Shocking video shows teenagers attacking police in Harrogate McDonald’s

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.”

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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. 

Girl, 15, sentenced over police attack in Harrogate McDonald’s

A 15-year-old girl has been sentenced to a 12-month referral order for her role in an attack on two police officers in broad daylight in Harrogate.

The incident took place in McDonald’s on Cambridge Road at around 5pm on April 1 this year.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to five charges. They included two counts of assaulting police community support officers, causing both actual bodily harm and one of affray, using or threatening violence which led people to fear for their safety, all in the fast food restaurant.

She also admitted a further charge of assaulting a police officer by beating her in Valley Gardens, and one of failing to comply with an exclusion order to leave McDonald’s.

North Yorkshire Youth Court, sitting at Harrogate Justice Centre, heard today that the teenager had been in McDonald’s with friends at about 5pm when there was confusion over whether or not they were banned from the premises. Police officers were called and the girls were found in the upstairs toilets.

In trying to remove them from the building, the officers came under attack.

‘Tussle’

Prosecuting, Melanie Ibbotson said:

“The PCSO goes to grab [another teenage girl] to stop her going back into the toilets and as she does so, there’s a tussle between them both.

“She was trying to grab hold of her, they were pushing and pulling each other, moving towards the top of the stairs, and at this point [the officer] activates her alarm.”

Ms Ibbotson said the 15-year-old then went to help her friend, but in trying to prevent herself being pushed down the stairs, the PCSO grabbed her hair.

The court was shown video evidence of the attack in which the PCSO was punched on the nose, causing heavy bleeding, and her colleague was hit around the face, injuring her jaw and cheek.

The teenagers then left the building and were found in Valley Gardens by other police officers. The 15-year-old spat at a police constable as she was arrested.

The PCSOs were taken to hospital. Neither suffered broken bones, but the PCSO with the injured nose required several months of treatment and could still face an operation to repair the damage inflicted on her in the attack.

The other PCSO had since left the police, the court heard, in part because of the incident in McDonald’s.

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Defending, Andrew Tinning of Grahame Stowe Bateson, told the court the teenager had never been in trouble with the police before and the incident had “come out of the blue”.

He said she had been working voluntarily with the youth offending team in the months since, in order to improve her behaviour. He said:

“When she was interviewed, she admitted what she had done, she apologised for her actions, she said she did have an anger issue and she had set out to protect her friend, as she saw it.

“It was a complete over-reaction to the situation she was faced with, but that’s what she did.”

Mother ‘shellshocked’

Her mother told the court she was “shellshocked” when she heard what her daughter had done, adding:

“She made the wrong friends and wrong choices and it just escalated from there.”

Mr Tinning said the girl had since been permanently excluded from school but was about to start at a new school where she could take her GCSEs. She was “academically gifted”, he said, and already had plans for the next steps in her career, supported by her mother.

She now had a part-time job and was at home every evening, the court heard, and had stopped associating with some of her previous friends.

Harrogate Magistrates Court, Victoria Avenue.

The girls appeared at North Yorkshire Youth Court today

After magistrates retired to consider their sentence, bench chairman Alison Henny told the teenager they had seriously considered a term in a young offenders’ institute because of the severity of the attacks.

However, because of her age and her willingness to improve her behaviour, they had decided to give her a 12-month youth referral order during which she would be given support to make better choices and control her anger.

Mrs Henny said:

“The aim of the youth court is rehabilitation. We believe there’s a real prospect of you being rehabilitated.”

The magistrates ordered her mother to pay compensation of £100 for each of the injured PCSOs.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl, also from Harrogate, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting an emergency worker by beating her, affray, and failing to comply with an exclusion order, at McDonald’s on the same date.

She is due to appear for trial at North Yorkshire Youth Court on November 25.

Another 14-year-old girl has already been dealt with by an out-of-court disposal through the youth outcomes panel in relation to the same incident.

Two PCSOs seriously injured after attack in Harrogate McDonald’s

Two police community support officers were left seriously injured following an attack in McDonald’s in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses and mobile phone footage of the incident which took place at around 7pm on Friday evening on Cambridge Road.

Three girls, aged 13, 14 and 15-years-old, have been arrested in connection with the attack and remain in custody for questioning.

The officers attended the McDonald’s after reports that the girls had entered the restaurant despite being banned due to anti-social behaviour earlier in the evening.

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The group refused to leave when asked by officers and an altercation took place.

One of the PCSOs suffered a suspected broken nose and the other had tissue damage to the cheek. Both remain in hospital for treatment for their injuries.

Neighbourhood Delivery Inspector Phoebe Southall said:

“No one deserves to go to work and be assaulted, especially as they work to protect the public and keep our communities safe. It is not just ‘part of the job’ and we will investigate any incidents of violence towards our staff thoroughly.

“We would urge anyone who either witnessed the attack or has any information or mobile phone footage that may have captured something to please get in touch.”

Anyone with any information should contact police on 101 or investigationhubcounty@northyorkshire.police.uk and quote reference number 12220055279.