‘If you swim with sharks, you get bitten,’ judge tells Harrogate cocaine dealer

A Harrogate drug pusher has been jailed for over two years after police caught him with over 50 grammes of high-purity cocaine.

Robert Marsh, 27, was stopped by a plain-clothed officer near his home on Burley Bank Road, Killinghall, in March last year. 

The officer found just over two ounces of cocaine inside Marsh’s car, prosecutor Adam Walker told York Crown Court.

Marsh was arrested and a subsequent search of his home revealed a cornucopia of drug items including weighing scales and dealer bags, the court heard.

Police also found cocaine inside a Tupperware box and £90 cash inside a cupboard, added Mr Walker.

He said the 55g of cocaine found inside the vehicle had a street value of up to £5,550. The value of the drugs and the period of time that Marsh had been dealing suggested he stood to make “significant” profits.

Police also seized two mobile phones from Marsh, which showed he had played an “operational or managerial” role in the drug racket. He had been giving people drugs “on tick” and was “managing a customer’s debt”.

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Defence barrister Susannah Proctor said Marsh, of Pinemoor Caravan Park, had never been in trouble before and was easily led due to his vulnerabilities. 

She said Marsh “struggles intellectually” and found himself hanging around people he met at house parties who had persuaded or coerced him to deal drugs for them, although the prosecution didn’t accept this claim.

Gambling debt

Ms Proctor added Marsh had a £7,000 gambling debt at the time and sold drugs to try to pay that off. He had struggled to pay his rent due to his gambling and moved into a caravan owned by his parents.

She added:

“He’s going to lose his home (and) he’s going to lose his job.”

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Marsh: 

“Prior to starting drug dealing you had been going to house parties and you realised there was more money to be made and got involved in drug dealing as a means to an end.

“That involved having money put into your bank account, giving people cocaine on tick and being caught by police (with) very-high-purity cocaine in your car, which on the street would be worth thousands of pounds.” 

He said Marsh was “not the most robust of characters” and now found himself in a “nightmare” of his own making. 

Mr Morris added:

“Cocaine is an absolute scourge.

“If you swim with sharks, you are going to get bitten.”

He said Marsh “had to go to prison because Class A dealers must go down, otherwise people might be tempted to earn a little extra cash like you”.

Marsh was handed a 30-month jail sentence of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Harrogate man jailed for ‘humiliating and degrading’ sex attack

A man has been jailed for a “humiliating and degrading” sex attack on a young woman at a property in Harrogate.

Andrew Reekie, 33, left the woman “haunted” and an emotional wreck following the “absolutely disgusting” assault, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said the victim tried to kick Reekie off her during the assault and told him to “get off”. She was crying afterwards and told a friend what had happened.

Reekie told her she “wouldn’t dare ring the police” but she plucked up the courage to do so.

Reekie, of Bramham Drive, Jennyfields, was brought in for questioning two months after the attack but refused to answer police questions.

He was charged with sexual assault but denied the offence, only to plead guilty on the day of trial in January. He appeared for sentence yesterday.

The court heard he had previous convictions for serious violence, public disorder, acquisitive crime, possessing an offensive weapon, robbery, criminal damage and breaching court orders.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that “life as I knew it came to an abrupt and sudden halt” following the sex attack. She added:

“I was paralysed (with fear) and completely helpless.”

She said she was “powerless” to stop Reekie and she had felt an inexplicable but “overwhelming shame” since the incident, adding:

“I felt completely alone and unable to trust anyone.

“The sound of his voice will (continue) to play in my head. It was like a knife in my guts.”

Nightmares and shame

She said that after the attack she “couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep or socialise”.

She had nightmares of other women being sexually assaulted and she was “more and more anxious that it was going to happen to somebody else”.

She said that even reporting the attack only “intensified the shame” and she developed serious mental-health problems.

It had affected her work and she had felt “traumatised” about the prospect of giving evidence in court.

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She said that before the incident she was a “young woman full of confidence, looking forward to a bright future”, but Reekie had “took my young spirit and crushed it”.

She had sought professional help for her problems but there were still days when “I can’t get out of bed because I’m too haunted by what happened”.  She added:

“I so desperately want my life back – the life (Reekie) took from me.”

‘A humiliating and degrading attack’

Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said Reekie was a father and had since found work.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, described the incident as a “very nasty sexual assault”. He added:

“This was a humiliating and degrading attack.

“It has had a devastating effect on (the victim).”

He told Reekie:

“What you did was absolutely disgusting. You treated (the victim) like…your own personal pleasure ground.”

He said it was clear Reekie had refused to admit his guilt until the day of trial “in the hope that (the victim) wouldn’t have the courage to attend”.

Reekie was handed a 13-month jail sentence of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was also ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

 

 

Rogue builder who stole jewellery and cash from Harrogate couple jailed

A rogue builder hooked on gambling and cocaine stole prized jewellery from a Harrogate couple who entrusted him with the key to their house.

Sam Brotherston, 32, from Hampsthwaite, was contracted to renovate the couple’s home on Beckwith Road and was left to his own devices while the victims were out at work, York Crown Court heard.

Soon enough, the couple, who had pinned their hopes on Brotherston converting the property into their dream home, started noticing money and jewellery going missing from an upstairs bedroom, said prosecutor Sam Roxborough.

He said the couple were quoted over £13,000 for the work including building materials and labour.

Brotherston, who was self-employed, asked for £4,289 to buy materials such as a door and steel joist for work which was not only never completed, but left the couple with an open sewer in their kitchen and demolished walls. 

To add insult to injury, he never bought the materials and instead spent it on his rampant gambling and cocaine habit.

Initially trusting of Brotherston, the couple handed him the money and he began work on the property in March last year when the named victims gave him a key to their house.

But on March 18, just nine days into the job, the female victim noticed £20 was missing from her purse. Just under two weeks later, she noticed that more cash had disappeared while she was away from home.

Brotherston had helped himself to £80 in total, as well as two white gold rings, which had also been kept in the bedroom. 

The victim did her own investigatory work by visiting pawnbrokers in Harrogate to see if Brotherston had tried to sell her jewellery. She found one of her rings up for sale in a local jeweller’s.

Mr Roxborough said:

“Unfortunately, one of the rings was scrapped by the jeweller’s.”

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Police recovered the other ring when they turned up at the jeweller’s a few days later.

Staff told officers that Brotherston had sold three other gold and silver rings at the jewellers. He stole those pieces from a friend while carrying out work at her home in Brunswick Drive, Harrogate.

The victim, who was named in court, didn’t want to press charges because she was a friend of Brotherston’s family, but he admitted stealing her rings. 

Mr Roxborough said the Beckwith Road couple were devastated to hear that Brotherston, of Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite, had used the money deposited into his account to place bets “at various betting establishments”.

He was arrested following an investigation and charged with burglary, two counts of theft and one of fraud. He admitted all four offences and appeared for sentence today.

‘Sick to the stomach’

The female victim of the Beckwith Road offences said she and her husband had trusted Brotherston, only for him to steal from them on three separate occasions over a period of nearly a month.

She said the rings were of sentimental value and she had been left feeling “violated, scared, shocked and saddened”, and she was now struggling to sleep.

One of the rings, which was never recovered, belonged to her husband’s grandmother and one was a wedding gift. The other was a present for her 30th birthday.

She said:

“Seeing the rings for sale in the pawnbrokers was shocking and left me feeling sick to the stomach.”

She was now scared to be alone in her home and she and her husband had changed all the locks and installed security cameras.

She said that Brotherston’s shoddy, “half-completed” work had left them with an open sewer and that walls had been knocked down which would need rebuilding. Wires were “hanging out of the walls” and the living room was left a mess. 

She added:

“This work was going to complete our dream of providing a lovely family home for my young children to grow up in.

“This is devastating. It’s going to be hard for me to trust anybody again.”

She and her husband were now faced with spending the same amount of money again to put right what Brotherston had ruined. 

‘Damaging acts of dishonesty’

Defence barrister Emma Williams said that Brotherston, a father-of-one, had been caught up in a “gambling and drug-use cycle” but that his behaviour was “out of character”. The offences had led to the break-up of the relationship with his partner. 

Judge Sean Morris described Brotherston’s offences as “very mean and hurtful and damaging acts of dishonesty”.

He told Brotherston: 

“You were snorting your way through cocaine bought with £10,000 worth of gambling winnings. No doubt having blown all that, you then decided that you needed (the victims’) money to carry on snorting cocaine and enjoying the lifestyle.

“At the same time as you were pilfering hard-earned money from that couple and not doing the work that was required, you were creeping around their house going into their bedroom and you stole some rings that had real sentimental value.

“That’s had an awful effect on the lady of the house. They will have been left in a shocking situation and that is all down to your greed and dishonesty.”

Mr Morris said the offences were “too mean” and “appalling” for there to be anything other than an immediate jail sentence.

Brotherston was jailed for 13 months. 

Two men spared jail for attacking Harrogate neighbour with iron bar

Two middle-aged Harrogate men who took it in turns to beat a man with an iron bar have been spared jail.

Stuart Hall, 50, and David Winter, 49, set about the victim outside his house following a neighbours’ dispute that turned into terrifyingly ugly violence.

Prosecutor Richard Holland said it was the named victim who started the trouble when he came out of his home brandishing an iron bar and using the weapon to strike both Winter and Hall, who lived next door.

Mr Holland said that Hall and the victim “did not get on”.

The victim was aggrieved that Hall, who ran a repair garage, parked his cars outside his home and Hall complained about his neighbour feeding birds which had soiled his roof.

Matters came to a head on July 31 last year when Hall and Winter, who are close friends, returned from the pub.

The victim came running out of his house with an iron bar and struck them with it, but the two men wrestled the weapon from him and “responded with overwhelming force”, said Mr Holland.

They struck the victim with the metal bar and Winter punched him repeatedly after he was knocked to the ground.

Threats to kill

Neighbours recorded the violence which showed that Winter had “completely lost control”.

Hall was punching and striking the prone victim with the weapon as he crouched over him. The court heard Winter added expletives as he shouted:

“I’m going to kill you. Don’t you ever cross us again.”

Winter continued to punch the victim as he told him:

“You are going to die. People are going to kill you.”

He then kicked the victim repeatedly while he was lying helpless on the ground.

Witnesses said both men were hitting the victim with the iron bar at different points during the attack. Mr Holland said:

“They left him lying on the floor and he [then] staggered into his address.”

Neighbours called police who arrived to find the victim “covered in blood”.

He suffered bruising including to his cheekbone and near his eye and a 4cm cut to the back of his head which had to be glued shut. He also suffered a broken finger.

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Hall, of Larkfield Drive, and Winter, of Newby Crescent, admitted wounding. Winter also admitted making a threat to kill.

They appeared for sentence at York Crown Court yesterday, when the prosecution read out a statement from the victim who said he was now “really paranoid” and “always looking over my shoulder” when out in public.

He said the attack had affected his mental health.

Following their arrest, Hall and Winter, who are both working men with families, told police that the victim had come running out of his house brandishing the iron bar and shouting, “Come on then!”

Mr Holland said that Winter had played the “leading role” in the ensuing attack which was “prolonged and persistent”.

Robert Mochrie, representing both defendants, said they were both remorseful and neither man had been in trouble before.

‘Out of character’

Judge Simon Hickey told the two men:

“Both of you know at your age, 49 and 50, you shouldn’t be standing in a crown court dock in front of a crown court judge.”

He said although the victim had started the trouble, they had “attacked a man on the ground [with an] evil weapon”, adding:

“You could have killed him or left him with life-changing injuries.”

He criticised Winter for his “obscene remarks” to the victim and threats to kill, although acknowledged they were “completely out of character”.

He also noted that the two defendants had been injured themselves and one had been struck on the forehead with the iron bar.

Mr Hickey said that despite the seriousness of the violence, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentences in both their cases because they would lose their jobs and their homes if they were imprisoned and the impact on their families would be “devastating”.

Winter was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and Hall received a nine-month suspended jail term. They were each ordered to carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work and pay £600 prosecution costs.

Brothers sentenced for supplying cocaine in Harrogate

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 brothersDrugs 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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Two men jailed after dealing cocaine in Harrogate

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.

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.”

Harrogate cannabis gardener jailed after £250,000 farm found

A Vietnamese cannabis gardener has been jailed after police found him ensconced in a huge drug factory surrounded by hundreds of marijuana plants worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

Manh Nguyen, 18, was arrested at the house in West Lea Avenue, Harrogate, where he had been tending 460 plants inside a sophisticated cannabis factory equipped with irrigation and temperature systems, York Crown Court heard.

Nguyen, of no fixed address, was charged with being concerned in the production of a Class B drug but denied the allegation, claiming he had been trafficked to the UK to work as a cannabis gardener and was a victim of modern slavery.

The teenager was due to face trial today but entered a last-minute guilty plea to the charge, notwithstanding the fact the authorities had found he had been trafficked and was working effectively as a modern slave. 

The Crown proceeded straight to sentence knowing that any jail sentence would be negated by the amount of time Nguyen had spent on remand.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said police discovered the bumper cannabis harvest on August 11 last year after raiding the property in Harrogate. 

She added:

“They found inside a total of 460 cannabis plants spread across the rooms of the house.

“The defendant was the only person present at the property. The cannabis grow is estimated to be worth up to £210,000.

“There was a significant amount of equipment recovered including an irrigation system and temperature controls.

“(Nguyen) was found sleeping on a mattress in the front room. It is essentially accepted that he was a gardener given instructions over the phone to water the plants on a daily basis.

“He was seen by neighbours outside the property but only as far as the front of the garden.”

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She said it was “clear that (Nguyen) was performing a limited role” in the drug enterprise and that he didn’t see a penny of the profits. 

Ms Morrison added:

“Clearly, he was a vulnerable young adult and there has been a finding by the (authorities) that he has been trafficked.”

Defence barrister Harry Crowson said Nguyen had come to the UK after being trafficked from Vietnam. He quickly found himself being in debt to his criminal bosses and “taking instructions for a period of time”.

He said that at one stage Nguyen escaped from his criminal bosses and was given social housing, but the criminal gang found him and “brought him back to this same life”.

He said Nguyen’s captors had given him instructions to keep the front garden tidy by cutting the grass, but only gave him a pair of scissors with which to do so.

Mr Crowson said neighbours saw Nguyen performing the pathetic task “either under instruction to keep the grass tidy or because he was in the property with nothing else to occupy his time”.

Mr Crowson added:

“He is very young and came to this country for a better life.”

He said that Nguyen had been on custodial remand since August last year and had already served the equivalent of a one-year-jail sentence.

Used as a ‘modern slave’

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, addressed Nguyen through a Vietnamese interpreter and told the teenager: 

“It’s quite clear you have been used or (you were) what is termed these days a modern slave.

“You were living on a mattress (and) there is nothing to suggest you (made) any money whatsoever from this criminality.

“It’s a common story that people are hoodwinked into thinking they can get work and they are abused in this way.”

He said that had Nguyen played a “leading role…in this cannabis factory”, he would have given him “as long a sentence as I possibly could”, but that wasn’t the case.

Nguyen received an eight-month jail sentence, but he had already served the equivalent period on remand.

However, the judge warned him: 

“Whether you are released from custody will be a matter for the Home Office.”

The court heard that the authorities were looking into Nguyen’s possible deportation.

Man jailed for racial harassment and carrying weapon in Harrogate

A notorious Harrogate criminal has been jailed yet again, this time for racially aggravated threatening behaviour and carrying a Stanley knife in the town centre.

Graham McMillan, 38, was found shirtless and drinking beer in the middle of the road after police were called out to reports of an incident at Chico’s takeaway in Commercial Street.

York Crown Court heard that McMillan was swearing and shouting racial slurs, even when police warned him about his behaviour.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that when officers searched McMillan, they found a Stanley knife in his jeans pocket.

He was arrested and charged with racially aggravated harassment or threatening behaviour and carrying a bladed article.

He appeared for sentence today via a video link from Wealstun Prison as he was already in custody serving a 42-week prison sentence imposed in September last year for carrying a hammer and swearing at people in the town centre.

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That offence occurred on August 28, just four days after McMillan was arrested for the new offences.

Ms Morrison said the racially aggravated incident occurred on August 24 – the same day that McMillan had been given a two-month suspended prison sentence for possessing heroin and cocaine.

Police were initially called out to the Asda supermarket on Bower Road following reports that McMillan had tried to steal a crate of beer.

This incident did not result in any criminal charges, but later that same day, just before midnight, police received a further report that McMillan was at Chico’s takeaway and was refusing to leave.

Ms Morrison said:

“When police arrived, they found him in the middle of the street, topless, drinking from a bottle of beer.”

She said McMillan was “swearing abuse” and shouting out deeply offensive racial slurs aimed at staff at the takeaway.

When police warned him about his behaviour, McMillan drunkenly replied: 

“I don’t give a fxxx – do me for racism.”

McMillan – formerly of Harlow Moor Drive, Harrogate, but currently of no fixed address – had 31 previous convictions for 56 offences including threatening and racially aggravated behaviour, carrying a blade, possessing an offensive weapon in public and “many” road-traffic matters and breaches of court orders. 

Defence barrister Jennifer Coldham said McMillan had mental-health issues. He intended to return to Harrogate upon his release from the inevitable jail sentence.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was clear that McMillan committed offences “under the influence of drink and drugs”.

McMillan was handed a six-month jail sentence, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Harrogate burglar jailed after ‘audacious’ raid of £10k worth of clothes

A prolific Harrogate burglar has been jailed for two years after stealing £10,000 of clothes from a warehouse in two audacious break-ins on the same night.

Aaron Herbert, 49, and an unnamed man drove from Harrogate to the commercial warehouse in York in a stolen VW Golf, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Cahill said CCTV footage showed Herbert and the driver getting out of the vehicle and being joined by two other people including a woman outside the warehouse in an industrial compound on Malton Road, Stockton-on-the-Forest.

One of the men used bolt croppers to cut the lock of the warehouse doors to break in. 

Mr Cahill added:

“A short time later, the two who arrived on foot left, leaving (Herbert) and the driver in the warehouse,

“CCTV showed the defendant and his accomplice going in and out of the warehouse…with stock from the warehouse, particularly coats.”

The burglars got back in the car and drove off after bagging £5,000 of loot in the raid, which occurred at about 11pm on December 11 last year. Herbert, who was a disqualified driver, was at the wheel. 

Shortly afterwards, in the early hours of the following morning, Herbert drove back to the warehouse and was again with another man. 

Mr Cahill said:

“The men made numerous trips in and out of the warehouse, stealing various items of clothing.”

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CCTV showed Herbert coming out of the warehouse with a bundle of coats – one of which he was wearing. 

Mr Cahill said that about £5,000 of clothes were stolen in this second raid, and £10,000 in total.

Herbert then drove the Volkswagen away from the loading-bay doors to make way for his 

accomplice to drive out in a “mini” vehicle which he had stolen from inside the warehouse. 

They then carefully closed the warehouse doors to make it look “as if nothing had happened”.

Herbert drove off in the VW and his accomplice drove away in the stolen warehouse vehicle. 

However, it didn’t take police long to coming knocking at Herbert’s door as he was immediately identified from CCTV footage. 

The two stolen vehicles were both found in Harrogate’s Fairfax Avenue.

‘Audacious’ raid

Herbert, of Deane Place, Harrogate, was arrested on December 15 and charged with two counts of burglary, taking a vehicle without consent and driving while disqualified and without insurance. 

He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today.

Mr Cahill said Herbert had taken the VW car after a sneak-in burglary at a named woman’s home in Harrogate in which her car keys were stolen.

Herbert’s 22-year criminal career comprised 27 previous convictions for 85 offences including burglary and 24 theft and kindred offences. 

Defence barrister Harry Crowson said that Herbert, a long-standing heroin addict, had spent most of his time in prison in recent years. 

Judge Simon Hickey described the burglaries as “audacious”.

He told Herbert: 

“You were seen emptying the warehouse of a significant amount of clothes (which represents) a significant economic loss.”

He said the burglaries involved “significant planning” and that Herbert was now at risk of becoming “institutionalised”.

Herbert will serve half of the two-year jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was also given a two-year driving ban.

Harrogate businessman spared jail for sexually assaulting woman in street

A Harrogate businessman who sexually assaulted a woman in the street has been spared prison.

Paul Harper, 41, touched or “groped” the young woman on an intimate part of her body while the victim was walking hand in hand with her boyfriend in Harrogate town centre, York Crown Court heard.

Harper, a married father-of-three, denied the offence but a jury found him guilty following a trial.

He appeared for sentence yesterday for his inexplicable and “predatory” act which occurred at night, in a crowded street “in the middle of Harrogate”, in August 2021.

The court heard that Harper, of Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite, “brazenly” walked off after the bizarre act, leaving the Harrogate woman “aghast, shocked and distressed”.

Prosecutor Michael Morley read out a statement from the victim, who described the dramatic effect the incident had had upon her.

She said she found the experience “shocking” and described Harper’s behaviour as “outrageous, disgraceful and predatory”.

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She couldn’t understand what she had done “which had attracted this man’s attention” and said she had been treated like an “object”. It made her feel “less secure” in a town where she had previously felt safe. Mr Morley said:

“She regarded Harrogate as a fairly safe town and never felt there were problems there, but she feels less safe in her home town now…and upset that her parents saw the state she was in (when she returned home).”

The victim said her “outrage and bewilderment” had been compounded by the fact that incidents such as this in Harrogate and elsewhere appeared to be “commonplace” now, or “just one of those things girls have to deal with”.

She had undergone therapy since the incident to deal with feelings of “anxiety and sadness”.

Defence barrister Helen Chapman said Harper’s business and his employees would suffer if he were sent to jail. He was a man “of some means” and his family were dependent upon him.

Community order

Judge Simon Hickey told the disgraced businessman:

“In a crowded street in the middle of Harrogate, you decided to (sexually assault) a young woman…then you brazenly walked off, leaving that woman aghast, shocked and distressed that she could go out in a public street and still be molested.

“You said at trial, ‘I’m not some seedy guy who goes around imposing myself on young (women)’. I’m afraid that’s precisely what you are and that’s why you decided you could grope a woman when she was simply holding her boyfriend’s hands.”

The judge said he had noted the “significant” effect the attack had had on the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

However, he said he wasn’t going to lock Harper up, “although many women may feel that that’s exactly what should happen to you”.

Mr Hickey said he could veer away from a jail sentence because of the effect this would have on Harper’s family.

Instead, Harper was given a two-year community order and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years. He was also given a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.

In addition, he was ordered to complete up to 43 days of a sex-offenders’ group work programme, 80 hours’ unpaid work and a 55-day rehabilitation course. He was also made to pay £3,135 prosecution costs.