Man jailed for carrying hammer in Harrogate town centre

A 38-year-old man has been jailed after carrying a hammer in public in Harrogate town centre.

Graham McMillan, of no fixed address, appeared before York Magistrates Court on Tuesday (August 30) charged with carrying an offensive weapon without lawful excuse.

McMillan was arrested by police outside Clintons card shop on Cambridge Street on Sunday, August 28.

Officers were responding to reports of a man carrying a hammer in the town centre and swearing at people on Oxford Street.

At the hearing on Tuesday, McMillan was sentenced to 42 weeks in prison. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £187.

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The court said it imposed the sentence as the offence was serious and McMillan had breached a suspended sentence previously imposed on him.

Magistrates said they took into account the defendant’s guilty plea when handing down the punishment.

Harrogate man jailed for knife and heroin offences

A Harrogate man has been jailed for carrying a kitchen knife in public and possessing heroin.

Nigel Green, of Fairfax Avenue, appeared before York Magistrates Court this week charged with both offences.

Green, 42, pleaded guilty to the charges.

He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for carrying a kitchen knife on Fairfax Avenue after the court found it was his second conviction of the same charge.

The magistrates also jailed Green for four weeks for carrying a wrap of heroin on Roche Avenue. The time will be served concurrently with the first sentence.

He was also ordered to pay a victim’s surcharge of £128.

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Ex-Harrogate headteacher found guilty of making indecent images of children

A former Harrogate headteacher has been found guilty of making indecent images of children.

Matthew Shillito, 42, pleaded not guilty to making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between December 3, 2012 and December 31, 2015.

Shillito was appointed headteacher of Western Primary School in 2019.

He was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools.

None of the offences related to his employment.

Shillito appeared before York Magistrates Court this morning, where District Judge Adrian Lower found him guilty on both charges.

He said the evidence showed Shillito had a “corrosive, addictive interest in child pornography”.

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During the case, “making” was defined as knowingly accessing a site that contained an indecent image.

The court was told that there was no evidence that Mr Shillito downloaded the material onto his laptop.

The prosecution opened proceedings at Harrogate Magistrates Court last month and said the indecent images were found on the cache in Shillito’s computer, which could have only have got there had he accessed sites with those images.

Philip Morris, prosecuting, said there were “indicative” terms found on Shillito’s laptop which showed intent to access the images.

Police arrested Shillito and seized two computers at his address on January 4, 2020.

Officers recovered a Dell laptop and a MacBook Pro, which contained a back up from an iPad mini which was not found.

Giving evidence to the court last month, Zoe Warboys, a digital forensic investigation officer at North Yorkshire Police, said that while the defendant may not have been aware of the cache, he could have only got them by accessing the material.

A Russian website named in court was frequently accessed on the Dell laptop, which Ms Warboys told the court was a site which contained indecent images of children.

The site is public and allows users to upload albums of images which others can view.

The court heard how the site was frequently visited on February 26, 2011.

Mr Morris told the court that Shillito visited some of the pages which were “indicative” of possibly including indecent images 30 times.

Shillito repeatedly denied both charges throughout the case.

This morning, District Judge Lower adjourned sentencing Shillito until September 7. He bailed Shillito but warned him all sentencing options would be considered including jail. 

More to follow.

Harrogate man charged with strangling and ABH

A Harrogate man has appeared in court charged with intentionally strangling a woman and causing her actual bodily harm.

Gavin McClure, 53, of Avenue Grove, Starbeck, is alleged to have assaulted the female on Saturday night.

He was also charged with threatening to kill the woman, who was named in court.

Mr McClure appeared at York Magistrates Court on Monday, when the case was adjourned for trial by jury at York Crown Court on August 30.

Mr McClure, who did not enter a plea to the charges, was denied bail and remanded in custody.

He did, however, plead guilty to a further charge of possession of cannabis at Harrogate police station on Sunday.

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Three teens in court on Harrogate robbery charge

Three teenagers have appeared before York Magistrates Court charged with a robbery and possessing offensive weapons in Harrogate.

Dillan Bahia, 18, and Jamie Richardson, 18, both of Leeds, indicated a guilty plea to carrying a zombie knife on The Ginnel, off Parliament Street, on Saturday, July 23.

Mr Bahia, of Mexborough Avenue, Chapeltown, also indicated a guilty plea to being found carrying a homemade cosh when arrested by police.

However, both entered no plea to the charge of robbing a man of a mobile phone, cash and cards near to the Stray on Knaresborough Road on the same day.

Mr Richardson lives at Grange View in Chapeltown.

A 17-year-old boy from Sheffield, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to robbing a man of a mobile phone, cash and cards on Knaresborough Road on July 23 and carrying a zombie knife on The Ginnel.

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But, he denied assaulting a police officer on The Ginnel on the same day.

Both Mr Bahia and Mr Richardson will appear before York Crown Court for sentencing for carrying weapons in a public place on August 22, 2022.

They will also appear for trial on the robbery charge on the same date.

The 17-year-old boy will appear before youth court in Harrogate on August 5 to determine a “suitable method of determining the case”.

Ripon man jailed for stealing two bikes in Harrogate

A Ripon man has been jailed for 26 weeks for stealing two bikes in Harrogate.

Dwain Carl Layton, 31, of King Edward Road, appeared before York Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with stealing the bikes from a garage on Kingsley Road on June 28.

The bikes were estimated to be worth £1,000.

Layton pleaded guilty to the charge and was jailed.

The magistrates said the sentence was handed down after Layton had failed to comply with requirements of post custodial sentence supervision.

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It added that the offence was aggravated by “the defendant’s record of previous offending”.

Layton was also ordered to pay compensation of £100 and a victim surcharge of £154.

Man released after conspiracy to commit murder arrest in Bilton

A man who was arrested in connection with an incident in Bilton has been released with no further action taken.

Police were called to a property on Byland Road on Thursday, June 23, where a woman was found with serious injuries.

A man in his 40s was arrested following the incident. Clare Bailey, 44, was also arrested.

The man was initially arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and bailed pending investigation.

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However, North Yorkshire Police has confirmed over the weekend he has been released from bail and no further action is being taken against him.

Ms Bailey, 44, was charged with attempted murder.

She appeared before York Magistrates Court on June 27, but entered no plea.

Ms Bailey, who is from Dudley, will now appear before Leeds Crown Court on July 25.

Woman charged with Harrogate attempted murder enters no plea

A 44-year-old woman will appear at crown court next month charged with attempted murder in Harrogate.

Clare Bailey, of Dudley, was arrested following an incident on Byland Road in Bilton on Thursday evening last week.

She was later charged with attempted murder and appeared before York Magistrates Court yesterday, where she entered no plea to the charge.

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The case was referred to Leeds Crown Court on July 25.

A man in his 40s has been bailed after being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder following the same incident.

North Yorkshire Police said yesterday that the man was bailed while its investigation continues.

Man to appear in court on Beckwithshaw attempted child murder charges

A 40-year-old man will appear at Leeds Crown Court next month accused of attempting to murder two children in Beckwithshaw.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is also charged with assaulting an emergency worker.

It follows an incident in the village on the morning of Monday last week.

He appeared before York Magistrates Court on Saturday after being arrested by police on Friday and subsequently charged.

The case was sent to Leeds Crown Court on Friday, July 22.

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Woman charged with attempted murder in Harrogate

A woman in her 40s has been charged with attempted murder in Harrogate.

Clare Bailey was due to appear at York Magistrates Court today.

A man, also in his 40s, has been bailed after being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

The two people were arrested on Friday after an incident on Byland Road in Bilton on Thursday.

A woman was taken to hospital with what police described as ‘substantial injuries’.

Forensic officers were called to the scene after the incident.

Today’s update by North Yorkshire Police said the man has been bailed while the investigation continues.

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