Guilty plea after £140,000 of cannabis seized in Boroughbridge

Two men who were stopped on the A1(M) at Boroughbridge have admitted their part in a major cannabis-supply operation.

Police seized 14 kilos of cannabis worth £140,000 when they pulled over Silvio Kondi, 30, and Flamur Saliasi, 45, on September 30.

They were arrested and charged with possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Today, Kondi, of Tong Road, Farnley, near Leeds, and Saliasi, of no fixed address, appeared at York Crown Court where they pleaded guilty to the offence.

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Prosecutor Rachel Landing said the drugs had an estimated street value of £140,000.

She said that because of the sheer amount of the drugs seized, it had to be assumed that the two men had close ties to the “original source” of the supply chain.

Robert Mochrie, for Kondi, contested this allegation on behalf of his client, whom he said was merely a courier for the drug enterprise.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, adjourned sentence for the defendants’ bases of plea to be reviewed in terms of their respective roles within the drug operation. They will be sentenced on November 16. 

Harrogate man jailed for cashpoint robbery of mother

A heroin addict with over 100 offences to his name has been jailed for over four years for the cashpoint robbery of a young woman and a shocking attack that left a man with a broken neck.

Clifford McDermid, 44, targeted the woman as she withdrew £150 from the cash machine outside Sainsbury’s Local on Kings Road in Harrogate.

McDermid crept up behind her and snatched the money from her grasp, saying “Thank you” as he fled amid the “terrified” woman’s screams, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Cahill said the victim, who was named in court, was with her five-year-old son at the time of the incident on December 4, 2019.

McDermid, a heroin addict, was identified on CCTV and arrested later that day in Grove Park Terrace.

He told police:

“I can’t believe I did that. I’m ashamed of myself. Robbing a lady at a cash point. Her screams will live with me forever.”

Neighbour ‘feared dead’

McDermid was released under investigation and was still at large when he was involved in a run-in with his neighbour in March last year which could so easily have been fatal, the court was told.

A couple had just returned to their apartment block after a night out and could smell cannabis coming from McDermid’s flat.

McDermid, who was stood in the doorway, said to the husband: “What’s your problem?”

The victim, who was named in court, asked him to shut his door because of the smell coming from the flat and threatened to report the matter to their landlord, whereupon McDermid walked up to him, asking him to “leave it and not report it”.

He asked to shake hands but as the victim “reluctantly” did so, McDermid grabbed his hand “forcefully” and deliberately pulled him off-balance, causing him to fall down the stairs.

“He fell 12 stairs down the (stairway) and hit his head on the floor, losing consciousness,” said Mr Cahill.

The man’s terrified wife feared her husband had died and called 999. Police and an ambulance crew were called out.

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The victim – who suffered two fractures of his neck, two cuts to his head and a “frozen” shoulder — was taken to Harrogate District Hospital by ambulance. He was given cortisone injections and fitted with a neck collar for pain relief.

McDermid, of Kings Road, was arrested 12 days later and charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the victim and robbing the woman at the cash machine. He ultimately admitted both offences and appeared for sentence on Wednesday.

Thrown down stairs

The male victim said he had lost his job due to his injuries and still had trouble sleeping due to the pain in his neck. He could still barely move his right arm and was still receiving treatment.

His injuries had severely curtailed his once-active social life and he’d had to step down as captain of a snooker-and-darts team.

His wife said McDermid was clearly high on drugs and she thought she was “about to become a widow” when she saw her husband land head-first and lose consciousness after being thrown down the stairs.

“He could have been killed or (ended up) in a wheelchair,” she added.

The young mother who was robbed at the cash point said she was “stunned, shocked and extremely cross” after being targeted by McDermid in broad daylight.

She said McDermid must have targeted her because he knew that a mother with a young child wouldn’t be able to chase him. She added:

“This (incident) triggered weeks of not sleeping (and) I have a very demanding job.”

She had since suffered from anxiety which was a “horrid feeling” and was unable to pay some of her bills because £110 was a “huge chunk of my wage”.

McDermid had 48 previous convictions for 159 offences including theft from the person. In 2002, he was jailed for eight years for armed robbery.

Heroin habit

Danielle Graham, for McDermid, said the father-of-one had robbed the woman to get money for drugs. He had a 20-year heroin habit and a personality disorder exacerbated by drugs.

She said she could not argue against the profound effect these “nasty” incidents had had on both victims.

Judge Simon Hickey said McDermid had a “worrying” record and that he had “obviously” been lurking in the area waiting to target a “vulnerable woman with a child”.

He told McDermid he was “fortunate not to have killed” his neighbour after “deliberately pulling (him) off-balance and down 12 steps”.

McDermid was jailed for four years and nine months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

 

Arsonists jailed for setting fire to Harrogate brewery

Two arsonists have been jailed for setting fire to a brewery in Harrogate causing up to £17,000 worth of damage.

John Christopher Brown and Scott Spurr were loitering around Harrogate Brewing Company in Hookstone Chase before throwing a “flammable item” into the grounds, causing a blaze which quickly got out of control and tore through the compound, York Crown Court heard.

The fire melted two Portaloos and several beer kegs and smoke infiltrated the brewery itself as the two “drunken idiots” ran off, said prosecutor Rob Galley.

Firefighters arrived at the scene after the arsonists themselves called 999 shortly after the blaze took hold in the middle of the night. 

They brought the fire under control, but severe damage had been caused to the family-run business which was already reeling from the covid pandemic. 

CCTV footage of the incident at about 11pm on October 6 last year showed the two men climbing over the fence at the edge of the brewery. One of them remained on the outside and lobbed a “lit piece of something”, possibly a lit cigarette or papers, into the compound.

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A flash of light could be seen on the footage before the two men ran away.

The blaze caused between £14,000 and £17,000 of damage. The heat was so intense that the Portaloos had melted an inch into the ground.

Brown and Spurr, both 22 years of age, were later arrested and identified from the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident. The two Harrogate men appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting to the offence.

Mr Galley said:

“Two Portaloos were melted and unrecognisable.

“Several beer kegs melted (and there was) damage to the cooling system (used for refrigeration). There was damage to (the brewery) windows.”

‘Went up like an inferno’

Owner Martin Joyce, who was finance director at Rossett School in Harrogate before buying the brewery, said the scene when he arrived the following morning was “horrendous”.

The toilets and stock room inside the building had suffered smoke damage and the windows had melted. 

Damage had been caused to stock and the rooms needed complete redecoration. The Portaloos, thought to be the source of the fire, “went up like an inferno”.

Mr Joyce, who only bought the business in January last year, said the incident had a “huge and traumatic effect” on his family.

He said the business had lost £5,000 in takings alone because he was initially unable to reopen the tap room.

Despite insurance pay-outs for the damage, they were still left with a loss of about £4,000 and their premiums had doubled.

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The business – which produces award-winning craft ales to bars and clubs in North Yorkshire – was still dealing with structural damage caused by the blaze, notably melted plastic which had seeped into the drainage system.  

Mr Joyce, known to friends and colleagues as Joe, said he had “no idea what the motive was”.

Adam Walker, for Spurr, said his client was a hard-working man with no previous convictions.

He was “truly remorseful” for the attack which was carried out while he was “heavily in drink”.

Alasdair Campbell, for Brown, said his client had acted like an “immature, drunken idiot” but that he had tried to put the fire out before fleeing.  

Judge Sean Morris blasted the two men for “setting fire to somebody’s livelihood”.

He added:

“These people worked hard to set up their business and you set fire to it.

“What resulted was serious economic impact to their business and it’s had a devastating effect on their lives. You two were a pair of drunken idiots that night.”

Brown, of Avenue Place, and Spurr, of Prospect Road, were each jailed for nine months. 

Two males plead guilty to Ripon robbery

A teenager and a 21-year-old man are to be sentenced after a robbery on Bondgate in Ripon.

John Paul Wilson, 21, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court. A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also pleaded guilty.

Both men were charged with robbery and possessing an offensive weapon.

The two men will appear for sentencing on October 19.

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Officers from North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today enquiries were ongoing into other suspects linked to the incident on Friday, August 13.

Police arrested five people after a teenager was robbed at knife point outside the former Ship Inn, Bondgate.

The force put out an appeal following a spate of anti-social behaviour in the city last month.

Drug-driving mum escapes jail after 80mph police chase round Harrogate

A drug-driving mother-of-three has been spared jail after leading police on a high speed car chase around Harrogate.

Jasmine Wilson, 26, reached speeds of up to 88mph on icy roads in her Vauxhall Astra — at some stages on the wrong side of the road — during the chase on January 3.

Wilson, from Pateley Bridge, sped faster after police put on their blue lights and accelerated to 82mph on the wrong side of the road in a National Speed Limit area, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

She then swung the vehicle around a sharp bend at 60mph and at Whipley Bank once again crossed over onto the wrong side of the road, driving at 70mph before tearing through a 50mph zone at 84mph, York Crown Court heard.

Wilson, who was three times over the limit for cannabis and had a male passenger in the car, then overtook another vehicle on a right-hand bend “at some speed”, said Ms Morrison.

She then shot straight over crossroads at 48mph without stopping and reached peak speeds of 88mph as she took another right-hand bend on the wrong side of the road, where she lost control of the Astra, which came to a halt in a field.

The chase lasted around 13 minutes, said Ms Morrison.

Smoking cannabis

Wilson, of High Crest, was taken to hospital by ambulance along with her male passenger, both of whom were relatively unscathed. She was also uninsured to drive the car, which belonged to her partner.

Wilson told police she had been smoking cannabis earlier in the day and that was why she didn’t stop.

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She admitted drug-driving, dangerous driving and having no insurance and appeared for sentence yesterday.

The court heard that Wilson had a clean record until the police chase, which began at about 9.50pm when police were informed by witnesses of what they thought was a drink-driver travelling around the Harrogate area.

Temitayo Dasaolu, mitigating, said Wilson’s actions “made sense to her” at the time because she had been smoking cannabis and didn’t want to get caught.

Responsibilities as a mother

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified, but that he could suspend the inevitable jail term because Wilson had caring responsibilities as a young mother.

He said Wilson had “put all that at risk” by her actions which risked the lives of police officers and other road-users.

He added that Wilson was “one of the few people” convicted of such crimes who would walk free, but only because of her lack of previous convictions and responsibilities as a mother.

Wilson was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and a 40-day rehabilitation programme. She was banned from driving for 12 months.

Ripon paedophile jailed a second time

A registered sex offender from Ripon has been jailed for possessing videos showing girls as young as six being raped.

Andrew Burt, a former maintenance worker at Newby Hall, was on a strict court order which banned him from possessing any internet-enabled device without informing police, York Crown Court heard.

But when his monitoring officers turned up at his home in Skelton-on-Ure, which is between Ripon and Boroughbridge, they found two new devices which he hadn’t disclosed to police.

Police seized the devices, one of which was an LG mobile phone on which they found five video clips featuring the rape of young girls.

Burt was charged with possessing indecent images of children and two breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order which had been imposed in November 2017 for inciting an under-age ‘girl’ to engage in sexual activity.  He appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting all three charges.

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Prosecutor Ms Hajba-Ward said Burt was a registered sex offender and still subject to the 10-year order when police called at his home earlier this month.

They found two unregistered devices including the mobile and a tablet of which police had not been notified.

The videos found on the phone were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material depicting the rape of pre-pubescent children.

Burt told police he had downloaded the images at a guest house “while drinking a lot of Strongbow (cider)”.

Caught by a vigilante

In 2017, Burt was jailed for 20 months after being caught by an online vigilante posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The adult decoy told police she had been chatting to a man on the internet who had used a false name and said he worked at Newby Hall.

Burt had sent her naked pictures of himself and a video of himself performing a lewd act.

He was ultimately identified by photos which showed that he was indeed a maintenance worker on the country estate.

The sexual-harm prevention order was imposed to prevent Burt cruising chatrooms and refusing a polygraph test.

Richard Reed, for Burt, said his client accepted he had a sexual interest in children and wanted help for his problem.

Judge Sean Morris jailed Burt for 32 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Mr Morris made a new sexual-harm prevention order for life. Burt will remain on the sex-offenders’ register, also for an indefinite period.

Harrogate cocaine dealer jailed after dealing outside ex-servicemen’s club

A Harrogate cocaine dealer who was caught dealing drugs outside an ex-servicemen’s club has been jailed for two years.

Wesley Waterworth, 29, was spotted handing a drugs package to an unnamed woman before going back into the social club on East Parade, York Crown Court heard.

When police went inside, Waterworth identified himself but when asked to step outside for questioning, he “repeatedly” swore at the two officers, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

When they tried to arrest him, Waterworth escaped out of the back fire exit, pulling off the door handle as he did so.

He was arrested after a short chase and police found cocaine and £580 cash on him, added Ms Morrison.

During a subsequent search of his home, officers found more wraps of cocaine, some cannabis, two sets of weighing scales, a Class C drug and a mobile phone with incriminating text messages.

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These messages showed Waterworth had also been involved in the supply of cannabis over a three-month period between January and March last year. He was arrested at about 9.50pm on March 5.  

Ms Morrison said the total value of the drugs found at Waterworth’s home was unknown.

He was charged with possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply, supplying cannabis, possessing a Class C drug and damaging property. He admitted all four charges.

 A further two allegations, including resisting arrest, were withdrawn by the prosecution.

22 previous convictions

The court heard that Waterworth had 22 previous convictions for over 30 offences, including battery, burglary, making threats to kill, criminal damage and drugs possession. 

In 2016, he received a five-year prison sentence for conspiracy to burgle and a serious act of violence. He was on prison licence for those offences at the point of his arrest for the new matters in March 2020 when he was recalled to jail.

Defence barrister Harry Crowson said that Waterworth — currently of HMP Wealstun in Wetherby — had been dealing to pay off debts and argued there was “no financial advantage” for his client.

But Judge Simon Hickey said Waterworth had been dealing “quite openly” in East Parade and criticised the defendant for being “abusive and aggressive” to officers.

He told Waterworth:

“You must realise that dealing in Class A (drugs) brings degradation and misery and quite often death (of users).”

Waterworth was jailed for just over two years and ordered to pay the social club £200 compensation for damage to its door.  

Former Ripon military man jailed for soliciting sex with underage ‘girls’

A former military man has been jailed for nearly two years for soliciting sex with underage ‘girls’ and “prowling” the internet to chat with children.

Mark Crompton, 46, formerly of Ripon, was caught out after indulging in cocaine-fuelled chats with what he thought to be a like-minded individual who had a 10-year-old daughter, York Crown Court heard.

In fact, the ‘father’ was an undercover police officer patrolling the internet and he spoke to Crompton while posing as a dad with an unhealthy interest in children.

Prosecutor Paul Abrahams said Crompton joined the ‘Kids Chat’ website with the username ‘School Teacher’ and sent a message to the undercover officer. They then moved on to the secure KIK app to continue their debauched conversations where Compton used his real name. 

Mr Abrahams added:

“In that chat, the defendant requested images including those of sexual acts (by the ‘daughter’).”

Crompton, who was living in Whitcliffe Lane at the time, also asked the ‘father’ if he could meet his ‘daughter’ in Cambridgeshire, where the officer told him they lived.

Mr Abrahams said:

“(Crompton) talked about the sexual abuse of children and sent pictures of a child in a skirt to the undercover officer.”

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Acting on evidence gathered by the decoy, police raided Crompton’s home in Ripon in August 2019.

Crompton told them:

“It’s all other people as well – they have been sending me pictures. I didn’t know it was a crime.”

He told police he had lost his job and had been sleeping in a van, and that he had been “talking online because I have no one else to talk to”.

Officers seized electronic devices from Crompton’s home including a mobile phone on which police found 21 different chat logs with “numerous users” including those identifying as children, two of whom lived in the UK.

One of those was a 13-year-old girl but Mr Abrahams said the Crown couldn’t prove that she was a real child. 

The chats with this ‘girl’ occurred during a one-week period between June and July 2019, when Crompton asked to meet her after photos were exchanged and “talked about going away with her to Spain and having children with her”.

Mr Abrahams said Crompton’s plans involved “potentially raping her” as a girl of her age could not give consent in the eyes of the law, although there was no evidence to suggest he intended to meet her.

Police also found 35 indecent images of children on Crompton’s phone, as well as nine prohibited photos of minors.

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He had installed encrypted software on his mobile to download vile images of children between three and eight years of age. 

Crompton was arrested and brought in for questioning but told officers he never intended to meet any of the ‘children’ and put his behaviour down to “cocaine use”.

He was charged with two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing prohibited images of minors.

Crompton, who had since moved to Blackpool, admitted all charges and appeared for sentence on Friday.

Mr Abrahams said that Crompton had been involved in a network of online paedophiles who sent him pictures from chatrooms. He had three previous convictions for “unrelated matters”.

Defence barrister Joseph Hudson said Crompton had led a “decent life (and had) a good job until middle age” when “problems emerged”.

He added that Crompton, who was a full-time carer for his partner, had since been seeing a psychiatrist.

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

“You were skulking around the internet looking for communications with teenage girls (and wanting) to talk about sex.”

He said that although no actual arrangements were made to take one of the girls to Spain, Crompton thought “that person was real, and it was vivid sexual chat”.

He said although Crompton had led an otherwise “good and industrious life” and served his country in the army in his younger years, “you have brought complete shame (upon yourself) and you are responsible for your own downfall”.

The judge added:

“Everything has come crashing down and as a result of your behaviour you ended up in a psychiatric hospital for a short period… and I dare say it was the drink and possibly the drugs that loosened your inhibitions [on the internet].”

Crompton, of Lord Street, Fleetwood, will serve half of the 23-month jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. 

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and made subject to a six-year sexual-harm prevention order designed primarily to curb his internet activities. 

Ripon man jailed for 10 years for arranging to rape four-year-old girl

Warning: this article includes graphic details that may cause distress

A Ripon man received a 14-year sentence today after being convicted of nine child sex offences.

John Noble, 36, of North Street, was jailed for 10 years and sentenced to a further four years on licence at York Crown Court today after pleading guilty on May 1.

The offences included arranging to rape a child, sexual assault on a child, arranging to use a sex toy on a child, and arranging for a child to urinate in a glass for his own sexual gratification and consumption.

The court heard how Noble had engaged online between March and April 2021 and made arrangements to meet with the intention to rape a four-year-old girl.

He attended the pre-arranged meeting location in Ripon on April 30, where he was arrested by officers from North Yorkshire Police’s online abuse and exploitation team, which acted in collaboration with Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit.

During the investigation, there was never a real-life victim and no children were ever in any danger.

Noble was also charged with breaching conditions of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order by trying to arrange for the four-year-old girl and a baby to stay over at his home.

The order was issued by York Crown Court on September 19, 2019 for indecent images of children, inciting or causing children to perform sexual acts and sexual communication with a child offences.

‘Particularly distressing case’

Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, of the online abuse and exploitation team, said:

“This was a particularly distressing case where Noble, a man who had already been caught by the police and put before the courts just a couple of years ago, had purchased items for a baby as well as sexual items to facilitate the abuse on the four-year-old girl.

“Noble simply could not resist acting on his sexual deviancy towards children. It is frightening to think that he was actively arranging to rape a child.

“It also showed the lengths of depravity that Noble would go to conduct child sex abuse.

“A long custodial sentence is a pleasing outcome in this case, and it sends a stark warning to other paedophiles who think they can operate with impunity online.”

Detective Inspector Marie Bulmer, from YHROCU, said:

“This forms part of our continued priority to protect children from sexual exploitation from those who seek to do them harm.

“Law enforcement operates across the internet, and we will relentlessly seek to bring to justice individuals who use the web to facilitate the abuse of children.

DI Bulmer urged victims of child sexual abuse to call 101 and report incidents. She added:

“We will always follow up allegations of abuse, no matter when they occurred. Victims can talk in confidence to experienced investigators and we can also help them get access to a range of other support services.”

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Ripon cocaine and heroin dealer jailed after police raid

A 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.