Police appeal after ‘violent robbery’ in Harrogate

Police are appealing for information after a 17-year-old boy had his trainers stolen in a “violent robbery” in Harrogate.

The incident happened at Bilton Grange Close, near to the junction with Skipton Road, at about 11pm on Saturday, December 11.

According to North Yorkshire Police, two males thought to be aged between 16 and 18 years of age chased the victim from the Majestic Wine shop on Skipton Road to Bilton Grange Close.

They then assaulted and threatened him and stole his footwear – a distinctive pair of black and orange Nike Air Max 90, which are sold for about £125.

Police want help identifying the two suspects, who are described as slim, wearing face coverings and dressed all in black.

A police statement said:

“They were seen in the vicinity of the Texaco Petrol station on Skipton Road shortly before the robbery took place.

“One of them was riding a black mountain bike and the other on foot.

“Officers are particularly keen to identify a man who was in the area at the time of the assault, who was wearing a distinctive black EA7 baseball cap as they believe he may be able to assist their enquiries.

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Anyone with information can contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC 1484 Dave Foyston . You can also email david.foyston@northyorkshire.police.uk

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12210260693.

Two boys in their late teens have been arrested in connection with the incident. Both have been released on conditional bail.

Four Harrogate district parish councils join campaign for 20mph limit

A prominent environmental campaigner from Harrogate is urging more parish councils to support an initiative to reduce some speeds limits from 30mph to 20mph.

Malcolm Margolis has been lobbying parish councils since September to join the 20’s Plenty for Us movement.

The movement consists of 500 local groups campaigning for 20mph to be normal on residential streets and in town and village centres

So far, four parish councils in the Harrogate district have signed up for the initiative. They include Bishop Thornton, Shaw Mills and Warsill, Tockwith with Wilstrop, Goldborough and Flaxby and Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw which have pledged support to 20’s Plenty.

Malcolm Margolis

Mr Margolis said he does not believe every 30 mph limit should be reduced to 20mph but that the move would be welcome on roads where people live, work and go to school. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I am definitely hoping to get more parish councils signed up. There are a few councils which will be debating the matter at their next meetings.

“We are confident there is huge, overwhelming support across North Yorkshire. Not only would it save lives but it would also reduce air pollution.

“I do not understand the reasons North Yorkshire County Council has given as to why it could not do this. It would not cost very much and would be policed as much as 30mph roads.

“Unfortunately all that is stopping the movement is a few people, mainly politicians.”

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However, North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, said it has consulted with North Yorkshire Police and other interested parties and does not believe speed reductions would be appropriate.

Karl Battersby, corporate director of business and environmental services, said:

“We are committed to making the network as safe and accessible as possible for all road users and will continue to talk to communities to consider options to allay road safety concerns.

“A revised 20mph speed limit policy is currently going through its approval process following a review by a task group set up by the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

“This review, which reported its conclusions this year, heard from traffic engineers, road safety and public health officers, North Yorkshire Police and the 20’s Plenty campaign group.

“The task group resolved that it is not appropriate to apply a countywide default 20mph speed limit.”

Mr Battersby added that speed is not a major cause of collisions in North Yorkshire and that it would require significant investment, as well as future maintenance costs.

Harrogate domestic abuse charity sees referrals triple due to covid

The founder of a Harrogate domestic abuse charity has blamed coronavirus for an increase in domestic abuse after the number of referrals tripled in a year.

Lindsay Oliver is chief executive of New Beginnings, which provides comfort and support to abused women when they have settled into new homes and the crisis team has withdrawn.

This time last year the charity took two referrals a month. More recently it has been receiving on average six a month.

The number of active clients over the same period has also more than doubled, from 15 to 35.

That increase in referrals and clients, Ms Oliver believes, is the after-effects of coronavirus lockdowns this year and last year. She told the Stray Ferret:

“We are just now starting to see the outcome of coronavirus. Many people need support but the Harrogate district has been so generous.

“It’s very difficult, particularly at Christmas. Part of the abuse is financial so these women often have lots of debt so struggle to buy gifts and a nice meal.

“With donations from the community and businesses we work with Roots and Fruits (Harrogate greengrocers) to provide our families with a big hamper of food and a turkey.

“Not only are we able to provide food with the support of our amazing community but we are also able to give them gifts, not just for the children but for the women too.”

Some of the donations for the Christmas campaign.

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Where can I go for further support?

If you are in a physical or emotionally abusive relationship, click here to contact IDAS, which is the largest charity in Yorkshire supporting people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence.

If you’re out of an abusive relationship but need further support, you can self-refer to New Beginnings. Email enquiries@newbeginningspeersupport.com.

Police cordon off Jennyfields house after serious incident

There has been a heavy police presence today at a house in Jennyfields after a serious incident.

North Yorkshire Police arrived at Norwood Grove at about 10am this morning and were still there when the Stray Ferret attended the scene at 2.30pm this afternoon after being alerted by a concerned resident.

Two police cars and a crime scene investigation van were in attendance and a house had been cordoned off.

We contacted the police for further details but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

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Tim Walls, a resident on nearby Hartwith Drive, said:

“We left the house to go to the dentist at around 10am. As we were leaving two big police vans came onto the road.

“When we got back they were still here. I walked over to Norwood Grove and noticed police there with a police cordon at the house next to the ginnel.

“Later I also saw some police officers searching the waste bin in the park behind my house. They were there for around 30 minutes.”

As soon as we receive a reply we will update this story.

Guilty verdict for couple who flew in sex workers to Harrogate

A Portuguese dominatrix and her English husband have been found guilty of running a sex-trafficking and prostitution racket in Harrogate after “flying in” women from Europe and South America.

Fabiana De Souza, 41, and Gareth Derby, 53, from Norfolk, flew sex workers in from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to flats where men paid women for “massages” and “full (sex) services”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC 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”. Mr Lumley added:

“It was run as a business by these two, controlled invariably from their home in Norfolk and the pair of them were in it together.

“The provision of sexual services provided by them was not confined to Harrogate (which) was an extension of an existing business.

“There was another 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. The labour force came from overseas, from countries such as Brazil, and they got here by air and their travel in and out of the country was invariably organised and paid for by these two defendants.

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

The couple, of Town Street in the village of Upwell, Norfolk, each denied one count of people-trafficking and another of controlling prostitution for financial gain. The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den between April and the end of August 2017.

They were found guilty on both counts on Monday following a 10-day trial.

Bower Road flat

Mr Lumley said that at least one other woman was prostituted in other parts of the country, including King’s Lynn in Norfolk and Birmingham, but they were not part of the charges.

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

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. Mr Lumley said:

“The defendants would receive their cut.”

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The money, described as “significant cash deposits”, usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax bank account, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in 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.

Police were tracking the couple’s movements, including their journeys between Harrogate and Norfolk using number-plate recognition cameras.

An undercover officer searched the escort sites and called the phone number provided on the women’s sex profiles, pretending to be a client. The call went through to De Souza’s mobile phone in King’s Lynn.

She answered in “broken English”, claiming to be ‘Lisa’, and an “appointment” was made for the Harrogate flat.

Mr Lumley said the couple “often met the flights at the airport or arranged for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved these women around the country or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Harrogate flat rented for £700 a month

Following her arrest, De Souza 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 said she rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

She said it was “none of my business what (the women) were doing, as long as they paid (their) rent”.

She claimed that in May 2018, she reconciled with her husband and moved back to Norfolk, to a property in Walpole St Andrew.

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

Mr Lumley said that photos of the women – which were often false and whose profiles made out they were much younger than their true ages – were posted with the ads.

The women arrived at various airports including Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted. Mr Lumley said:

“They are flown in, spend two or three weeks in the country and then flown out again.”

In a text sent to an associate in January 2018, Derby boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

One advert showed a “Latina” woman who said her services included “tantric massage, role play and fantasy”.

The undercover officer made an “appointment” and went to the Harrogate flat as a ‘client’, dressed in civilian clothes and with female back-up officers waiting outside.

Once inside the flat, he showed the woman his warrant card. She showed him a Brazilian ID card, but her responses were “not entirely honest”.

£40,000 in five months

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. Mr Lumley said:

“Who knows how much cash simply changed hands?”

He added that £40,000 appeared in the couple’s bank accounts during the five-month prostitution racket in Harrogate alone.

The undercover cop said that on his first visit to the building on Bower Road, the sex worker named ‘Lisa’ buzzed him into the flats which were above shops. He was met by a woman in a “revealing” short-length dressing gown who said she had also worked as a stripper.

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.

He said there was another woman in her 50s inside the flat who was also a sex worker. She said she was from the “Republic of Portugal” but was born in Brazil. She had been earning about £280 per day.

Michael Fullerton, for De Souza, said there was no dispute that she was working as a dominatrix before and during the prostitution enterprise. She had previously worked as a stripper.

Richard Mohabir, for Derby, said his client was adamant that he “controlled nobody” and “didn’t know sex work or prostitution was going on”.

However, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both defendants.

Judge Guy Kearle QC adjourned sentence until January 18. He granted both defendants bail until then.

Police appeal after mass brawl in Harrogate

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for information following reports of a group of men fighting on Harrogate’s Bower Street last night.

Police were alerted to the incident at about 9pm. It is not known what caused the disturbance, or how many people were involved.

A police statement today said:

“Although no reports of any injuries were received, officers need to speak to those involved.”

It added that any witnesses, or people with information, could call the police on 101, select option 2 and ask for PC Ambler collar number 216.

Or, if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The reference number is 12210259739.

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Dog thefts more than double in Harrogate district

The number of dog thefts in the Harrogate district more than doubled in 2020 compared with 2019, according to police statistics.

The figures were released after a member of the public made a Freedom of Information request to North Yorkshire Police.

They show there were eight thefts in 2020 compared with three in 2019. The three previous years saw just seven thefts in total.

Although the numbers are small, the 2020 figure represents a significant increase.

The Harrogate district also had the highest number of thefts in North Yorkshire in 2020, with Scarborough and Ryedale the closest with five.

The figures also revealed only two thefts ended in a person being charged. Most reports didn’t lead to court action either because no suspect was identified or there were evidential difficulties.

A table showing the number of crimes where a dog has been recorded as stolen. Photograph: North Yorkshire Police

Border Collies and Pugs were the most commonly stolen breeds in North Yorkshire, with 10 and eight thefts recorded respectively between 2016 and 2021.

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The police recently appointed its first officers dedicated to dealing specifically with pet theft.

Amongst other duties, the officers will conduct reassurance visits, in which they accompany pet theft victims on walks to help them feel more confident when walking their dogs.

Arrests made after 2am crash near Harrogate Asda

North Yorkshire Police has arrested two teenagers after a stolen car crashed into several parked vehicles on Dragon Parade in Harrogate.

The Stray Ferret reported on the crash on November 17 after a bystander sent us photos of the aftermath.

Police said today the occupants abandoned the vehicle, which was later found to be stolen.

They added a 17-year-old male had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking and property damage. He was interviewed and released on bail.

A 16-year-old male voluntarily handed himself into the police and was also interviewed on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking and property damage. He has been released under investigation.

Enquiries are ongoing.

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Heavy traffic on A1(M) at Boroughbridge eight hours after crash

Update at 4.20pm

The A1(M) has now fully reopened following a serious crash between Ripon and Boroughbridge.

Highways England said there is four and a half miles of congestion following the closure.

Update: The #A1M in #NorthYorkshire has reopened fully following an earlier incident between J49 #Ripon and J48 #Boroughbridge. There is 4.5 miles of congestion following this closure so please allow time for these delays to clear. Safe journey. pic.twitter.com/ImHpv6HZrI

— National Highways: Yorkshire (@HighwaysYORKS) December 9, 2021

Update at 2.35pm

North Yorkshire Police has said the southbound A1(M) has finally reopened but traffic remains heavy.

https://twitter.com/NYorksPolice/status/1468950384135716865

Update at 12.40pm

Drivers have been turned around on the A1(M) southbound carriageway to get them off the motorway while the emergency services deal with a serious crash between Ripon and Boroughbridge.

North Yorkshire Police said it received reports of a single vehicle crash just before 9am. The road has not yet reopened.

It is unclear at this time the extent of any injuries suffered in the crash or when the closure will be lifted.

A Thirsk resident Charles Allen told the Stray Ferret that he had been sat in traffic for more than three hours. He added:

“I was planning to go to Oxford this morning on business to see a client. I left Thirsk around 9.15am so was stuck in traffic for hours.

“The A1(M) was absolute carnage. We were turned around, so we were driving north on the southbound carriage. The surrounding roads are also heavily congested.”

Police have closed the A1(M) southbound carriageway between Ripon and Boroughbridge due to a serious accident just before 9am today.

The air ambulance is on the scene along with all of the other emergency services this morning.

Currently there are delays of 30 minutes but they are expected to increase. Allow extra time for your journey or avoid the area if possible.

North Yorkshire Police has tweeted some details about the incident.

https://twitter.com/NYorksPolice/status/1468890383602098192

 

National Highways has also tweeted about the incident.

The #A1M is closed southbound between J49 (#Ripon) and J48 (#Boroughbridge) following a single vehicle collision. All emergency services including the air ambulance are working at the scene. Please allow extra time for your journey as delays of 30 minutes on the approach. pic.twitter.com/wwMg2Tz2ZB

— National Highways: Yorkshire (@HighwaysYORKS) December 9, 2021

This is a breaking news story which we will update as we get more information.

Harrogate police officer denies sexual assault while on duty

A Harrogate police officer appeared in court today charged with sexually assaulting a woman.

Christopher Ryan Hudson, 30, who was suspended by North Yorkshire Police after the allegation was made, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court on Thursday when he denied one count of sexual assault.

The alleged offence is said to have occurred at Stonefall Cemetery on Wetherby Road, Harrogate, on February 8.

Hudson, who was based in the Harrogate police division at the time of the alleged offence, was dressed in a smart black suit, white shirt and tie when he appeared before district judge Adrian Lower.

He is accused of sexually touching the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during working hours and in a “relatively remote location”.

Prosecutor Charles Macrae said it was alleged that Mr Hudson sexually touched the woman while she “repeatedly told him she didn’t want him to”. Mr Macrae added:

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“There was a suggestion that there was a degree of planning (to the alleged offence).”

Matthew Savage, for Hudson, said he had no submissions to make at this stage.

Judge Mr Lower sent the case to Leeds Crown Court where Mr Hudson, of Hollin Terrace, Huddersfield, will appear on January 6 for a preliminary hearing. He was released on unconditional bail.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement that Hudson was based in Harrogate at the time of the allegation and was currently suspended.