Ripon cocaine and heroin dealer jailed after police raidA cocaine and heroin dealer has been jailed for over two years after police raided her home in Ripon.
Jemima Walker, 27, was found surrounded by drug paraphernalia when police entered her ground-floor flat on Aismunderby Road.
They seized drug bags, two sets of weighing scales, a notebook with customer lists, £480 cash, four mobile phones and two relatively small amounts of heroin and cocaine.
Analysis of her “telephone traffic” showed she had been dealing for “quite some time” and had a “large client base”, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Anne Richardson said there were 118 incriminating text messages in total, in some of which her customers referred to her by her nickname, ‘Mima’.
Walker was charged with two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply following the drugs bust on May 16, 2019. She was also charged with one count of simple possession after being found with cocaine at an address in Gallows Hill Park, Ripon, in September of that year, while on bail for the dealing matters.
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She admitted all three offences and appeared for sentence on Friday.
Cocaine in Harrogate
The court heard that Walker had a previous conviction for drug possession from February last year after she was caught with cocaine in Harrogate.
Richard Reed, for Walker, said she was leading a “fairly chaotic” lifestyle at the time and ended up losing her home.
She had a drugs relapse and started dealing to pay debts to ‘county lines’ suppliers and feed her own habit, he added.
Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC described Walker’s drug enterprise as a “reasonably slick operation”.
He added:
“Text messages seem to suggest that it was a large client base.”
He said it was clear that Walker had used her flat to “package and process” hard drugs and that it had been going on “for some time”.
Although she was feeding her own habit, she had been profiting from “multiple supplies of Class A drugs…for a matter of months and significant amounts of money were being (made)”.
Walker had played an “operational or management” role in the supply chain, added Mr Iqbal.
Walker was jailed for two years and three months, of which she will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.
Bishop speaks out after more vandalism in RiponThe Bishop of Ripon has spoken out about vandals after another incident in the city.
Dr Helen-Ann Hartley’s comments come after she saw the Welcome to Ripon sign on the North Bridge approach to the city had been vandalised.
She told the Stray Ferret:
“I was greatly saddened to see the Welcome to Ripon sign smashed up.
“Sadly, a minority are clearly intent on inflicting harm on our local community.
“While I appreciate there are many challenges that people face today, destroying things of value is not the answer.
“I hope whoever is doing this, can pause to reflect on how their actions hurt others, and think again before they smash something else up.”
Destroyed and discarded — the sign was torn down and thrown off the bridge.
The sign, bearing the words: ‘Welcome to Ripon, Stay Awhile Amid its Ancient Charms’ was erected in 1986 by the city’s civic society, in memory of former member Catherine Elmes.
Dr Hartley said:
“I remember early on when we moved here, I walked into Ripon and stopped at the sign and took a photo of it.
“I felt pleased to be in our new home here.”
The plaque in memory of Catherine Elmes on the vandalised sign
The North Bridge ‘welcome’ sign is one of two on the approaches to the city centre — the other being at the junction of Harrogate Road and Quarry Moor Road.
Vandalism, alongside other anti-social behaviour, is a recurring problem in Ripon.
The cabmen’s shelter — a rare heritage item and listed building on Market Square — had its windows smashed twice in the space of three months.
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Prior to this, vandals also broke windows at Ripon Town Hall and the Ripon Cathedral office and deliberately damaged the protective rubberised surface of the children’s playground in Grove Lane.
North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott visited the city last month and pledged investment in policing to address the spike in anti-social behaviour.
He said he intended to give local officers the resources they needed, including a phased investment in the city’s combined police and fire station on Stonebridgegate.
Work on ‘worn out’ Ripon flats could get under way this summerWork to improve “worn out” flats next to the site of a sinkhole risk in Ripon could get under way this summer, a senior councillor has said.
Cllr Mike Chambers, cabinet member for housing and safer communities at Harrogate Borough Council, said the refurbishment of Allhallowgate flats had been delayed due to covid but would get started at the “end of summer or beginning of autumn”.
The project was first agreed in 2014 and the latest update follows complaints from residents and councillors that the ageing building has become an eyesore.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Sid Hawke, who represents the Ripon Ure Bank ward, described the flats as “shobby” and “looking a bit tired and worn out”.
The building sits next to a cordoned off site where separate plans for 17 new flats were abandoned two years ago due to problems with ground stability.
Cllr Chambers told Wednesday’s meeting that ground levelling works to tidy up the site were now under way ahead of landscaping.
He said:
“We are now moving forward.
“We have started work on the site – we are levelling that off and it is going to be landscaped.”
And on the Allhallowgate flats refurbishments, Cllr Chambers added:
“It has taken rather longer than we hoped because of covid and I don’t offer that as an excuse. We did use those properties to house people that we brought in off the streets to ensure they were protected.
“The work on those is set to begin in earnest at the end of summer or beginning of autumn and hopefully we will be well on the way to getting them refurbished and made much better than they are.
“They are going to be bigger allround and hopefully back in use by the early part of next year.”
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Ripon is one of the UK’s most sinkhole-prone cities as it sits above a layer of gypsum – a water-soluble rock that leads to the formation of large underground caves that can collapse.
In 2018, a sinkhole was discovered at the city’s leisure centre before works on a new swimming pool and refurbishment project were given a go-ahead to start a year later.
Two years earlier, another sinkhole saw 12 properties on Magdalens Road evacuated in 2016.
More recently, construction crews working on the new swimming pool discovered an underground void at the site last year and an investigation into how to fix the issue is currently underway.
Italian Ripon restaurant owner thinks England will winRipon restaurateur Franco Fantoni has got the blues when thinking about the Azzurri’s chances at Wembley on Sunday.
The owner of Prima Ristorante Italiano in Kirkgate is pessimistic as he prepares for the big match.
He believes that Roberto Mancini’s team will be beaten by Gareth Southgate’s golden boys.
Mr Fantoni told the Stray Ferret:
“Sadly, I think we’re going to lose.
“England have played better football than us and I predict they will win 2-0.”
Will Gareth Southgate’s team have the last laugh against Italy on Sunday?
The lifelong football fan comes from Bergamo in the Lombardy region of northern Italy and is a seasoned student of football in his native and adopted countries.
Back in the place of his birth, he supports Serie A team Atalanta BC, but he also enjoys the English version of the beautiful game and said:
“Since moving to England in 1973, I’ve followed Leeds United and have been a season ticket holder for more than 30 years.”
Mr Fantoni, who has owned the multi-award-winning Prima Ristorante for 36 years, is convinced that his countrymen will taste defeat, but the four-times Fifa World Cup winners go to Wembley with an unbeaten run of 33 games behind them.
They were also the 1968 Euro Champions.
In contrast, England have just the 1966 World Cup win to their name in major international tournaments and are attempting to bring 55 years of hurt, disappointment and under-achievement to an end.
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The Azzurri have been tactically astute when the heat has been on, most noticeably in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of quarter and semi-final games against Belgium and Spain respectively.
If Italy can serve up yet another winning Euro performance in the three lions’ den, Mr Fantoni will have to eat his words – but it’s a dish he will happily swallow.
Ripon man jailed for downloading 1,000 indecent images of childrenA married former military man addicted to child pornography has been jailed for downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of minors and using ‘wiping’ software in a bid to hide them.
Francis Mingay, 65, from Ripon, was under a court order at the time designed to curb his internet activities following previous convictions for similar behaviour, York Crown Court heard.
But the ex-army man – who served in Ireland and overseas during a distinguished career – downloaded 1,074 illicit photos and videos, some involving the serious sexual abuse of children and one depicting the rape of a young girl, said prosecutor Thomas Parsons.
Mingay, of Southgate Avenue, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, two breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order (SHPO) and one count of possessing indecent images. He appeared for sentence on Thursday.
The original sexual-harm order was imposed in 2011 after Mingay was convicted of 10 offences including eight counts of possessing indecent images.
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The order prohibited him from deleting his internet search history, using ‘wiping’ software or obtaining any new internet-enabled devices without informing the police.
He was also banned from visiting any internet forums or chatrooms that might give him access to illegal images of minors.
In June 2019, two police officers who were monitoring him post-sentence made a routine visit to his home to inspect his devices and found he had been using a new Samsung phone.
They also found a memory stick and a laptop with wiping software for deleting files and search history.
Both devices contained debauched images of children, as well as “extreme” pornography and “prohibited” photos and videos of youngsters.
Mr Parsons said the children depicted in the images on the laptop were between six and 12 years old. The worst images, rated Category A, included one which showed a girl of about 10 years of age being raped.
Mingay had downloaded 103 Category A images, 87 Category B and 884 Category C. He also admitted possessing a further 99 indecent images on the USB memory stick.
He already had three convictions for 27 offences, all of a similar nature. In 2003, he was given a three-year community order at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court for a “large number” of downloading and possession offences and ordered to attend various rehabilitation courses to “cure him of this perverted addiction”.
But it had little effect and in November 2011, Mingay was convicted of eight counts of possessing indecent images of children, for which he received a 12-month suspended prison sentence and a SHPO to regulate his internet use.
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Michele Turner, for Mingay, said the ex-military man had lost his way since the end of his “very successful” army career and had developed mental health problems due to “horrific” combat stress.
She said Mingay “didn’t understand” his addiction to child pornography “and his family doesn’t understand”.
Recorder Anthony Hawks told Mingay:
“You are a man with a long-standing addiction to child pornography.
“Persistent, perverted interest of this sort creates a market for (this) sort of images. It’s a bad state of affairs in any view.”
Jailing Mingay for 16 months, Mr Hawks told him:
“You have been given chances twice in the past by the courts and you have received enormous assistance from the Probation Service to try and prevent you offending in this way. It’s all failed.”
Mingay will remain on the sex-offenders’ register and his licence conditions upon his eventual release from prison will include strict curbs on his internet use.
Ripon Amateur Operatic Society prepares to raise the curtainsRipon Amateur Operatic Society is raring to reopen its improved, new look theatre after an 18-month closure.
The society received grants from an Aviva Community Fund scheme and Arts Council England totalling more than £80,000 during the pandemic.
The funding has enabled Ripon Operatic Hall to be renovated with improved accessibility, which will be further enhanced when a wheelchair lift is fitted in the coming months.
The actors are now eager to get back under the lights and the first performance back will be the youth group’s We Will Rock You from July 21.
The studio space during and after renovation work.
The society’s theatre on Allhallowgate has become a community asset, with a range of groups including baby ballet and zumba also using the space.
Committee member and performer Linda Aikman said:
“Lockdown affected us enormously because we’re performers and it’s what we love to do.
“The money means we have a safe space to put on our shows. It’s now a place for everyone, it was really important for the committee to make sure the theatre is somewhere everyone can enjoy.”
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The society staged numerous shows before the pandemic.
Its performance of Oliver! has been rescheduled for the third time and will now be performed at Harrogate Theatre in April 2022.
Bid to open Lidl in Ripon wins support of city council
Plans for a Lidl supermarket in Ripon have won the support of the city council.
Council leader Andrew Williams described a planning application by the German supermarket chain as a ‘win, win, win, situation’.
He said:
“It will bring 40 new jobs, increase choice for Ripon’s residents and also serve our growing population, with the new homes that we have coming on stream.”
Cllr Williams was speaking at last week’s full city council meeting at which he and fellow members supported Lidl’s planning application.
Lidl will join M&S Food at St Michael’s Retail Park if its plans are approved.
Harrogate Borough Council will decide whether to accept Lidl’s application to open a 1,100 square metre store at the £10 million St Michael’s Retail Park.
But the backing of Ripon City Council suggests there is support locally for the plan.
The Rotary Way site, off the bypass, is already home to a Marks & Spencer Food outlet, which opened last July.
Ripon, with a population of 17,000-plus and growing, is well-served by supermarkets, with Aldi, Booths, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s also trading in the city.
Lidl put forward its Ripon proposal following an online consultation.
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Following the consultation, a spokesperson from Lidl GB said:
“Many people have welcomed the proposed Lidl store, which would bring competition, increasing choice and providing a boost to the local economy through job creation.
“Many also mentioned that a store on this site would reduce the need to travel out of the city to shop and therefore keep expenditure in Ripon.”
The supermarket has also submitted an application to open its first Harrogate store on the site of the former Lookers car dealership on Knaresborough Road.
On-demand bus service launches around RiponNorth Yorkshire County Council has launched its pilot on-demand bus service called YorBus, allowing travellers to book public transport at times to suit them.
People who live in Ripon, Masham, Bedale and the surrounding villages can use the YorBus app to chose a pick-up and drop-off bus stop and travel within the service area at their leisure.
There is a flat fare: adults will pay £1.20 and children aged five to 17 will pay 65p. Those under five travel for free.
Those living in the blue area can access YorBus to travel around it
The service will run from 6.55am to 6pm during the week and 9am to 6pm at weekends. There is no service on bank holidays.
The app allows the customers to keep track of the bus’s location and gauge how long it will take to arrive.
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Customers can download the YorBus mobile phone app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Those who do not have a smart phone can book their public transport over the phone on 01609 780780.
The council has assured those who struggle with mobility that the service will be fully accessible with low floor and ramp access.
This service is going to be regularly reviewed and, if successful, will inform its decision for a wider rollout within the country.
Ripon paddling pool to get toilets this summerRipon city councillors have voted unanimously to put portable toilets next to the paddling pool on Borrage Green Lane this summer.
The large pool, in its neatly-kept park setting just off Harrogate Road, is a popular venue on warm days.
But the Harrogate Borough Council-controlled pool and adjacent playground hasn’t had toilets for many years, which can deter people staying for long.
The safety sign at Ripon paddling pool.
City council leader Andrew Williams told Ripon City Council this week:
“I contacted the borough council and am pleased to report that they have agreed to us installing portable toilets for the duration of the summer holidays.
“Of necessity, many families will be staying in Ripon this summer because of the impact of covid and we want to ensure that they can get the most out of the public facilities that we have around the city.”
The search is now on for a suitable supplier, who can install the facility in time for the school summer holidays and keep it clean and safe.
Payment for the temporary toilets will come from Ripon City Council’s strategic investment fund.
Councillor Pauline McHardy, said:
“We need to do all that we can to help people with young children.
“It has been a very difficult time for them and many are priced out of being able to go on holiday this year.”
Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Eamon Parkin, raised concern about insurance, as liability will rest with the city council.
Cllr Parkin said:
“I’m fully in support of providing facilities for families, but remember that the last time we considered providing portable toilets here, the insurance cost alone was astronomical.”
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It was agreed that the toilets will be temporarily added to the council’s insurance policy.
Councillor Stuart Martin added:
“I think we should have no problem in finding a local supplier who can provide what we need.”
145 homes in Ripon given final approvalHarrogate Borough Council officers have given final approval for 145 homes in Ripon.
Harron Homes will build the homes at Bishop’s Glade, off Bellman Walk.
The developer already had outline permission for 131 homes, which was granted by the council in 2017. But the company sought approval for a further 14 last year.
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The council’s planning committee deferred the application to the council’s chief planner to approve in June last year.
Now, the development has been given final permission to go-ahead.
The proposal will include a mixture of three, four and five-bed homes. The developer has also agreed to allocate 58 homes as affordable housing.
Harron Homes describes the development as “a hidden gem which borders picturesque woodlands and open fields easily accessible for a morning walk to set you up for the rest of your day”.