Three boys have been arrested after items including fire extinguishers and glass bottles were hurled on to Harrogate’s Parliament Street today.

Police were called to reports of a burglary just before 2am. Parliament Street was closed and fully reopened at about 8am.

A North Yorkshire Police statement this morning said:

“CCTV in the area showed three young people throwing items from the top floor of the property into the street.

“Items included fire extinguishers, poles and boxes, one of which contained an amount of glass bottles, which smashed across the road.

“Specialist officers, including negotiators were called to the property bringing the incident to a safe conclusion around 6.30am.”

Yorkshire Ambulance Service and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service were also called out and highways workers cleared debris before the road fully reopened at about 8am. Many windows on floors above the businesses on Parliament Street were broken this morning.

Two lanes of Parliament Street reopened until the remainder of the debris was removed.

The statement added:

“Three boys aged, 15, 16 and 17-years-old were arrested a short time later on suspicion of burglary and affray. They remain in police custody while the investigation continues.”

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident report said it was alerted at 2.43am.

“A crew from Harrogate responded to reports of a large number of youths inside an unsafe derelict building, throwing items from the roof.

“Fire crew stood by awaiting instruction form the police. Eventually incident was dealt with without fire service intervention.”

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A scarecrow trail created for children to enjoy during half-term has been vandalised in Knaresborough.

The trail, which began today, encourages people to hunt for 18 scarecrows in the town centre.

But Knaresborough Business Collective, which represents independent traders and organised the initiative, said in a social media post some scarecrows were damaged last night.

It said it was “absolutely heartbroken” but pledged to carry on with the trail.

The group, which was co-founded by Natalie Horner and Annie Wilkinson-Gill, said:

“We have spent weeks planning, two days in the pouring rain putting them all up and businesses have spent a huge amount of effort making these by hand.

“To now have to get up at 7am to come and fix the mindless vandalism some people think is acceptable is so upsetting. Lots of items have been stolen that we now have to spend money on being replaced.

“The Knaresborough Scarecrow Trail is put on entirely by us volunteers and brings so many people in to town and gives families something to do during half term, this is so good for our town and all these people are doing is ruining it before it’s even started.”

The post ended by saying the group would “do all we can to fix them all this morning so you can enjoy the trail”.

To take part in the trail, visit Ye Older Chymist Shoppe on Market Place to buy a £3 map revealing the locations of 18 scarecrows.

Anyone who finds them and fills in a form on the map will then be entered for a £50 prize draw.

Read more:

• Knaresborough scarecrow trail to begin on Saturday
• Council removes anti-speeding scarecrows in Nidd for ‘safety reasons’

Canal boats in Ripon were grounded when vandals drained the water between two lock gates.

Ripon Scenic Cruises skipper Jon Eyles discovered the company’s boats and all other vessels were “stuck in the mud” early on Sunday.

It appeared someone had drained the area overnight leaving the boats stuck and unable to be moved until the canal was refilled.

It took until late into the evening to refill the affected area on the canal. This meant all booked trips on the river that day had to be cancelled.

Canal boats were hampered last year when water shortages prompted the Canal and River Trust to close the locks to conserve water.

Ripon Scenic Cruises said in a statement:

“There’s been no word of whom may have done this from the police or Canal and River Trust.

“We hope that this was an isolated incident. As a small local business we struggled through last year and we don’t need it to be made more difficult by action of unthinking vandals.”

Read more:

• Festival plans ahead as Ripon canal boat makes its return
• Ripon Canal to feature on BBC TV tonight

Harrogate District Hospital has been left with a repair bill after vandals caused thousands of pounds’ worth of flood damage. 

The perpetrators pulled away panelling behind a men’s toilet sink and ripped pipework off the wall, causing significant flooding to the antenatal department, the ground-floor corridor in the Strayside wing and several offices. 

The attack was carried out in the early hours of Tuesday, December 27.

As a result, there was damage to equipment stored in the area and flooring in the departments needs to be replaced. 

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust estimates the clean-up and repair operation – which includes hiring equipment to dry the areas out – will cost £4,000-£6,000, which it said “could be used for patient care rather than repairing damage caused by vandals”. 

A spokesperson for the trust said:

“Such anti-social behaviour is unacceptable and whilst the safety of the patients in our care was unaffected, it did cause additional work for our staff when they should be focused on patient care. Repairs also have a financial implication for our trust. 

“The people responsible were recorded on a CCTV camera within our hospital and the incident was reported to the police.”

Villagers near Boroughbridge were left angry and upset after vandals wrecked a nativity scene in their parish churchyard.

The nativity was put in place at St John’s Church in Minskip last week in time for a carol service, held outside because of covid concerns.

A central part of it was the nativity scene, which three or four of the church council had put up themselves.

The first indication that something had happened came early this morning.

The scene this morning.

Churchwarden Robert Beaumont said:

“The lovely couple, Jason and Helen, who live next door to the church, heard a noise at about 5am.

“They’re not sure if that was the vandals destroying the nativity scene but when they looked out of their windows at about 7am, all the wise men, the crib, everything, was scattered all around the churchyard.

“To have it just destroyed in this wanton and mindless manner was heart-breaking. And we’ve all been thinking, why would anybody want to do that?”

The church has reported the incident to police.

Read more:

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Villagers have managed to salvage the scene and rebuild it,

Mr Beaumont said.

“Although the vandals kicked parts of the scene all over the church or they didn’t break them in two.

“So with a lot of love and care, three members of our church committee worked from about half past eight this morning and put the whole scene back together again.

“And so, as one of our church council members said, love will always triumph over hate and good over evil. And that’s one of the messages of Christmas, so that was rather appropriate.

“But that doesn’t quite extinguish my anger as churchwarden that people should find it appropriate to desecrate our churchyard.”

It caps a difficult period for St John’s. A drunken motorist crashed into the church wall about six weeks ago. Insurance covered it but the church had to pay a £500 excess.

Covid-permitting, the village will hold an outdoor Christmas Day service with the nativity scene firmly in the foreground.

A junior football team from Scotton that was targeted by vandals has completed a 24 hour fun run to raise money for repairs.

Vandals damaged the goals used by Scotton Scorchers under 14s girls team during lockdown.

This prompted the team to raise money towards creating safe storage for the goalposts and upgrading the clubhouse kitchen.

So at 2pm on Saturday the players set off, helped by coaches and parents, on the run in an attempt to raise £1,000.

At least two people were running at all times during the challenge, which was successfully completed yesterday.

The team beat its £1,000 target — at the time of publication the fundraiser is at £1,255. You can click or tap here to donate to the gofundme page.

Tinker the horse, an unlikely team mascot who wears the Scotton Scorchers’ number 10 shirt, even helped by guiding the runners home.

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It will cost more than £5,000 to complete the works so the club has more fundraising events planned.

Wayne Latimer, the under-14s girls coach, told the Stray Ferret:

“It has been a difficult year for the team but they have come back and not only have the under-14 girls team won their league but so have the under-16 girls team.

“I am sure quite a few of them will still be resting up in bed today but I am incredibly proud of all of the girls who took part in the 24-hour fun run.

“They have absolutely smashed the target of £1,000 and it will make a big difference for the club.”

Anyone who would like to join the team can find out more information on the club website. Or send an email to the club secretary Mike Collier.

Vandals have pulled up young trees on the Stray in the evening that police officers cracked down on large groups.

Community police officers tried to disperse some of the larger groups yesterday and reminded them of the social distancing guidelines.

Some rebutted the officers and claimed that they were all in different groups of six or that they were all from the same family.

The levels of litter this morning were not close to the mounds of rubbish left the day before. A new problem has emerged this morning but it is unclear who is responsible.

Read more:

• When a volunteer described the rubbish on the Stray as the worst for six years
• Why some groups think Harrogate has lost its “feel-good factor”?
• When a group of young men won praise for cleaning up rubbish on the Stray

Judy d’Arcy Thompson from the Stray Defence Association (SDA) said this morning that the uprooting of trees just adds to the “horrendous destruction.”

“We now seem to have marauding gangs of youths wreaking mayhem on our Stray. The drunken, lewd and downright disgusting behaviour is going on all night every night. There seems to be no limit to what they will do or how disgusting their behaviour can become.”

Police dispersed groups on the Stray yesterday evening.

She added that the SDA has seen reports of mass gatherings, drug-taking and dealing on a huge scale as well as youngsters urinating and defecating.

An SDA committee member Guy Tweedy had planted the trees in memory of several people.

The Stray Ferret has approached both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire Police for a comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.