have begun (due to the offences).”

Judge Simon Hickey criticised the disgraced soldier for “refusing hospital staff the chance to examine your victim” during her labour. He said:

“You refused her pain relief when she was in labour.

“You wouldn’t allow her to get proper care for her baby and got her to hit herself and injure herself. At times you threatened to hit or kill the baby should she speak to police, and she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere or do anything without your permission.

“This was physically violent, degrading, humiliating behaviour towards that woman. You threatened her (with violence) if she disobeyed your instructions, and steps were taken to stop this young lady reporting (the matters).

“There couldn’t be a more vulnerable position for a woman to be in when you assaulted her (during childbirth).”

Jailing him for 18 months, Mr Hickey told the defendant:

“Sadly, you were a valued member of the British army and you have thrown that all away.”

The judge also made a 10-year restraining order banning the defendant contacting or approaching the victim.

 

 

Harrogate cub scout leader jailed for stalking

A former scout leader and rugby player from Harrogate who stalked a woman and sent her bloodstained letters has been jailed for over three years.

Ian Binns, 46, followed his ex-partner in the street, drove past her home “shouting and screaming”, bombarded her with phone calls and text messages, and posted her “begging” letters smeared with his own blood, York Crown Court heard.

On one occasion, the former Harrogate Pythons and Harrogate RUFC player doused himself in fuel — thought to be petrol — and tried to set himself alight in front of the petrified woman, said prosecutor Michael Bosomworth.

In another incident, he threw a bloodstained letter at her in the street.

Binns, who was once a cub leader in the 3rd Harrogate Scout Group, was “obsessed” with the woman and couldn’t accept the end of their on-off, six-year relationship, added Mr Bosomworth.

The victim, who was named in court, ultimately ended the relationship just before going on holiday in September last year because she had “had enough” of his obsessiveness and aggression towards her. Mr Bosomworth said:

“When she returned from holiday, he was waiting for her in his car at the end of the road.

“He walked towards her; she told him to go away. There was a physical altercation.”

Bloodstained letters

Binns, of Woodfield Road, Harrogate, returned to the victim’s home in Harrogate the following day, on the pretext of collecting his belongings, and when she tried to close the door on him, he forced his way in, resulting in another “altercation”. Mr Bosomworth added:

“There then followed a series of (phone) calls and letters.”

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In the letters, Binns would “express his love” for the woman and wrote offensive things about another man with whom she had been in an on-off relationship, saying he “wanted him dead”.

In the stained letters, Binns told the victim, “I’m not worth anything. You know I can’t cope”.

Binns, a grandfather who worked as a self-employed electrical engineer, started bombarding her with Facebook messages and unanswered phone calls. He made 53 calls alone while she was on holiday. Mr Bosomworth said:

“When she (asked) him not to send her any more letters or contact her on Facebook…he took to putting notes through her letterbox.

“A number of (the letters) were bloodstained. The defendant was effectively threatening to kill himself.”

Followed in street

He said the rugby forward would follow the victim in the street — in some cases right up to her door.

In one incident, he cut his arm with a knife and grabbed her arm, trying to smear blood all over her. The victim cut her finger during the struggle. Mr Bosomworth said:

“He said, ‘My blood is on your hands.’

“In one incident in the street, (Binns) had a bottle of petrol or some kind of fuel.

“He drank some then poured it over his stomach and set it alight. She tried to put it out.

“He said, ‘What does it matter? It doesn’t matter anymore.’”

In a separate incident, Binns — whom the victim described as “reckless, irrational, dangerous and unstable” — walked up to her and pushed her to the ground. She suffered a scraped elbow.

She eventually reported Binns to police and he was duly arrested. He was charged with harassment, or stalking, which caused fear of violence.

He admitted the charge and appeared for sentence via video link on Thursday after being remanded in custody.

Hid in gardens

The court heard that the victim, who had ended the relationship once before, in 2017, only for it to be rekindled, had kept a typed diary of the harrowing events and the “self-pitying” letters sent to her. Mr Bosomworth said:

“He was threatening to harm himself or even to commit suicide and (was) making her feel she was responsible for that.

“The worrying feature is the repetitive nature of (the letters) and the number of times he is driving past her, following her and (he is) clearly, completely obsessed with her.”

The victim said she was still terrified and “hyper aware” when out in public despite Binns having been remanded in jail.

She said she used to “hide in people’s gardens so he couldn’t see me”, adding:

“He used to wait at the end of my street for me; he used to frighten me.

“He would get out of his van and shout at me. He was so angry.”

She said she was “very distressed” and had had “nightmares… about being chased, attacked, murdered”. She added:

“I’ve sadly come to terms with the fact that this is now my life; it will always be there.”

‘Outside normal behaviour’

Defence barrister Robert Mochrie said Binns had “certain” mental health issues and was taking tranquilizers at the time of the offences, but his stalking campaign was “so extreme that it is (outside) normal human behaviour”.

Recorder Alex Menary described Binns’ offending between September and December last year as “disturbing, inexplicable (and) extreme” for a man who had previously led a relatively blame-free life and volunteered for the Scouts.

He said the stalking campaign had had a “devastating” effect on the victim.

Binns was jailed for three years and four months and made subject to a lifetime restraining order, which bans him contacting the victim or going anywhere near her home.

Harrogate car salesman jailed for running over man

A car salesman from Harrogate has been jailed for running over and seriously injuring a 58-year-old man in his BMW.

Alexander Melville, 42 – an award-winning salesman of prestige cars who was banned from driving at the time – was said to be lighting a cigarette just before the BMW veered onto the pavement and struck pedestrian Richard Selby.

As Mr Selby lay  on the footpath beside Knaresborough Road, Harrogate, Melville “casually” collected his belongings from the car and walked off, York Crown Court heard.

Witnesses called 999 and Mr Selby was taken to hospital where he underwent a series of operations, including surgery to have pins inserted into his broken leg.

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Melville – formerly Audi’s leading UK car salesman for the JCT600 model – later handed himself in at Harrogate Police Station after seeing police social media appeals for information.

The collision occurred at about 8.45am on January 26, just after Melville had been to a garage to inflate the tyres on the “training” vehicle, which was unregistered and uninsured.

“A witness said he heard a loud noise of an engine revving,” said prosecutor Mohammed Khan.

“A car then accelerated up the hill…and swerved slightly left. Seconds later, he heard a loud bang and…saw debris and dust and the vehicle go backwards. He noticed (someone) laid on the pavement.”

The witness saw a man reaching into the BMW to “get some items out and then walk towards Knaresborough Road and off onto Rydal Road”.

Still needs crutches

Mr Selby’s injuries included a double fracture of the leg, a dislocated shoulder and a fracture of the shinbone at the knee joint. Eight months on from the accident, he still can’t walk unaided or without the help of crutches, and now relies on home carers.

Melville, of Roseville Drive, Harrogate, told police he had had the BMW for about a year but that it wasn’t insured and “wasn’t registered to anyone as it was used as a training vehicle”.

The salesman had been disqualified from driving last year by magistrates in Lincolnshire.

He appeared for sentence on Tuesday after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving, driving while disqualified, having no insurance, failing to stop after a road crash and failing to report an accident.

“Lit a cigarette”

Richard Reed, acting for Melville, said his client had lost his job at Audi following his disqualification. He had previously been the “best-performing salesman” for the Sytner motor group, the UK’s leading retailer of prestige cars.

After losing his licence, Melville fell on hard times financially because his work required being able to drive.

As a result, “he lost his fiancée, the marriage was cancelled, he had no income and (was) left with a house with a (big) mortgage,” added Mr Reed.

He fell further into debt after taking out a loan and credit cards and ended up on benefits.

Just before the accident, he had “lit a cigarette in the car (and) noticed he had slightly veered over the other lane”.

“He corrected it and then the car went into a spin,” said Mr Reed.

Judge Sean Morris told Melville: “Richard Selby was (simply) walking along the Harrogate road.

“You are very lucky he survived – that man could have been dead or could have been paraplegic.”

Jailing Melville for five months, the judge told him: “When people are mangled by disqualified drivers, (the drivers) must expect to go to prison immediately, although you are ordinarily a decent man.”

Melville was also given a two-year driving ban.

 

 

Ripon businessman jailed for 80mph police chase in Knaresborough

A Ripon businessman led police on a cat-and-mouse road chase in which he shot through red lights and bombed through built-up areas at more than twice the speed limit on an uninsured Kawasaki motorbike.

Craig Hindson, 34, rode like a “lunatic” as he clocked up speeds of more than 80mph through Knaresborough and put at least one cyclist’s life in danger, York Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for six months and given a 15-month driving ban.

During the death-defying chase, the father-of-two taunted the pursuing officer by slowing down and “waving with his hand, indicating to pull over” – only to drop down the gears and speed off again, said prosecutor Dan Cordey.

At one stage, Hindson appeared to give himself up after pulling into a layby and stopping the bike. Police pulled in and an officer got out – only for Hindson to speed off again.

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The chase began on the A59 at the junction of York Road and Wetherby Road on 20 March.

Hindson began revving his engine aggressively in a line of traffic at temporary traffic lights at roadworks, drawing stares from people waiting at a bus stop.

Suddenly, Hindson “accelerated sharply, straight through a red light at high speed towards the Goldsborough roundabout”, added Mr Cordey.

80mph in 30mph zone

Among the queue of traffic was a marked police car, which gave chase but despite the wailing of sirens and flashing blue lights, Hindson sped up to “at least” 80mph on a 30mph stretch of road.

He shot through another set of lights, hotly pursued by police, just as two cyclists – a man and a woman – were crossing the junction.

The female cyclist had to stop in her tracks to avoid a potential collision. The scenes were witnessed by startled pedestrians walking along the pavement.

Hindson, wearing shorts, kept looking over his shoulder at the police car as he tore through Goldsborough.

“At times, he would slow down (and) wave with his hand, indicating to pull over, (then) drop gear before accelerating quickly away,” said Mr Cordey.

Ignored police

A short time later, Hindson appeared to give himself up when he pulled into a layby and came to a stop. The police car pulled up beside him, an officer got out and walked up to Hindson.

“He shouted at (Hindson) to remove his helmet and switch the machine off,” added Mr Cordey.

“The defendant nodded, but then very quickly accelerated away…onto the A59, towards the A1.”

The police vehicle managed to prevent Hindson pulling onto the A1 and instead the Kawasaki was forced into a dead-end, where it came to a halt. Hindson was duly arrested.

The officer found false registration plates on the Kawasaki, which Hindson said he had obtained from a “local lad”. The exact provenance of the motorbike remains unclear.

Hindson, of Princess Close, Ripon, was charged with dangerous driving, handling a stolen Kawasaki ZX and using a vehicle without insurance or a licence.

The tweed-jacketed businessman appeared in court on Tuesday when he admitted all three driving matters but denied handling stolen goods. His pleas were accepted by the prosecution and the handling charge was allowed to lie on file.

‘Foolish and out of character’

Defence barrister Holly Clegg said Hindson’s actions were “foolish”, albeit out of character.

He had been going through a “difficult time” after being kicked out of the family home and separating from his partner.

She said Hindson had been offered a go on the bike by a “lad he had seen around the local area” and “foolishly” the businessman took up the offer because he thought the motorbike was “cool”.

Hindson, who wore a crisp blue shirt and gold-coloured tie, ran a successful groundworks and Tarmacking company, which employed eight people.

References from business contacts described him as a hard-working, “reputable businessman” who was a devoted father and “very honourable individual”.

Judge Sean Morris told him he had ridden “like a lunatic” and could easily have killed someone, particularly the female cyclist who was in danger of being struck by the police car due to Hindson’s actions. This was no fault of the pursuing officer.