Judge hits out at late-night violence in Harrogate as he jails two men for breaking man’s jaw in drunken, unprovoked attackMan jailed after Harrogate police chase which left two officers injuredHarrogate man jailed for Ripon burglary and ABH

A man who burgled a flat at the YMCA in Ripon and then launched a vicious attack on a woman while on bail has been jailed for 19 months.

Ryan Hopper, 21, broke into the man’s ground floor flat in Water Skellgate after smashing a window and then ransacked the property, York Crown Court heard.

He was arrested and released on bail, but within months attacked a named young woman with whom he had a beef, repeatedly punching and kicking her in the head in a park in Harrogate town centre.

He was arrested again and charged with burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Hopper, from Harrogate but currently of no fixed address, ultimately pleaded guilty to both offences and appeared for sentence today via video link after being remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that Hopper broke into the flat with a named teenager, knowing that the victim would be out as he was working a night shift.

They broke in just after midnight on February 16 last year by smashing the ground-floor window of the property and climbing through the void. After ransacking the flat and causing £221 damage, they left empty-handed and ran off.

Hopper was identified by the victim and staff from CCTV footage at the YMCA. He was brought into custody but exercised his right to silence and was bailed.

Kicked repeatedly in head

On May 14 of that year, a named woman and her male friend were drinking in a park in Harrogate town centre when they were approached by Hopper who “did not get along” with the woman.

Hopper, who had also been drinking, left to get some more alcohol from a local shop but returned 10 minutes later.

Ms Morrison said the woman “doesn’t recall fully” what happened next, “but she does recall that at some point after (Hopper) returned, she was on the floor while being repeatedly attacked by the defendant who was kicking her in the head repeatedly and punching her in the face multiple times”.

As he was attacking the woman, Hopper told her it was because he had been attacked by a “third party” a few weeks beforehand and he blamed her for getting him beat up.

A female witness saw Hopper’s vicious attack on the woman from her back garden and ran up to him telling to stop. She called police and an ambulance and Hopper was duly arrested in the park.

The victim, who suffered bruising to her jaw, eye and forehead, said she didn’t think Hopper would stop.

Following his arrest, Hopper was further charged with assaulting an emergency worker and making threats to kill for which he received an 18-week suspended prison sentence with an alcohol-treatment programme last summer.

14 previous offences

His criminal record comprised 14 previous offences including public disorder, affray, damaging property and carrying an offensive weapon.

Defence barrister Erin Kitson-Parker said the catalyst for Hopper’s offending was drugs and alcohol.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was clear that Hopper had attacked the woman in Harrogate over a “grudge”.

He criticised the defendant for ransacking the man’s flat, leaving it a mess. He added:

“You rifled through his belongings, his drawers were pulled out, his TV was knocked over and glass strewn everywhere from the shattered window.”

Hopper was given a 19-month jail sentence, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

His co-accused, a youth at the time, received an eight-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay £250 compensation to the burglary victim at a previous hearing.

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Harrogate woman given suspended jail sentence for benefit fraud

A Harrogate woman has received a suspended jail sentence for a two-year benefit fraud in which she failed to declare the proceeds from a property sale.

Vanessa Boyd, 49, acted out of “sheer greed” by failing to disclose to the Department for Work and Pensions that she had received £126,518 from the sale of a property, York Crown Court heard.

That resulted in benefit overpayments of just over £13,881 over a period of more than two years from September 2020, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

She said that Boyd started receiving Universal Credit payments in September 2020 due to being out of work and having very meagre savings.

Ms Morrison added:

“However, she informed the Jobcentre Plus that she would have an amount of money coming from solicitors as a result of the sale of a property, but (that there was) some delay in receiving those funds.”

Boyd, of Tewit Well Road, received just over £126,518 in November 2021 from the proceeds of the sale which would have affected her benefit entitlement, but she failed to declare it to the authorities.

Ms Morrison said:

“She had been informed of her need to do so before receiving the funds.”

Boyd made “multiple declarations” about her savings which didn’t include the proceeds from the property sale.

When questioned about these omissions by fraud investigators, she claimed she didn’t think she had to declare the proceeds of the sale because “the money was going to be used to purchase another property”.

Boyd admitted fraud by making the false declarations and appeared for sentence today.

Her barrister Benjamin Bell said she had since been making repayments to the DWP at a rate of £55 per month and had never been in trouble before.

Judge Simon Hickey said that Boyd had acted out of “sheer greed” and fraudulently claimed a “substantial amount of money over a substantial period”.

He said the offence was so serious that it had to be met with a jail sentence, but that it could be suspended because Boyd had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had child-caring responsibilities.

The six-month jail sentence was suspended for 18 months. As part of that sentence, Boyd was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and complete 20 rehabilitation-activity days.

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Harrogate businessman denies stalking allegation

A Harrogate businessman is to face trial by jury after denying allegations of stalking and breaching a restraining order.

Jason Shaw, 55, of Rutland Drive, appeared at York Crown Court via video link today when he pleaded not guilty to the two allegations.

The prosecution alleges that Mr Shaw – who owns Pineheath, the historic, 12-bedroom mansion on Cornwall Road – stalked a woman named in court between November 2023 and March this year, causing her to fear that violence would be used against her, in that he drove past her, turned up at her workplace and her home, and sent notes to her and left her a gift.

He is also accused of breaching a restraining order by entering the woman’s home in February this year.

Judge Simon Hickey set a trial date of September 2. It is due to last three days.

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Harrogate businessman charged with stalking

Harrogate businessman Jason Shaw is due to appear in court charged with stalking.

Mr Shaw, 55, of Rutland Drive, owns Pineheath, the 12-bedroom home on Cornwall Road that was once home to Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji and Lady Frainy Bomanji. His plans to amend the property were approved by North Yorkshire Council this year.

He is charged with stalking involving serious harm / distress between October 1 last year and March 12 this year in Harrogate.

Mr Shaw is also charged with breaching a restraining order and harassment in February this year.

He is due to appear at York Crown Court on April 15.

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Harrogate man jailed for stalking ex-partner

A vengeful Harrogate man has been jailed today for stalking his ex-partner, breaking into her home and smashing her work van — while she was inside.

Colby Beattie, 22, waged a relentless stalking campaign against the young woman following the breakdown of their relationship, York Crown Court heard.

In September last year, about six months after their relationship ended, Beattie broke into her home on Albert Road, Harrogate, and started smashing items in her kitchen including kettles, plates and the oven door while she was upstairs.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said the victim called police who arrested Beattie. He was released on bail on the proviso that he didn’t contact the victim or go to her address.

However, about two weeks later she came downstairs to find him standing in her kitchen doorway. The terrified victim screamed and called police as Beattie fled from the property.

About a week later, on October 1, the victim noticed there were two flat tyres on her Citroen Berlingo works van. She suspected that Beattie had tampered with the tyres as she had only just recently had their pressure checked.

The following day, one of the tyres came off the vehicle and she noticed that some of the bolts were missing from the wheel.

Three days later, she noticed that a screw had been inserted into one of the tyres and another had been slashed.

On October 11, she received a message from Beattie while she was out of the house. Part of the message read: “Whose are the joggers?”

It was obvious to the victim that Beattie had been inside her home because the jogging bottoms belonged to a man with whom she was in a new relationship and had been left in her bedroom.

She called police out again and they searched her home to check if Beattie was still there. He wasn’t, but an hour after they left the victim received a series of phone calls from him.

Ms Morrison said:

“Later that day she left the house again and when she returned in her work van, she saw him come round the corner on a pushbike.

“He got off the pushbike and approached her van (while she was still inside), climbed onto the van and started kicking and stomping on the windscreen until it smashed.”

He then started “kicking and pulling” at the driver’s door and tried to open it. When it failed to open, he jumped on the roof and started stamping on the vehicle again.

The petrified victim called police and was “screaming down the phone for help” from inside the van, at which point Beattie jumped off the vehicle and rode off on his bike. Ms Morrison added:

“She stayed in the van for a period of time out of fear.

“When she got out, her garden gate was open and her dogs came running out.”

The victim knew this meant that Beattie must have been inside her home again. When she went inside the property, she found that the dinner she had left out had been tipped in the kitchen sink, her bank card and passport had been cut up and “left in pieces” on the kitchen island, her TV screen and iPad had been smashed up, and a packet of prescription pills and the contents of her washing machine and dryer had been emptied onto the floor. She also discovered that £240 had gone missing from a money box.

She received yet more phone calls during and after this horrifying discovery but didn’t answer them.

‘Only one sentence can be imposed’

Beattie, of Parliament Terrace, Harrogate, was charged with burglary, stalking and damaging the victim’s property. He admitted all three matters and appeared for sentence today.

The court was told that the victim hadn’t been able to work since the incident because of the damage to her van. The repair bill was as yet unknown.

At the time of the offences, Beattie was subject to a community order imposed in June last year for threatening to damage property.

Defence barrister Benjamin Bell said that Beattie “lost (everything) when the relationship went downhill” because the victim was his “first love”.

Judge Simon Hickey told Beattie:

“For this type of behaviour against this young woman there’s only one sentence that can be imposed and that’s immediate custody.”

He said the victim must have been “terrified” by Beattie’s behaviour which was aggravated by the fact that he was on bail and under a court order at the time of the offences.

Beattie was jailed for 17 months but will only serve half of that time behind bars before being released on prison licence.

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Jail for Harrogate man who supplied drugs on electric scooter

A Harrogate man who was caught with Class A drugs while riding an electric scooter was jailed for two years and three months today.

James Latham was caught by officers from North Yorkshire Police’s drugs team Operation Expedite on King’s Road on the afternoon of September 25 this year.

A police media release today said officers saw two known drug users being approached by Latham. The three people walked behind a shop and out of view. Within seconds one of them returned and was seen placing an item in their mouth.

Officers suspected a drug deal had just taken place, with Latham supplying the drugs.

Latham, who was riding on an electric scooter, was stopped a short distance away. He was searched and found to be in possession of a large amount of cash and suspected illegal drugs.

Heroin and cocaine

Following his arrest, officers found drugs paraphernalia at Latham’s Harrogate home, along with heroin and cocaine with a street value of over £700, and a significant amount of cash.

Latham, 44, was remanded in custody and brought to court where he pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

Through mobile phone analysis, investigators were able to show Latham was involved in the supply of class A drugs, and had a customer base within the Harrogate area.

At York Crown Court today, Latham was given a custodial sentence of two years and three months.

After the sentencing hearing, PC Christopher Thompson, of Operation Expedite, said:

“The sale of illegal drugs will not be tolerated on the streets of Harrogate. It causes untold misery and suffering, and forces people who are addicted to them to commit other serious crimes to feed their habit.

“Latham was willing to exploit other people’s addictions for his own cruel and selfish gain.”

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Harrogate woman jailed for chasing supermarket staff with drug needle

A Harrogate woman who chased supermarket staff with a drug needle after they tried to stop her stealing alcohol has been jailed for 19 months.

Prolific shoplifter Julie Ruth Rutherford, 54, became aggressive after staff tried to stop her stealing two bottles of alcohol at the Asda store on Bower Road, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Eleanor Guildford said that when staff members confronted Rutherford and asked her what was inside her bag, she hurled abuse at them and poured the contents of the bag onto the floor, which included needles.

Rutherford, who had bedevilled local supermarkets for years, picked up one of the needles and “began to sprint” after the store manager, shouting:

“I’ll give you a needle! I’ll stab you with it.”

Ms Guildford said the store manager, who was named in court, was caused a great deal of distress and anxiety. When he tried to block her path outside the store, Rutherford punched and threatened to stab him.

Ms Guildford said he had recognised Rutherford as she had stolen from the supermarket on “multiple” previous occasions.

As Rutherford tried to escape, she damaged two plant pots, added the prosecuting barrister.

She was arrested five days after the incident which occurred on the afternoon of November 24 and was captured on CCTV.

Rutherford initially denied the offences, claiming she had “no knowledge” of the incident because of her chronic alcohol addiction.

The store manager said the terrifying episode had had a profound impact on his mental health and his sleep, and he often had nightmares about the incident.

41 previous convictions

Rutherford, of Strawberry Dale, was charged with affray, criminal damage and theft. She admitted the offences which were in breach of a 12-month suspended prison sentence imposed in late October for shoplifting.

She had 41 previous convictions for 85 offences, more than half of which were thefts.

Ms Guildford said the shoplifting incident which occasioned the suspended sentence in October occurred in “very similar circumstances” to the incident at Asda four weeks later.

She said Rutherford had a “propensity to commit offences of the same nature” and use the same sort of “tools”, namely needles, to cause people fear of violence.

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Defence barrister Gabrielle Wilkes said Rutherford was “highly embarrassed” about her behaviour and had wanted to be remanded in custody for her own good.

She said Rutherford had endured a traumatic adulthood exacerbated by the death of her sister four years ago and becoming homeless.

She said that Rutherford was a drug addict and alcoholic who was now seeking help for her problems.

Time she ‘learnt a lesson’

Judge Sean Morris told Rutherford:

“I accept you had a tough life, but lots of people have tough lives and they don’t behave like you. It doesn’t give you the right to terrorise people with needles.”

Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, said Rutherford had cost the courts and authorities thousands and thousands of pounds over the years by her inveterate thievery.

He said it was time she “learnt a lesson” and gave her an 18-month jail sentence for the affray, with one month consecutive for breaching the suspended sentence.

Rutherford will serve half of the total 19-month sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Harrogate paedophile jailed for 13 years for historic sex offences

A serial sex offender from Harrogate has been sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for twice subjecting a young girl to indecent assault in Northallerton during the 1990s.

John William Marshall, 68, of Fairfax Avenue, was sentenced at York Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty of offences at a trial in August.

He has also been made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

A North Yorkshire Police media release today said the bravery of the victim ensured Marshall faced justice, despite the number of years that have passed.

The victim made contact with police in 2019 following publicity surrounding the conviction of Marshall for possession of more than 24,000 indecent images of children, for which he served a custodial sentence and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order. which was due to expire.

Marshall had previously been described publicly by a judge as a “dangerous paedophile”.

The court heard that Marshall had befriended the victim’s family, offering help with their newly acquired computer.

He was subsequently trusted to look after the girl when her parents went shopping.

It was during these times that Marshall sexually assaulted her.

The victim’s parents reported it to police and social services at the time, but no further criminal action was taken due to a series of complications.

Victim thought she would not be believed

Now an adult, the victim’s life had been overshadowed by the thought that she was not believed.

Adam Harland, cold case review manager at North Yorkshire Police, said:

“In coming forward, the victim has now had her voice heard, her evidence believed by a jury, and she has obtained the conviction of the man who had grossly and indecently abused her as a child.

“Sadly, we believe there could be further victims of Marshall out there. We urge them to get in touch, just like the courageous victim in this case has.

“As you can see, time is no barrier to getting justice for victims of child sexual abuse.

“If you have been the victim of sexual abuse, whether it is happening now or in the past, please contact the police.”

Mr Harland added:

“We appreciate that telling the police what has happened takes immense courage and it is never easy reliving extremely distressing experiences.

“We understand this and that’s why we have specially trained officers who will guide you every step of the way and provide access to the full range of professional support services that are readily available.

“In coming forward, we can get you the help you need and ensure offenders like Marshall cannot go on to hurt anyone else.”

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