Two brothers from Leeds have been sentenced today for supplying cocaine in Harrogate.

Habeeb Mohammed, 21, and Adheel Mohammed, 19, both of Amberton Street in Leeds, had both pleaded guilty to possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

The brothers were stopped in their car on the A61 at Burn Bridge on September 12, 2021, by officers from North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Expedite team.

A search of the vehicle and the two men uncovered a total of 21 bags of cocaine.

The brothers were arrested, interviewed and released under investigation.

In May last year, police became suspicious that one of them was dealing drugs again in Harrogate.

A man matching Habeeb’s description was seen getting into a taxi, which was then stopped on Sutton Grange Close in Harrogate.

Habeeb, who was confirmed as the passenger, was seen trying to discard a black plastic bag containing 36 individual bags of cocaine. He was arrested again on suspicion of possession of a class A drug with intent to supply, and was charged and remanded in custody.

Drugs recovered by police from the Mohammed brothers

Habeeb pleaded guilty in November 2022, and Adheel also entered a guilty plea last month.

The brothers appeared at York Crown Court today. Habeeb was sentenced to five years in prison, while Adheel received a two-year sentence suspended for 18 months.

PC Michael Haydock, from North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Expedite team in Harrogate, said:

“The impact that drug related crime has on people in North Yorkshire is severe and we see it as our duty to target those who sell drugs.

“People who supply drugs have no place in our communities, they will be pursued, investigated and punished.

“They look to exploit the vulnerable for their own selfish financial gain, with zero regard given to the knock-on effects of their criminality.

“We will never give up on our fight to combat criminal exploitation and the supply of drugs in North Yorkshire.

“Today’s result sends a clear message to the likes of Mohammed Habeeb, Mohammed Ahdeel and anyone else who believes that they can come to North Yorkshire and commit this sort of crime – it will not be tolerated, and you will be pursued.”

North Yorkshire Police has urged anyone with information about suspected drug-related crime to report it by calling 101 or via the force website.

To report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or visit the organisation’s website.

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Police have issued an appeal after an attempted house burglary on Bramham Drive in Jennyfields this week.

The incident happened on Monday between 2.15pm and 3pm.

Officers said “significant damage” was caused to the doors of the house, but the suspect failed to gain entry.

Police added that a driver of a dark coloured Seat Leon with a registration containing “70” was seen at the time of the attempted burglary.

The driver is described as a young white man with a round face, about 5ft 8in tall, with short dark hair and wearing a dark hoodie.

A North Yorkshire Police statement added:

“Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should email elizabeth.parry@northyorkshire.police.uk or call 101, select option 2, and ask for Elizabeth Parry.

“If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230027326 when providing details.”

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• Two men jailed after dealing cocaine in Harrogate

This video reveals the shocking moment three teenage girls attacked two police officers in McDonald’s in Harrogate.

The footage shows punches being thrown at the officers on the first floor of the fast-food restaurant.

The video was taken last year. The Stray Ferret has waited to publish it until legal proceedings against all three girls had concluded.

The PCSOs both needed hospital treatment for facial injuries following the attack, which happened around 5pm on April 1 last year.

The three girls were aged 13, 14, and 15 when the attack took place. They cannot be named because of their age.

The officers had arrived on the scene to ask the girls to leave because they had breached an exclusion order preventing them from entering the building.

Two of the three girls were dealt with by police and the courts last year. One was dealt with out of court through a youth outcomes panel, while another was given a 12-month referral order and told she had narrowly avoided a custodial sentence.

The third, aged 15, was due to appear at York Magistrates’ Court at the end of January. However, when a witness failed to appear, the case against her was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

A court hearing in October had heard one of the PCSOs had required many months of treatment for her injuries and was still waiting to find out if she would need an operation.

The other PCSO had since left the force, the court was told.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:

“Already this year we have had an unacceptable number officers assaulted while carrying out their jobs. In our eyes one officer assault is one too many.

“We will never tolerate officers being subjected to this type of behaviour and we will never view it as ‘part of the job.’ When an officer puts on their uniform to start their shift, by doing so they are not passively accepting that they will be subjected to this kind of treatment.

“However, very sadly many of them fully expect that at some point, someone will attempt to harm them when they are doing their job, protecting the community.

“North Yorkshire Police takes the safety of its workforce incredibly seriously. We will ensure that cases of this nature are thoroughly investigated and we will always look to prosecute offenders under laws made to protect emergency service workers.”

Read more:

• Girl, 15, sentenced over police attack in Harrogate McDonald’s
• Two PCSOs seriously injured after attack in Harrogate McDonald’s

Town centre crime

It was one of a number of incidents that led Harrogate BID to begin a campaign calling for business owners and shoppers to report all anti-social behaviour and crime to North Yorkshire Police.

The BID argued people weren’t reporting minor incidents in the town centre, leading to crime statistics that failed to fully reflect what was happening on the streets – and meaning police were not focusing their efforts in the area.

Harrogate BID manager Matthew Chapman said:

“This was an appalling incident, but thankfully acts of violence like this are a rare occurrence in Harrogate town centre.

“Harrogate has a reputation for being safe and welcoming, however it’s not immune from low level crime and anti-social behaviour.

“Last year, after meeting with the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, we launched our ‘Report a Crime’ campaign, urging those who see criminal behaviour to report it online to North Yorkshire Police. And this is a message that we are keen to repeat.”

Please note that an earlier version of this article contained a video which has since been removed at the request of our regulator, Impress, to avoid any risk of identifying children under the age of 18 that had been involved in criminal proceedings and/or had not consented to being identified. 

An online fundraising appeal set up in aid of two teenagers injured in a crash in Harrogate has passed its £5,000 target.

The 15-year-old boys, Reuben and Fraser, were taken to hospital when a van collided with a wall on Yew Tree Lane last Thursday (February 2).

Lorraine Mitchell, a friend of both teenagers’ parents, set up a GoFundMe page following the crash in an effort to raise money for the families “to be with their son to support the rehabilitation process”.

Since then, the fundraiser has reached £5,325 and is continuing to attract pledges.

Ms Mitchell said:

“We were all shocked and incredibly saddened by the crash and know this support will be gratefully received by both families.”

The boys, both pupils at Rossett School, were walking along Yew Tree Lane at the time of the incident and were left with serious injuries.

Another fundraising appeal for the boys, set up by Julie Mills, has so far generated £1,654 — close to its £2,000 target.

It means almost £7,000 has now been pledged in total.

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Two drug dealers have been jailed after being caught with thousands of pounds worth of cocaine in Harrogate.

Angel Angelov and Tsonko Peev, both 25 and from Leeds, were sent to prison after pleading guilty to possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

On the afternoon of November 10 last year, officers from North Yorkshire Police’s Operation Expedite team, which tackles county lines drug dealing, stopped a vehicle on its way to Harrogate from Leeds.

The driver, Angelov, was searched, and found with 26 bags of cocaine in a mint tin and a lock knife.

Some of the cocaine seized by North Yorkshire Police.

As the investigation continued, officers stopped another vehicle on Leeds Road in Harrogate on December 5. Inside were Angelov and Peev. 

This time, Angelov was found with 20 bags of cocaine hidden in the lining of his coat, and a further 11 bags were found hidden by the handbrake.

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Both were charged and pleaded guilty at York Crown Court yesterday (February 7) to the offences.

Angelov was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Meanwhile, Peev was jailed for two years and three months.

PC George Frost, from the Operation Expedite team, said: 

“Following a swift investigation, two drug dealers have been taken off the streets of Harrogate, along with thousands of pounds worth of Class A drugs.

“Dealers like Angelov and Peev seek to exploit the vulnerabilities of users and their addictions for their own selfish financial gain. The effects of drug dealing and drug use are felt far and wide, leading to violence, anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime.

“I hope the people of Harrogate and wider North Yorkshire feel reassured by the result of the investigation and the jail sentences. We are committed to protecting the vulnerable in our communities, and are working night and day to keep drug dealers out of the area.”

North Yorkshire Police has announced it is to consider a major overhaul of how it operates to boost visible frontline policing amid a £14 hike in its share of council tax.

Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe and force chief constable Lisa Winward made the announcement as they revealed they would ask residents to pay 4.99% extra council tax for the service, despite leaving more than 120 posts vacant.

A meeting of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel yesterday was told the review could lead to an increase in uniformed officers attending incidents such as burglaries.

Zoe Metcalfe

Ms Metcalfe told the panel of North Yorkshire and York councillors and experts that inflation was set to present an ongoing challenge to the force’s finances, so an operational and organisational review of the force would be undertaken for the first time in eight years.

She said the review would aim to deliver the best possible frontline and visible policing services, while a pause on the recruitment of police community support officers would create an opportunity to “redesign neighbourhood policing”.

However, the commissioner added she would be expecting the chief constable to “grip the force’s finances tightly”.

Two members of the panel highlighted that the force would be asking the average band D householder to pay £14.03 extra “when they will actually be getting less in terms of 50 less PCSOs and 74 less staff”.

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The band D £295.08 demand will mean an average rise of more than £90 in the amount residents are obliged to pay North Yorkshire Police to cover the cost of the police service not paid for by central government over the last decade.

Chief constable Lisa Winward

Chief constable Lisa Winward said there had been a huge change in the nature of demand since the force’s last overhaul in 2015, including “a massive increase in technology and the seizure of technology, an increase in child abuse and rising online crime”.

She said:

“The sort of work that our officers are now doing predominantly has changed since 2015. We have tried within the existing budget to investigate and deliver a high-quality policing service.

“We really need to go back to the core of policing, investigation, arresting by people and being physically present in our communities.”

The meeting heard despite focused recruitment campaigns the force had been unable to recruit PCSOs as people were either joining the service as officers or were seeing “more favourable jobs” elsewhere, so the police budget needed to be spent elsewhere.

The meeting was told the precept increase would also be used for “urgent” service improvements, such as £1.9m extra to improve 999 emergency call handling times, 101 call handling time, and expand means of the public contacting police.

The report states: 

“Demand profiling has identified that in comparison to other forces, North Yorkshire Police have a significantly smaller workforce in the control room than other comparable forces.”

Costs facing the force are expected to increase by £18m, mainly due to pay rises and inflation.

With a £1.5m injection it is proposed to boost frontline uniformed response teams, which will see the number of officers rise to 1,645.

After the meeting, the panel’s chairman, Cllr Carl Les, said he did not believe it was a case of people paying more for less, but rather that residents would be paying more because of inflation, for a service that would be different in future.

He said:

“I think at the moment it is the only thing the commissioner can do. We really are between a rock and a hard place this year in budget-setting terms.

“We know that there is a cost of living crisis and how hard it is going to be for some people to pay any increase whatever that might be, but equally all the services are facing the same sorts of pressures we are.”

A body has been found in the search for missing Ripon man Gavin Dhont.

Mr Dhont, 45, was reported missing on December 13, after last being seen in the city on December 6.

North Yorkshire Police said this afternoon a body recovered from the River Ure on January 29 had been identified as Mr Dhont.

A brief police statement said:

“A body recovered from the River Ure on 29 January 2023 has been identified as Gavin Dhont, a Ripon man who was reported missing on 13 December 2022.

“Mr Dhont’s family have been informed and we would ask that their privacy is respected.”

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Police are appealing for witnesses to a collision near Weeton in which a cyclist was seriously injured.

It occurred on the A658 Harrogate Road between Weeton railway station and Pool Bridge on Monday, January 30, between 5.50pm and 6.15pm.

A North Yorkshire Police statement today said:

“It involved a van and a bicycle, which collided near to Riffa Business Park, resulting in serious injury to the cyclist.

“Anyone who witnessed the incident, or may have relevant dashcam of the collision or the van or bike involved, is asked to contact TC174 David Minto of North Yorkshire Police Road Policing Group.

“Please either dial 101, or email david.minto@northyorkshire.police.uk, quoting reference number NYP-30012023-0380.”

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Police in Harrogate have located a woman missing from home since last night.

Issuing an appeal early this morning, North Yorkshire Police said she was believed to be driving around the Harrogate area.

The force has since confirmed the missing woman has been found and thanks those who shared the appeal.

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Two online fundraising appeals have so far raised more than £2,000 for two teenagers who were injured in a crash in Harrogate.

The 15-year-old boys, Reuben and Fraser, were taken to hospital when a van collided with a wall on Yew Tree Lane last Thursday.

Lorraine Mitchell, a friend of both teenagers’ parents, set up a GoFundMe page following the crash.

The boys, both pupils at Rossett School, were walking along Yew Tree Lane and were left with serious injuries.

So far, the page has raised £1,090.

Ms Mitchell, who spoke to the Stray Ferret about the campaign, said the money would help the teenagers’ parents be with them during their recovery. She said:

“We were all shocked and incredibly saddened by the crash and know this support will be gratefully received by both families.”

Read more:

• Two drivers interviewed over collision with teens on Yew Tree Lane
• Man taken to hospital after empty overturned car discovered in Harrogate

Meanwhile, Julie Mills, of Ainsty Road in Harrogate, also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the families of the two teenagers.

Posting on the fundraiser, Ms Mills said:

“The families of these young boys are going to need all the help and support at this terrible time.”

At the time of writing, the campaign has generated £1,319.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed this morning that no arrests or charges had been made in relation to the incident.